Sun 'n Fun -- Almost

[PT20J]

 I decided to fly my 1994 M20J MSE to Sun 'n Fun this year despite the terrible winter. It's got to get better, right? Got from the Seattle area to Twin Falls for fuel on Monday the 27th and then stopped by snow showers. Made it to Shreveport LA the next day via Santa Fe for fuel (the Santa Fe terminal is still under construction and will be until Sept.). Wednesday morning the airplane started very rough with #1 cylinder not firing. Clogged injector or stuck valve? 350 hours on a factory rebuilt engine, so I guessed injector. Went to local auto parts store and got a wrench and some carb cleaner and cleaned injector. No change. No local mechanic available; apparently he only works when he needs beer money. Shreveport is only about 70 miles or so east of Longview TX so I called Don Maxwell who immediately swung into action and sent Mike to rescue me. He staked the exhaust valve in #1 which got it running and I flew it to Longview where Don and Paul and Mike performed the rope trick (they like to call it Rope-a-Dope) and reamed the valve guide. Don graciously loaned me his truck which I repaid by filling the tank. Great guys, the Maxwells. I didn't see Jan, but she is reportedly busy planning MooneyMAX. I gave up on Sun 'n Fun due to the weather forecasts and frankly I was a bit beat. Flew to Payson AZ and visited a friend that moved there form southern CA and built a great home. Then to get back home. With the weather so bad in the pacific NW and the freezing level down near the surface, the only reasonable route for a non-turbo, non-FIKI airplane was low up the coast so I stopped in San Jose CA to let the weather clear a day and then flew home. There were a few low clouds and heavy rain showers along the coast, but nothing like what I flew in in Ketchikan when I flew Beavers up there. The only glitch was that the FBO at San Jose broke a stop off the nose gear towing it. But, Mooney has the part in stock and I'm letting the insurance take care of it. About 30 hours flying to not get where I intended, but as I told my wife, if I really needed to get there I would have purchased an airline ticket. The journey is the adventure.

Skip

[carusoam]

Way to go Skip!

You really know how this game is played!

Was the JPI any help in terms of showing a saw tooth pattern of sticky valves?

That’s usually, sticky in terms of not rotating… as opposed to sticky jamming up and down motion with carbon deposits….

 

Thanks for posting the details!

+1 for the nice pirep of the DMax family…

Best regards,

-a-

[PT20J]

I've got a G3X with EIS. Haven't really looked at the data, but it was running fine until the morning when I started it in Shreveport. 

 

[alextstone]

What a great narrative!  Thanks Skip!

[RoundTwo]

Great story but sorry to hear of your troubles.

[ilovecornfields]

So, to summarize, no sun and no fun?

[RoundTwo]

11 minutes ago, ilovecornfields said:

So, to summarize, no sun and no fun?

That’s cold! Literally.

[CChris]

Sorry to hear that you did not reach your original destination, but regardless that was a nice adventure and worth reading about it. Thanks for sharing!

[Bartman]

It takes a lot of guts, confidence, and experience to literally fly across the country safely, especially with predictably unstable weather in April.  It was not the weather that caused your troubles, but the snow shower delayed your progress, and that kept you close to Longview.  If you think about it, the Mooneyspace ecosystem helped minimize the impact of your challenges and, and with your good judgment, helped you find your way home safely.

[PT20J]

I think it's well worth considering SavvyBreakdown coverage. I like to think I'm a fairly savvy guy myself, and I always figured that I could call around and find a mechanic if I broke down away from home and that I know enough not to get ripped off or have my airplane held captive at some shop. But, I didn't take into account how stressful it is to be stranded, away from home, with an unhelpful and unsympathetic FBO. I also learned that just because an FBO advertises services such as rental cars and maintenance, it doesn't mean that it can actually provide those services. I usually land at larger airports because the services, while often more expensive, are frequently better. In this case, I landed at the smaller of two airports in Shreveport and that was probably an error.

EDIT: Of course KSJC is a large airport with two large international FBOs and they broke my airplane, so maybe it's just not possible to win.

