Another TIT question for the group

[Mooney_Allegro]

Back in January, my TIT probe started acting erratically while taxiing out for takeoff in KMAF.    It went from normal temperature all the way up to 2000'F slowly during the taxi out at 1,000 RPMs.  It then X'ed out red.  I returned back to the good folks at Deer Horn Aviation, and they suspected the TIT probe was bad, and replaced it with a new one a week later.  While enroute to Las Vegas after replacement, the TIT indication slowly started increasing to red line and blanked out.  I diverted, uncowled and checked the engine with nothing unusual, oil temp and all other indications were normal, so I continued the flight to Las Vegas with the TIT probe slowly increasing from normal temp all the way to red line during the entire flight.  I suspected it was a bad TIT reading.  I recycled the circuit breaker each time and it restarted the process over and over during the flight.    I also called SAVVY breakdown service to get a second opinion before I departed from the divert airfield.      It turned out that I had a bad GEA71 and it was sent back to Garmin for repair.  When it returned, all of the settings were erased including the G1000 software, so my Garmin tech had a hard time reprogramming it for my aircraft options/installations.   It took him at least 4 hours in total and several trips to my hangar.  He ran down the new battery in the process, because he had battery 2 selected instead of batt 1 with his power cart installed.    My mechanic ended up putting back the old TIT probe we suspected as bad and kept the new one as a spare.    I recommend taking a photo of all the pages in your GEA71 in the event it has to be sent back to Garmin, otherwise it will take hours for your Garmin dealer to reprogram the unit when it comes back from Garmin if he doesn't know what he's doing.     You also have to reload the G1000 software on it, which you can get from the Garmin website or dealer.  I recommend saving a copy of the G1000 software and keeping it in the plane.  Also, keep a copy of your synthetic vision unlock card in the plane for instances like this.    I think I used a 32 gig card for the G1000 software.   The process took a lot of time, effort and thousands of dollars.  Garmin wasn't any help in the process.   They just kept telling me, "contact your Garmin dealer with any questions you have".    With an erratic TIT probe, the last issue I would have thought would be a defective GEA71 box, and that's exactly what the issue was.       

By the way, Don Brady at Deer Horn Aviation in Midland, TX (KMAF) was fantastic.   They bent over backwards to help me while my plane was there for over a month, including letting me borrow their courtest SUV for days at a time.  

[carusoam]

Really nice pirep for…….  Don Brady at Deer Horn Aviation in Midland, TX (KMAF) was fantastic 

See if @TrekLawler is aware of the TIT GEA71 and G1000 challenge…

Best regards,

-a-