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I guess 500 hour magneto inspections are important...


ragedracer1977

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16 hours ago, jetdriven said:

Ok sorry I thought you broke the news. Hopefully it’s not true. 


I called the number today and it was very hard to understand the answering machine, but it sounded like they were not taking new magneto business. There is a phone number and a name on the machine saying who to call, but I do not know anything about that person or shop.

It says he's not taking anything new, if you have anything there, leave a message and he'll get it sent back. Call someone named Kevin if you need magneto service

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I do my mags at 400 hours and I also stagger them by 100 hours. Left one year right the next. 
 

just had my left done at :

 

CROSSFIRE MAGNETO SERVICE, LLC. 1 BEECH BLVD. PORT ORANGE, FL 32128. 970-672-6505.
 
great knowledge and quick turnaround. Not cheap but what is your life worth?  
 
my right mag is going there next annual. 
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On 12/4/2019 at 6:18 PM, kortopates said:

+1 for Robert and Aero Accessories. They do great work and shop time has always been 24 hrs for the 500 hr which is a complete disassemble and re-assemble. Prices are very reasonable as well. Been using him for over 10 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When my plane was AOG in August in Pomona.  Kortopates recommended Aero Accessories.  My son drop both mags off in the afternoon and were ready for pickup the next morning.

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On 12/4/2019 at 10:20 PM, DXB said:

Any recommendations for mag service shops in the Northeast?

We have been using Columbia Aircraft Services in Bloomsburg, PA.  They are an engine shop, but we had them overhaul at least 2 sets of mags so I guess they do that too...

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2 minutes ago, cferr59 said:

We have been using Columbia Aircraft Services in Bloomsburg, PA.  They are an engine shop, but we had them overhaul at least 2 sets of mags so I guess they do that too...

Any A&P can overhaul Mags (as well as the 500 hr IRAN, which is not an overhaul) but the point of this discussion is to seek out a Mag speciality repair station to have your Mag's IRAN'd instead. Instead of just visually inspecting mag parts as most A&P's are limited too, such speciality shops all have the ability to bench test parts and overall mag operation which ensures a more thorough mag inspection. Additionally, this service isn't going to cost you more whether your A&P does it or you send it out to a speciality repair station to perform; other than some time and shipping charges. In fact, with many speciality shops including the one I've recommended, Aero Accessories, one can make case it a more economical route to go given the better parts pricing through the mag speciality shop. I know I can't buy many of the mag parts at the prices Aero Accessories charges me for. 

A mag overhaul is only necessary at the time the engine is overhauled/majored and not recommended before since it will needlessly replace parts required merely to conform to the required overhaul replacement parts. An IRAN replaces all seals, bearing, points and anything that is needed - every 500 hrs or 5 yrs.

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2 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Any A&P can overhaul Mags (as well as the 500 hr IRAN, which is not an overhaul) but the point of this discussion is to seek out a Mag speciality repair station to have your Mag's IRAN'd instead. Instead of just visually inspecting mag parts as most A&P's are limited too, such speciality shops all have the ability to bench test parts and overall mag operation which ensures a more thorough mag inspection. Additionally, this service isn't going to cost you more whether your A&P does it or you send it out to a speciality repair station to perform; other than some time and shipping charges. In fact, with many speciality shops including the one I've recommended, Aero Accessories, one can make case it a more economical route to go given the better parts pricing through the mag speciality shop. I know I can't buy many of the mag parts at the prices Aero Accessories charges me for. 

A mag overhaul is only necessary at the time the engine is overhauled/majored and not recommended before since it will needlessly replace parts required merely to conform to the required overhaul replacement parts. An IRAN replaces all seals, bearing, points and anything that is needed - every 500 hrs or 5 yrs.

I mispoke about the overhaul.  We had them IRAN the mags for the 500 hour.  There was no reason to overhaul them at that point.  They did overhaul the mags as part of an engine overhaul. 

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1 hour ago, cferr59 said:

We have been using Columbia Aircraft Services in Bloomsburg, PA.  They are an engine shop, but we had them overhaul at least 2 sets of mags so I guess they do that too...

Thanks Chris - worth keeping in mind. I let a regular A&P my mag IRAN last time but was rewarded with an in flight mag failure far from home last week right at 500 hrs.  For all I know the A&P did a fine job, and I just had bad luck, but I figure that I might be able to stack the odds in my favor a bit for the next round through a specialty shop.

