Need Help

[JayMatt]

So Today I flew from Galveston Texas to Falmouth Ky just south of Cincinnati Airport. This is my first long flight as a new pilot. From Galveston to Memphis TN was a breeze, air was smooth and everything was perfect and made good time. About an hour from Tennessee my plan had a little cough for about a second. It I thought maybe I was running a little rich so I leaned it up a little bit and continued on it happened a few more times and well I'm in Falmouth now instead of Cincinnati. The bog down or cough or whatever was going on, happened 15 min apart or so. the third time it happened it was like, ok we need to land. 

Any ideas what is causing this? Tomorrow I'll head out to the plane and check for bad gas or junk in the gas. I filled up Just outside of Memphis at Panola County KPMU... the place wasn't run down or anything. All my instruments stayed in the green.

I also need to know if anyone knows an A&P in the area? How do I track one down out here? Need to try and get this resolved, I can leave the plane where its at if need be, would rather not if I can get someone to look at it after I check the fuel. Not sure why I didn't check before leaving for a hotel but I was exhausted after I started to realize I could have an engine failure and needed to land. 

[Boilermonkey]

What type of Mooney do you have?  If it is TC and you were at altitude it's not uncommon to have mags arc causing those kind of problems. The remedy for that would be a overhaul.  

[Mooneymite]

You did the right thing.  On the ground is a great place to be when troubleshooting.  Could be any number of things, but my guess is a little water in the fuel.

[0TreeLemur]

Fouled plugs can cause that.   Do you have an engine monitor?    If not, that is the best first upgrade for a Mooney in my opinion.  Tells you an awful lot about what's happening under the hood.

What model/engine have you in your ship?  

 

[jetdriven]

If it’s an FInplane it could be a piece of debris in a fuel injector nozzle. A multipoint engine monitor with data logging would help identify this. Also same thing with an intermittent fouling plug. A single cylinder with a shorted plug will cause this. Also a mag acting up or randomly misfiring can cause intermittent roughness. Start with the gas then look at the plugs. 

[JayMatt]

If its TC? I was at 3500 at the time and its a 1978 M20J

[Fly Boomer]

TC is common abbreviation for turbocharger.

[jetdriven]

How old is the mag and the plugs 

[JayMatt]

1 minute ago, Fly Boomer said:

TC is common abbreviation for turbocharger.

It's not a turbo but it is fuel injected.

No engine monitor, was literally my next purchase and was trying to get in in the next month. Doesn't help me not having it now. 

If it is mags, is switching to a sure-fly a large undertaking for a mechanic?

[JayMatt]

also to add to this, mags aren't at their 500 hour inspection and they had consistent RPM drop before take off. Any other way to test them other than pull them and send them off?

[carusoam]

So far so good…

1) Jay, you did the right thing…

2) Do you have a place to stay the night? Food, water, blankets? (No prizes will be awarded for freezing to death)

3) An engine monitor and a way to download the data would be really good right now…

4) Engine skips are not normal…

5) Anything from fuel, spark, and air can cause them…

6) Mis-behaving mags, fuel injectors, and plugs can play a roll…

7) Doing a run-up slowly, and deliberately, may give a hint if there is a mag or plug mis-behaving…

8) exercising the mixture knob during a run-up May be helpful…

Keep working the issues… to define what is working as expected… and what if anything is behaving funny…

PP thoughts only, Byron is an excellent mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

[Fly Boomer]

2 minutes ago, JayMatt said:

If it is mags, is switching to a sure-fly a large undertaking for a mechanic?

I don't have direct experience with them, but I would just try to find out what's going on and fix it.  If it turns out to be a mag, I would just fix the mag.

[Bartman]

Mine used to do that a lot. Then I replaced the ignition harness. Misfires are likely related to the spark. 

[JayMatt]

40 minutes ago, carusoam said:

So far so good…

1) Jay, you did the right thing…

2) Do you have a place to stay the night? Food, water, blankets? (No prizes will be awarded for freezing to death)

3) An engine monitor and a way to download the data would be really good right now…

4) Engine skips are not normal…

5) Anything from fuel, spark, and air can cause them…

6) Mis-behaving mags, fuel injectors, and plugs can play a roll…

7) Doing a run-up slowly, and deliberately, may give a hint if there is a mag or plug mis-behaving…

8) exercising the mixture knob during a run-up May be helpful…

Keep working the issues… to define what is working as expected… and what if anything is behaving funny…

PP thoughts only, Byron is an excellent mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-

I'm good I'm in a hotel 40min away which was my destination anyway. We were headed to midway between Cincinnati and Falmouth anyway so it worked out that family was same distance from either airport. 

I'll be calling a few mechanics tomorrow, sort this out and go do some testing.

Thanks everyone for the help, I'll try and post an update if I have time.

