El Paso Mechanic for pre purchase

[chrisk]

I think I have finally found the Mooney for me. It's in El Paso and I need a good mechanic for a pre-purchase that is not associated with El Paso Aero, since they are the ones brokering the plane.

Thanks!

[KSMooniac]

I think your best bet would be to fly it or have it flown to Dugosh for the PPI. The flight would give you a chance to check out all the avionics thoroughly.

I flew my plane 2 hours to Maxwell's shop before buying it. Sales guy went with me and we were back in the evening on the same day. I had to pay for the gas and PPI of course.

[thinwing]

Good Idea...

[chrisk]

I apreciate the suggestions, but both are kind of far from El Paso. 400 nm and 600 nm for Dougosh and Maxwell respectively. Surely there is a competent mooney mechanic in El Paso. I just need to find him.

[Parker_Woodruff]

I apreciate the suggestions, but both are kind of far from El Paso. 400 nm and 600 nm for Dougosh and Maxwell respectively. Surely there is a competent mooney mechanic in El Paso. I just need to find him.

But entirely worth it for a big purchase like this. Mine came to Maxwell from near Phoenix Arizona. I got the owner a plane ticket home on American Airlines. He agreed to pay for a/w squawks and I'd cover the flat rate labor.

A nice long flight is a good thing to do before sending a plane in for Pre-purchase inspection.

[fantom]

Surely there is a competent mooney mechanic in El Paso. I just need to find him.

Of course....but a Mooney guru is better!

Diogenes is still searching

[RobertoTohme]

I'll put my 2 cents here... I'm based in ELP, and I'm not aware of anybody with Mooney knowledge outside EP Aero (which is a MSC). I stress the point of not being aware, no that there isn't any. Both of my Mooneys have been serviced by EP Aero, and I'm happy with the results. Now that the Acclaim is gone and the Eagle sat in SAT for 2 years up for sale, the last 2 annuals have been done at Dugosh at very reasonable prices; of course, my plane is perfect and with just a few hours in between annuals it becomes more of a ritual of disassembling, change the oil and putting it back together rather than actual maintenance needed. Personally, I would take it to Dugosh (which is the closest) for the pre buy if you need to keep EP Aero out of the loop, but again, it's just my 2 cents.

Hope everything works out good in your deal.

[chrisk]

I ended up using Glenn at Advanced Aircraft Services. He seemed to know Mooneys well. Unfortunately, the pre-buy turned up more than I expected. Compressions were 72, 75, 73, 52, 42, and 72. Cylinders 4 and 5 were leaking at the exhaust valve. Further there was some metal in the filter, although some cylinder work was done about 10 hours ago. (But more than a year ago in calendar time). And the nose gear pucks have cracks.

I'm not sure what I will do, but I'll probably pass. The plane went through an anual 2 months ago, and none of this showed up. I'm not sure I can feel comfortable with the current shop fixing the problems, given they didn't find it on the anual.

[DonMuncy]

Because you list 6 compression numbers, I assume this is a Continental. Continental has a service bulletin that says with low compressions, one should fly the plane for at least 45 minutes and recheck the compressions.

The metal in the filter could be the result of the cylinder work, but you will definitely want to know what that is.

These are red flags, but maybe not enough to cross it off the list yet.

[RobertoTohme]

I'll give the benefit of doubt to EP Aero on the pucks; when they did annuals on mine they told me about the conditions of the LG pucks and I was the one choosing to change them or not... perhaps the owner didn't authorize the change at annual. As to the cyl work, when they did the top overhaul on my Eagle after 25 hours 2 cyls were low and they re-did them at no cost to me; they checked out normal after that and no further problems since.

[chrisk]

Because you list 6 compression numbers, I assume this is a Continental. Continental has a service bulletin that says with low compressions, one should fly the plane for at least 45 minutes and recheck the compressions.

The metal in the filter could be the result of the cylinder work, but you will definitely want to know what that is.

These are red flags, but maybe not enough to cross it off the list yet.

Yes, it is a 6 cylinder TSIO-360. And I would estimate the plane was run for about an hour before the compressions were checked, since I gave it a test flight. Also, the two cylinders were leaking past the exhaust valve. It could be clearly heard from the exhaust.

Maybe the metal in the filter is from the cylinder work, but maybe not. It's only had an hour on it since the annual where the oil and filter were changed.

So, now I need to think about what would make me comfortable with the engine. Maybe 10 hours of operation, followed by an oil/filter change. Then another 10 hours with oil analysis and a filter check for metal? If the filter and oil analysis are clean, then maybe I'd feel ok about the metal found. The low compressions and leaky exhaust valves would need attention though.