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1 hour ago, DXB said:

Thanks Chris - worth keeping in mind. I let a regular A&P my mag IRAN last time but was rewarded with an in flight mag failure far from home last week right at 500 hrs.  For all I know the A&P did a fine job, and I just had bad luck, but I figure that I might be able to stack the odds in my favor a bit for the next round through a specialty shop.

I had a mag come apart at just a tick over 100 hours. It had been overhauled by aero accessories, which is highly recommended here. The other mag had a magnet that should have been removed from service 20 years ago. Also last overhauled by aero accessories. 

Stuff happens.  I'd still send stuff there.

In other words I wouldn't be too hard on your A&P.  

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On 12/4/2019 at 1:38 PM, Mooney_Allegro said:

A word to the wise:  Make sure your service center times the mags correctly and installs them correctly.  My MSC did NOT time my mags correctly at the 500-hour mag check back in Sept. 2018.  They mistimed both mags by 8 degrees and installed the mags incorrectly.  I flew around for over a year with misfires at high altitude and I couldn't run lean-of-peak anymore after my 500-hour check.  Plus both turbos were hotter than normal for well over a year.   About three hours after my 500-hr mag inspection, after I complained, I took the plane back to the MSC and they checked everything and said all was well.  After well over a year, I was so disgusted with my engine, that I flew down to Fairhope, AL in October to Continental, and they discovered the issues.  Mags mis-timed by 8 degrees and the mags were installed canted to the left instead of towards each other.   After Continental made the proper corrections, I can now run lean-of-peak and no more misfires at FL250. 

 The mechanic at Continental, who was excellent (Doug Burdick) advised me that they correct A LOT of mechanic's mistakes all across the USA.  I highly recommend Continental in Fairhope for engine issues.  They know what they're doing.  

I always stagger mag overhauls in case of a bad batch of parts or a bad install. First mag IRAN in my m20f will be replacing with an emag and keeping the one I took off as a spare. 

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I had two mags OH'd on a Bonanza many years ago.  Timed, run, leak checked, I departed CLT about 5:30 the next morning.  Wheels up, suddenly the engine ran awful.  Power down, backfiring, shook so hard it tore a metal baffle.  This started just about even with the tower.  Must have had flames shooting from the exhausts or something, they cleared me to land any runway before I could ask. One of the mags was loose and adjusted it's own timing.  Check behind your mechanic.

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I've never understood the one mag at a time. One reason is that my mags on the back of my TSIO-360-MBcSB are hard to get too. I either have to pull the second Alternator or the Intercooler or both, so I pull the second alternator which gives me access to the left mag. With the Left mg off, I can get to the Right mag without pulling the intercooler. Whenever I pull one Mag, they're going to both get re-timed externally which means loosening up the other one to re-time it as well. Because I run pressurized mags, I've found through experience I really don't want to pass on the opportunity of internally inspecting both mags at annual so both mags come off at the annual and both mags get at least re-timed internally and usually with new points if not more. 

Then both mags go back on with new hardware and get re-timed externally and finally torqued to spec with the torque wrench. Before first flight the engine is run up with a mag test where usually, after re-timing the mags internally and externally, and plugs serviced the drop between the mags is near even if not even.  But its not typical to see both mags perform so well together without doing them both together and I prefer the ability to be alerted by any unexpected difference between the two of them rather than minimize the presumed risk of only touching one at a time.  Plus the engine gets leak checked for oil leaks and exhaust leaks and all control's lubricated and rigging re-checked. Only then the cowling goes back on and the plane is readied for a maintenance flight in the pattern to verify max power redline settings etc.  I've never had a problem that wasn't caught and corrected before first flight but realizing making mistakes is only human and I feel compelled to check and double check everything before even first start to avoid the horror stories we've all read about here. I am just as vulnerable if not more so than many because I don't have any one to QA my work but myself. It take a lot of extra time to double check things before first flight but its my butt and one thing I've learned is nothing in aviation can be rushed nor verified well enough. Just thought I'd share my contrary opinion to thought of servicing only one mag at a time that many seem to subscribe too.

Edited by kortopates
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On 12/9/2019 at 7:56 AM, David Lloyd said:

I had two mags OH'd on a Bonanza many years ago.  Timed, run, leak checked, I departed CLT about 5:30 the next morning.  Wheels up, suddenly the engine ran awful.  Power down, backfiring, shook so hard it tore a metal baffle.  This started just about even with the tower.  Must have had flames shooting from the exhausts or something, they cleared me to land any runway before I could ask. One of the mags was loose and adjusted it's own timing.  Check behind your mechanic.

Or get a better one!  

Clarence

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