[GeeBee]

Regarding mags. Last month I had a factory new mag go bad at 318 hours. Like you, it would hiccup every so often, in particular at about 5K on climb out.   The real deal clincher was after it hiccuped I did a mag check at cruise power. Right mag spit out the bit. Engine did not quit, but it was running ugly. This was despite a run up check of 40 RPM drop and zero differential between the left and right. Often times, mag problems will not show up on run up, but when you stress them at high power or at altitude they will. Once I was able to get it to run ugly, I was able to use engine data to track it down to the entire mag and not just one cylinder. O/H shop said points were burned. I had them replace everything except the coil. The coil checked good and at 318 hours likely not intermittent. I do however replace coils at 1000 hours. Unfortunately nobody replaces coils on O/H exchange units which is why I only buy new if I need to get the airplane up quickly.

[Fly Boomer]

3 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Right mag spit out the bit.

Ha!  Not everyone is going to get that.

[Will.iam]

I picked up fuel one time and drained both for water and found none but after TO and cruising for an hour on right tank when i switched to left tank engine coughed and sputtered and just when i was about to switch back it cleared up. Guess I didn’t wait long enough or drain enough to get all the water out. Plus when i filled up it was 80 degrees and i had climbed to 12k so with cooling the fuel probably some water condensed out. 

[JayMatt]

UPDATE!

Well fuel checked out as good did a magneto test and the right mag is out. So now the plane is stuck in Kentucky until I get that fixed. I have called everywhere looking for mags and can't find them so maybe someone here has one? 

PN 10-382555-11

I can also upgrade to a 10-682555-11 If I can find one of those.

I checked everyone that could be found from google. Maybe someone here knows where I can get one? 

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, JayMatt said:

UPDATE!

Well fuel checked out as good did a magneto test and the right mag is out. So now the plane is stuck in Kentucky until I get that fixed. I have called everywhere looking for mags and can't find them so maybe someone here has one? 

PN 10-382555-11

I can also upgrade to a 10-682555-11 If I can find one of those.

I checked everyone that could be found from google. Maybe someone here knows where I can get one? 

Have you looked at the points? If they have worn to where they aren’t opening, just re-gap them to about 0.010” and it will get you home. You can do this without removing the mag.

Have you checked the P leads? They sometimes short at the mag connector. You may not have a bad mag. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by N201MKTurbo

[A64Pilot]

4 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Ha!  Not everyone is going to get that.

A few of us rode.

I’ve had fuel nozzles clog a couple of times, not once did one ever clear up, it stayed clogged.

I’ve never seen or heard of “bad” Avgas, and I assume he sumped the tanks, so unlikely water

I would recommend if you think it’s mixture related, go richer, not much can happen to make an engine just start running rich, but lots of things can make one go lean

Mechanic is your best bet, we could speculate forever. As a Kid I worked in an auto shop, one day a lady called, said her car wouldn’t start, she wanted to know how much it would cost to fix it, didn’t like my answer and I was very polite. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by A64Pilot

[A64Pilot]

I jumped the gun, sorry.

I believe that’s a Dual Mag, your best bet is to have it removed and overhauled.

Used to be Aircraft Spruce sold overhauled ones and charged you a core charge that you got back when you sent your in, but that was years ago, I dint know if they still do that 

[A64Pilot]

QAA says they have one, but I have not called to verify

https://www.qaa.com/products/aircraft-magnetos/dual-magnetos/10-382555-11-bendix-dual-magneto

[JayMatt]

4 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

QAA says they have one, but I have not called to verify

https://www.qaa.com/products/aircraft-magnetos/dual-magnetos/10-382555-11-bendix-dual-magneto

I called them and everyone under the sun, no one has one. It's getting pulled by a mechanic tomorrow and I found a guy willing to rebuild it. Plane will be down a week. Still trying to decide if I stay here or fly home Monday and come back when it's ready and the weather is right

 

[Guest]

Those part numbers are D2000 and D3000 respectively.  If you’re in Cincinnati area have you checked with Signature engines for an exchange one?

Clarence 

[carusoam]

Great situation update Jay!

 

Mag checks at altitude are something we have learned about around here….

Not something I ever heard of before in aviation 101…

 

Some house keeping notes…

To best explain this type of help needed… (title adjustment)…

Is to include the key letters….   AOG in the title…

It basically means your aircraft is on the ground and stuck until you can get help…

Like asking for airplane assistance, to not accidentally dial 911….

 

Odd things can happen inside a mag over the hours it has been run… points, capacitors, adjustments, and that golden brown plastic gear….
500hours is a good time for R&R… many go on and stay on until failure… (an ownership 102 kind of lesson…)

A new gear has all of its teeth, and is white in color… 

There are pics around here of what gets replaced in mag OHs… the kit is a bunch of parts….

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic…

Best regards,

-a-