annual blues

[gotyacovered]

ok... its killing me. the airplane in front of mine, has had a nightmare annual. its BAD. but it is taking forever... and it is killing me. i have averaged 15 hours a month december, jan, feb and march. i havent flown since 3/25. 

to pass the time i have been hitting the books pretty hard (Richard Collins - Flying IFR) and making daily trips out to the hangar. but it isnt working.

i figure when i get my plane back, there will be a number of things that i will discover that i could have done while it was undergoing the annual. one of which i have decided, i am going to wax her... any other suggestions?

[gotyacovered]

we are going to go with... could be worse.

need new exhaust, new carb heat hose, new breather tube bracket and new ducting for the rear passenger air. compressions looked good, oil leak i was concerned about was all from the breather, need to quit putting so much oil in it

[GusMcRae]

new ducting for the rear passenger air

Doesn't sound so bad....  I recently noticed that one of my rear air vents seems to be stopped up.  May be a dirt dobber nest in there or something like that or I guess it could be a bad vent duct. I need to figure out how to get it cleared out if it just has an obstruction.   

[gotyacovered]

Doesn't sound so bad....  I recently noticed that one of my rear air vents seems to be stopped up.  May be a dirt dobber nest in there or something like that or I guess it could be a bad vent duct. I need to figure out how to get it cleared out if it just has an obstruction.   

i think the exhaust is going to be relatively expensive, but not too bad i hope.

i can tell you how not to clear your ducts from dirt dobbers, that is the reason mine are having to be replaced. that ducting is more delicate than you might think.

[GusMcRae]

i can tell you how not to clear your ducts from dirt dobbers, that is the reason mine are having to be replaced. that ducting is more delicate than you might think.

Ok, that might be helpful, but even more helpful if you know how TO unclog it.....  I take it that a roto rooter, flushing with a garden hose, or forced air, are not viable options.....

[gotyacovered]

Ok, that might be helpful, but even more helpful if you know how TO unclog it.....  I take it that a roto rooter, flushing with a garden hose, or forced air, are not viable options.....

I busted them up and used compressed air to blow it out... (from the cockpit)

I would consider waiting until annual when they take the gap seals off to look at the cables they can just do it then. If you don't want to wait I would suggest gently busting the up and blowing it out backwards like I did... That was the most effective. Make sure an bust them up into smallest pieces possible.

[GusMcRae]

i think the exhaust is going to be relatively expensive, but not too bad i hope.

i can tell you how not to clear your ducts from dirt dobbers, that is the reason mine are having to be replaced. that ducting is more delicate than you might think.

I'm sure you've read about them too, but there are some exhaust mods that give you more performance.  Now would be the time to do that if you were considering it. 

[gotyacovered]

I'm sure you've read about them too, but there are some exhaust mods that give you more performance.  Now would be the time to do that if you were considering it. 

i couldn't really find any for my engine... have you found some?

i am going with a STC'd version of mine, but it is not really performance enhancing, it gets rid of the brackets on the #3 and #4 cylinders that causes damage to the engine mounts. its about $300 more expensive than going back with the factory ones. i found out today that i also have to replace the muffler, im looking at $1500, just for those items.

[GusMcRae]

i couldn't really find any for my engine... have you found some?

i am going with a STC'd version of mine, but it is not really performance enhancing, it gets rid of the brackets on the #3 and #4 cylinders that causes damage to the engine mounts. its about $300 more expensive than going back with the factory ones. i found out today that i also have to replace the muffler, im looking at $1500, just for those items.

Ouch!

No, I haven't even shopped around for them, and really don't even remember where I first read about them, but was fairly impressed at the HP that the exhaust mods can add. 