Skip

Edited April 7, 2023 by PT20J

[Ragsf15e]

13 hours ago, PT20J said:

 I decided to fly my 1994 M20J MSE to Sun 'n Fun this year despite the terrible winter. It's got to get better, right? Got from the Seattle area to Twin Falls for fuel on Monday the 27th and then stopped by snow showers. Made it to Shreveport LA the next day via Santa Fe for fuel (the Santa Fe terminal is still under construction and will be until Sept.). Wednesday morning the airplane started very rough with #1 cylinder not firing. Clogged injector or stuck valve? 350 hours on a factory rebuilt engine, so I guessed injector. Went to local auto parts store and got a wrench and some carb cleaner and cleaned injector. No change. No local mechanic available; apparently he only works when he needs beer money. Shreveport is only about 70 miles or so east of Longview TX so I called Don Maxwell who immediately swung into action and sent Mike to rescue me. He staked the exhaust valve in #1 which got it running and I flew it to Longview where Don and Paul and Mike performed the rope trick (they like to call it Rope-a-Dope) and reamed the valve guide. Don graciously loaned me his truck which I repaid by filling the tank. Great guys, the Maxwells. I didn't see Jan, but she is reportedly busy planning MooneyMAX. I gave up on Sun 'n Fun due to the weather forecasts and frankly I was a bit beat. Flew to Payson AZ and visited a friend that moved there form southern CA and built a great home. Then to get back home. With the weather so bad in the pacific NW and the freezing level down near the surface, the only reasonable route for a non-turbo, non-FIKI airplane was low up the coast so I stopped in San Jose CA to let the weather clear a day and then flew home. There were a few low clouds and heavy rain showers along the coast, but nothing like what I flew in in Ketchikan when I flew Beavers up there. The only glitch was that the FBO at San Jose broke a stop off the nose gear towing it. But, Mooney has the part in stock and I'm letting the insurance take care of it. About 30 hours flying to not get where I intended, but as I told my wife, if I really needed to get there I would have purchased an airline ticket. The journey is the adventure.

Skip

Great story.  Maxwells have always been really helpful!

I do find it a little concerning that you had a sticky valve on a factory reman after 350 hours.  What the heck causes that? Poor manufacturing tolerances?  Exhaust buildup?  

[PT20J]

Choosing to go up the west coast was the only viable option, but not without risks. The ceilings were mostly MVFR and the rain showers reduced visibility to about a mile in a couple of places. I could only go north or south; I didn't have enough fuel to reach Hawaii if I went west, and the mountains were obscured to the east. But there are a lot of airports along the way that report weather and I have ADS-B In so I thought I could look ahead. But I only got NEXRAD -- METARS were unavailable. So, I had to go old school and call FSS. 

When I got home I filed a report at https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/adsb/adsb_reports/. Today I got this response:

"Thank you for reporting this issue. We discovered that one of the data feeds from which the system receives FISB products for uplink was degraded. We requested the service provider to fail over to the other data feed and confirmed that all FISB products were restored (as of 4/6, at about 13:30 UTC)."

So, if you see a problem, report it. These services don't seem to be well monitored and it won't get fixed if you don't tell them about it. This is the second time I've reported a problem and both times the FAA did not know about it beforehand, but fixed it promptly after I reported it.

Skip

[Bolter]

41 minutes ago, PT20J said:

EDIT: Of course KSJC is a large airport with two large international FBOs and they broke my airplane, so maybe it's just not possible to win.

Skip

At least the travel stop did its job, when it broke.  It gave enough resistance to keep them from crushing the tubing.

When I am flying the coastal route, I find that Santa Rosa (KSTS) is a good fueling point, expecially when weather and services are a factor.  Big enough to have 2 significant FBO's and service options, small enough that self service fuel is offered and not ridiculously over-priced, and you can get in and out easily.  Cannot gurantee they will not damage a plane, but I have never had to be towed when at either FBO.

[PT20J]

2 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

Great story.  Maxwells have always been really helpful!

I do find it a little concerning that you had a sticky valve on a factory reman after 350 hours.  What the heck causes that? Poor manufacturing tolerances?  Exhaust buildup?  

Good question. I don't know. I called Lycoming tech support and they don't know. Mike at Maxwell's told me he had it happen on a brand new engine once.

