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Quick Question Re Mx Charges


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I recently received an invoice for maintenance that was done on my M20J back in July (the shop had a backlog of paperwork) and I was wondering if anyone might be willing to weigh-in on the reasonableness of the following:

1. Following an engine failure on takeoff, I needed to replace the Wheldon electric fuel pump.   I pointed the shop to an IR shop in Wisconsin that sold rebuilt pumps.  They replacement pump seemed to have some sort of defect in that it was electrically charged and kept tripping my breaker (I think the one in the rocker switch).  Lots of troubleshooting later - they determined the cause and returned the pump for a refund, and sourced a new pump.    The shop is billing me for 38.46 hours of labor at their standard rate for this replacement of the electric fuel pump.    

2. New O-rings for my fuel caps (O&N Bladders on the plane) - sourced for $61 each (and .75 of labor to install).

I think the fuel cap rings may be reasonable (but want to double check) - but I'm having a lot of difficulty with 38+ hours of labor to change the electric fuel pump (even with the electrical gremlins involved).   It'd be good to have some objective data points as I consider my course of action.

I absolutely understand that there are lots of A&P's on this forum, and my goal is not to try to disparage anyone here or to leverage some A&P knowledge against others - I truly want to compensate the shop fairly, but I definitely feel like they're trying to take advantage of the fact that I had no other options on the field (They had told me that it was taking time to run down the electric gremlins - but specific hours were never discussed during the work - I assumed that the total might be closer to 15 hours). 

As an aside - my regular mechanic told me one month later (at annual) that the o-rings needed to be replaced again (not sure whether they used the wrong part - but he sent me pictures showing fraying).

Thanks,

Howard

 

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Well... this gives me something to look out for when I get my overhauled Wheldon fuel pump back from likely the same shop this week... I had caught it making some noise and sent it off preemptively. 

38 hours seems like a lot. But then again everything seems to come back with more hours than I expect. For what its worth, my shop mentioned pull the pump only took "an hour". Who knows what the final bill will look like.

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Fuel pump is two or three hours with pushing the airplane in and out, maybe the morning with a coffee breaks, but troubleshooting time can go through the roof sometimes, particularly when multiple problems exist. But you could install new wiring, new breaker, and another new pump in less time. I suspect they’re charging you for dealing with the shop you recommended as well because it was directed by you. As a side note I had my Mooney’s fuel pump overhauled by the shop in Wisconsin I believe you’re talking about and its been great. Have you questioned the charge? Good luck.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

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Not sure which shop you are using, but they must be rolling in money to take 7+ months to send you an invoice!

The troubleshooting of the electrical problems with the pump can take forever. And I have to agree with @Heloman on what time they charged you for. Someone had to get on the phone and get the RMA for the bad pump.

 As a thought for the future, getting a written quote from a shop might be well worth the effort. They know what they quoted, and before it gets too far past that number, they will likely give you a call.

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I'm not a mechanic, but have done my share of trouble shooting.    You had no issues before the pump was replaced, but issues afterwards.  Logic dictates you look at the thing that was changed.   If the connections were good, it would be time to measure the current from the pump to see if it was in spec.  Next would be testing that the breaker was giving rated capacity.    I would have expected 2 to 3 hours at most. 

To the point, I had the Dukes pump in my 231 start to leak.  I ordered a Weldon PMA replacement and gave it to my mechanic.   A few days later the mechanic was finished.  I went to start the plane and it wouldn't.  Listening, to the fuel pump, there was a strange gurgling.  --It was obvious what happened.  The mechanic installed the pump backwards and didn't bother to run the plane up.  I called the shop back and had them re-install the pump the proper way.  The owner (who didn't do the work, but passed it to a junior mechanic) was apologetic.   Another time I got my plane back from an IFR certification.  On the first flight, I try the alternate static, and nothing happens to the altitude or speed.  I call the shop back, and they look where the lines were disconnected for the test. --Yes, they forgot to re-attach one.  It took 5 minutes for them to debug a static leak.

And one more.  I had the 500 hour mag service on my plane.  The first high altitude flight after (FL190), I had a slight stumble (a mag misfire) with the engine.  Looking at the engine monitor data, I could see it was not my imagination.  I had the mechanic pull the mags and send them back.  He thought I was crazy, until the mag shop told him the mags were not right and they were repaired for no charge.   It's not rocket science. Look at the most recent thing before you start looking elsewhere.   95% of the time you will have the problem very quickly.

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On 2018-04-03 at 2:54 PM, hnorber said:

 Following an engine failure on takeoff, I needed to replace the Wheldon electric fuel pump.   

How would an electric fuel pump problem cause an engine failure?  Did your mechanical pump and electrical pump fail simultaneously? That sounds implausable. 

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  • 2 months later...

"How would an electric fuel pump problem cause an engine failure?  Did your mechanical pump and electrical pump fail simultaneously? That sounds implausable."

Well - I think that whatever was happening in the fuel system that 'burned out' the electric pump also blocked the fuel line just after rotation.   It's still a bit of a mystery, but there was a lot of foreign matter in the fuel bladders (I definitely sumped them before the flight - so not sure why that didn't show in my jar).

 

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