Had my AP fixed last week, no parts, only labor (roll pin that holds a gear on the shaft of the servo had come out for some reason) as it is a beotch to get to in the left wing of the 182, was $450.  Didn't take that long to fix, but did take awhile to take out and put back in.
I am having this Avionics shop shoot me an estimate to install an air gizmo receiver for a Garmin aera 560 (which I still need to find one and purchase), couple it all up with my Garmin 430, re-arrange the left side instrument panel, take out some old inoperable switches and indicator lights that just need cleaning up, add a master avionics switch (which I don't have now), and to add an altitude hold (3rd axis, mine is only a 2 axis) to the autopilot.  He said this would do away with all of the little "peg lights" (not sure that's what you call them, but they stick out and are about the same size as the knobs on you DG and altimeter instruments) that light up your instruments at night, and replace with circular lights that go just behind the panel and around the front edge of each instrument that needs a light (some of them are already back lit like the OBS and turn coordinator which has the AP indicator lights in it). 
Perhaps I should wait until after the annual to decide if I'm going to do this now or wait.
He's supposed to e-mail me the estimate this week, and he told me not to be too shocked when I get it.....   I figure it's going to be high, but he said that I could do it a little at a time if need be.  That's a little scary.

[gotyacovered]

Ouch!

No, I haven't even shopped around for them, and really don't even remember where I first read about them, but was fairly impressed at the HP that the exhaust mods can add. 

Had my AP fixed last week, no parts, only labor (roll pin that holds a gear on the shaft of the servo had come out for some reason) as it is a beotch to get to in the left wing of the 182, was $450.  Didn't take that long to fix, but did take awhile to take out and put back in.
I am having this Avionics shop shoot me an estimate to install an air gizmo receiver for a Garmin aera 560 (which I still need to find one and purchase), couple it all up with my Garmin 430, re-arrange the left side instrument panel, take out some old inoperable switches and indicator lights that just need cleaning up, add a master avionics switch (which I don't have now), and to add an altitude hold (3rd axis, mine is only a 2 axis) to the autopilot.  He said this would do away with all of the little "peg lights" (not sure that's what you call them, but they stick out and are about the same size as the knobs on you DG and altimeter instruments) that light up your instruments at night, and replace with circular lights that go just behind the panel and around the front edge of each instrument that needs a light (some of them are already back lit like the OBS and turn coordinator which has the AP indicator lights in it). 
Perhaps I should wait until after the annual to decide if I'm going to do this now or wait.
He's supposed to e-mail me the estimate this week, and he told me not to be too shocked when I get it.....   I figure it's going to be high, but he said that I could do it a little at a time if need be.  That's a little scary.

are you talking about nulites? they are sweet. you can get rid of that plastic on your panel and get an aluminum one. cleans it up big time.

i looked into nulites and balked when i aw the price... i also looked at LED post lights and they were like $40, EACH! guess i need about 10 of them! the nulites were about the same i think, but you have the additional cost of replacing the plastics. it is a much better look though.

i didnt do either one, partly b/c of hte price, partly b/c i was hoping to upgrade the panel at some point and didnt want to waste any money.

[GusMcRae]

are you talking about nulites? they are sweet. you can get rid of that plastic on your panel and get an aluminum one. cleans it up big time.

i looked into nulites and balked when i aw the price... i also looked at LED post lights and they were like $40, EACH! guess i need about 10 of them! the nulites were about the same i think, but you have the additional cost of replacing the plastics. it is a much better look though.

i didnt do either one, partly b/c of hte price, partly b/c i was hoping to upgrade the panel at some point and didnt want to waste any money.

I'm not sure what they're called.  May be what you're talking about. He had a company owned 172 there that he had redone the panel and it looked really nice. Had the aluminum in place of the plastic. If I wind up doing it I will take some before and after pics.

[GusMcRae]

Gotya, did you look at the pics I posted on the cool flying pics thread? Posted one of a nice C-310 that belonged to another customer that was at the shop that day.  Pretty good sized ship when you get close enough to size it up. It was one with a large nose. He said some of them have a smaller nose compartment. Buying fuel for 1 520 engine would scare me, much less 2 of them.

[gotyacovered]

Gotya, did you look at the pics I posted on the cool flying pics thread? Posted one of a nice C-310 that belonged to another customer that was at the shop that day.  Pretty good sized ship when you get close enough to size it up. It was one with a large nose. He said some of them have a smaller nose compartment. Buying fuel for 1 520 engine would scare me, much less 2 of them.