[Danb]

Paul is doing a top on my new to me Acclaim which has under 400 hours. I’ve never flown behind a Continental engine, my lycomings have been bulletproof since the 80’s

[ilovecornfields]

12 minutes ago, Danb said:

Paul is doing a top on my new to me Acclaim which has under 400 hours. I’ve never flown behind a Continental engine, my lycomings have been bulletproof since the 80’s

Are you able to download the engine monitor data? Any red flags?

[Danb]

Yes

[ilovecornfields]

10 minutes ago, Danb said:

Yes

Anything you can share that might help keep the rest of us Continental owners from suffering premature cylinder death?

[Yetti]

Marvel Magic Mystery oil is your friend....    Dons Turnout PPE and runs for cover.

[PT20J]

2 hours ago, Danb said:

Paul is doing a top on my new to me Acclaim which has under 400 hours. I’ve never flown behind a Continental engine, my lycomings have been bulletproof since the 80’s

I saw it in the shop. Beautiful airplane. It sounds like it just sat too long before you bought it.

[Danb]

2 hours ago, ilovecornfields said:

Anything you can share that might help keep the rest of us Continental owners from suffering premature cylinder death?

No clue, just hoping mine will behave.

[Danb]

32 minutes ago, PT20J said:

I saw it in the shop. Beautiful airplane. It sounds like it just sat too long before you bought it.

Skip u could be right, also went a year and half without oil change, waiting for FAA airworthy cert then good to go. Thanks for mentioning beauty my wife loves it or I wouldn’t have it she actually bought it for us.

[carusoam]

Check data logs for CHTs…

We all like to see CHTs maintained 380°F and below…

But, fire breathing dragon mode trades cylinders for lots of speed…

Using FBDM often… even 400hrs is too soon for replacement…. Or too expensive to use FBDM….
 

We would need two Acclaims to cover the down time.  

 

Hmmmmm…

How about some fancy valve prep… porting and polishing and flow balancing of the new cylinders… to match some fancy Gami balanced fuel injectors…

You did get that 310hp STC…. Right?   
 

Speaking of inner beauty… the intake plumbing of the Acclaim is amazing!!!   Lotso curvaciousness…

PP spending OPM only, tax season is not even near over yet….

Best regards,

-a-

[EricJ]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:23 AM, PT20J said:

I think it's well worth considering SavvyBreakdown coverage. I like to think I'm a fairly savvy guy myself, and I always figured that I could call around and find a mechanic if I broke down away from home and that I know enough not to get ripped off or have my airplane held captive at some shop. But, I didn't take into account how stressful it is to be stranded, away from home, with an unhelpful and unsympathetic FBO. I also learned that just because an FBO advertises services such as rental cars and maintenance, it doesn't mean that it can actually provide those services. I usually land at larger airports because the services, while often more expensive, are frequently better. In this case, I landed at the smaller of two airports in Shreveport and that was probably an error.

EDIT: Of course KSJC is a large airport with two large international FBOs and they broke my airplane, so maybe it's just not possible to win.

Skip

It really is risky travelling via GA given the spottiness of availability and quality of maintainers if you wind up AOG somewhere.    There are all kinds of unexpected barriers to fixing things.   I flew out to CA with a bunch of tools, etc., to help a buddy that was AOG with a cold cylinder.   After popping the cowl and checking out a few things we got it going and susbequently learned that that airport does not allow maintenance on the ramp.    If you break down there, you are supposed to wait for the availability (which didn't exist) of the local FBO.   That policy is not unique to that airport.    They didn't make a big deal of it, though, and we were on our way, but it's the sort of thing you can run into.

And glad you got to see Payson and that area.   It's a nice little airport and a very common breakfast/lunch destination for local flyers.   Has a nice on-airport campsite, too.

 

[alexz]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:54 PM, PT20J said:

 

So, if you see a problem, report it. These services don't seem to be well monitored and it won't get fixed if you don't tell them about it. This is the second time I've reported a problem and both times the FAA did not know about it beforehand, but fixed it promptly after I reported it.

Skip

Sounds like a perfect application for AI to monitor the feeds.