TKS "smoking" after landing

[Jfinch]

Last Friday when I landed at my home airport, after a GPS approach that put me in the clouds with light icing for about 15 minutes, the lineman noticed "smoke" coming out of my cowling.  I went over to inspect and indeed there was a very light (thin) "smoke" eminating from the cowling.  It didn't smell like electrical or oil or rubber burning........it had a funny smell that I didn't recognize. 

The freezing level was about 2,000' that day, and PIREPS were reporting light to moderate rime in the clouds; tops were 4,600' and bases about 2,900'.  Appraoch cleared me to 4,000 and kept me there for about 10 minutes vectoring me around our larger regional airport here.  I primed the TKS about 80 miles out, on high pump mode; then I  turned it on high again just before entering the clouds, then back to normal.  After a couple minutes, I noticed a little ice building up on the leading edge of the wings, so I put the pump back on high setting for a couple minutes........when the ice dissappeared then I switched back to normal.  After I broke out and had the runway in sight and knew I would be clear of clouds for the rest of the flight, I turned the TKS system off.

I'm thinking the "smoke" was excess TKS fluid that accumulated in the cowling and dripped down onto the muffler or other hot parts while taxiing in, and that produced the "smoke". 

Has anyone else had this experience, or any advice?

Thanks.

[FoxMike]

I have not had the problem but suggest you take the top cowl of and turn on the TKS pump.  The TKS line coming foreward from the firewall may be leaking.  Of course do NOT start the engine.

[Jfinch]

I just talked to a MSC I trust, and he thinks the feeder tube to the slinger on back side of the prop is probably leaking TKS fluid.  He said they have a habit of coming loose.  He is not concerned about this as a safety of flight issue, and thinks it's OK to fly as is.  My annual is due in January, so I'm going to let him resolve it then.

[Awful_Charlie]

Can't say I've ever noticed any smoking, but have noticed the 'overheated coolant' smell a few times on the ground after using it shortly before landing.

More annoyingly, at least one batch I picked up seems to have had a mild 'paint stripper' effect on the crankcase and cylinders, which is mainly unsightly, but merits vacuuming out the paint flakes from the oil cooler from time to time.

Also had the slinger ring feeder come loose (immediately after annual) which then nicked the seperators on the back of the prop, and blocked the orifice!  Cleared with a bit of lockwire, and then replaced, torqued and lockwired the union (it wasn't lockwired before)

Ben

[N513ZM]

Quote: Jfinch

Last Friday when I landed at my home airport, after a GPS approach that put me in the clouds with light icing for about 15 minutes, the lineman noticed "smoke" coming out of my cowling.  I went over to inspect and indeed there was a very light (thin) "smoke" eminating from the cowling.  It didn't smell like electrical or oil or rubber burning........it had a funny smell that I didn't recognize. 

The freezing level was about 2,000' that day, and PIREPS were reporting light to moderate rime in the clouds; tops were 4,600' and bases about 2,900'.  Appraoch cleared me to 4,000 and kept me there for about 10 minutes vectoring me around our larger regional airport here.  I primed the TKS about 80 miles out, on high pump mode; then I  turned it on high again just before entering the clouds, then back to normal.  After a couple minutes, I noticed a little ice building up on the leading edge of the wings, so I put the pump back on high setting for a couple minutes........when the ice dissappeared then I switched back to normal.  After I broke out and had the runway in sight and knew I would be clear of clouds for the rest of the flight, I turned the TKS system off.

I'm thinking the "smoke" was excess TKS fluid that accumulated in the cowling and dripped down onto the muffler or other hot parts while taxiing in, and that produced the "smoke". 

Has anyone else had this experience, or any advice?

Thanks.

[Chessieretriever]

Had this happen many times on our TLS and would not worry about it. If you don't see the fine mist on the windshield from the prop then your slinger ring supply is not making it past the hollow studs to the prop and you may have a heavier than normal "drip" on the exhaust which could make this symptom worse (we have had it with everything working normally during heavy de-icing use during decent so you may want to confirm that it is indeed not making it to the slinger ring firt before concluding that this is a problem that you need or want to address).

Chessie