I did! i was looking at it on my phone and couldn't see it good. just went and looked again, that is one of my dream rides. too bad i'll probably never own a twin though. i remember traveling in my dads as a kid, its slick. great family plane. it and a baron both.

[GusMcRae]

are you talking about nulites? they are sweet. you can get rid of that plastic on your panel and get an aluminum one. cleans it up big time.

I looked up "nulites", and that is what he was talking about. I'll have to look again, but I think I would need 6 or 7 of them.  I'm getting anxious to see that estimate. 

The other thing I forgot to mention that I am going to have done is to swap transponders between our 2 planes. The 150 has a really nice/modern/newer digital Garmin transponder.  The 182 has a Garmin, but it is the manual dial type knobs.  Having the nicer one in the 150 is kind of overkill.  Just a better fit for both planes to swap them out.

[gotyacovered]

I looked up "nulites", and that is what he was talking about. I'll have to look again, but I think I would need 6 or 7 of them.  I'm getting anxious to see that estimate. 

The other thing I forgot to mention that I am going to have done is to swap transponders between our 2 planes. The 150 has a really nice/modern/newer digital Garmin transponder.  The 182 has a Garmin, but it is the manual dial type knobs.  Having the nicer one in the 150 is kind of overkill.  Just a better fit for both planes to swap them out.

thats a no brainer swap. that is one of many upgrades i need. i suppose ill keep everything as is and upgrade as needed.

[gotyacovered]

they havent touched my rig since they removed the exhaust. 

[GusMcRae]

they havent touched my rig since they removed the exhaust. 

That sucks!
I'm thinking that June might be a good time for an annual because it's so hot to be flying anyway...  I'm trying to convince myself of that before it comes that time.

I keep remembering other things that the avionics shop is going to give me an estimate on,,, right before I left the shop that day the guy squatted down and looked at the belly of the plane and asked if I wanted to go ahead and clean up the old antennas that serve no purpose anymore (old Narco and I'm not sure what all else is there serving no purpose).  I just said "sure, go ahead and include that in your estimate too".  I keep hearing that "cha-ching" of his cash register. 

They only work Mon-Thurs and I don't have my estimate yet.  I bet it is next week before I get it.

[gotyacovered]

That sucks!
I'm thinking that June might be a good time for an annual because it's so hot to be flying anyway...  I'm trying to convince myself of that before it comes that time.

I keep remembering other things that the avionics shop is going to give me an estimate on,,, right before I left the shop that day the guy squatted down and looked at the belly of the plane and asked if I wanted to go ahead and clean up the old antennas that serve no purpose anymore (old Narco and I'm not sure what all else is there serving no purpose).  I just said "sure, go ahead and include that in your estimate too".  I keep hearing that "cha-ching" of his cash register. 

They only work Mon-Thurs and I don't have my estimate yet.  I bet it is next week before I get it.

removing that old stuff will help though and pay off in the future. i cant wait to get my ADF and other stuff out of there, i'll pick up some payload.

[gotyacovered]

we are going to go with... could be worse.

need new exhaust, new carb heat hose, new breather tube bracket and new ducting for the rear passenger air. compressions looked good, oil leak i was concerned about was all from the breather, need to quit putting so much oil in it

add to the list new tail cone, spark plug wires and had to tighten left aileron and rudder cables meaning it has to be re-jigged.

the good news is that i may have it back by Friday. i am cautiously optimistic.

[GusMcRae]

Sounds like you're about to be back in business.  Hope it's not too bad on your hip pocket.

He's supposed to e-mail me the estimate this week, and he told me not to be too shocked when I get it.....   I figure it's going to be high, but he said that I could do it a little at a time if need be.  That's a little scary.

Got the quote late yesterday afternoon.  A little high was an understatement!  Just under $12K to do everthing I mentioned, other than he forgot to quote me adding altitude hold to my AP, and he forgot to quote cleaning up the old antennas and stuff on the belly.     No freaking way I can spend that much to make my panel look nice. 

I can get the transponders swapped out between the 2 planes, re-rack/re-arrange the radios/transponder(everything in the middle), add an airgizmo panel mount at the top of the stack (so that I can use the aera 500 that we already have) and add a power/data cable to sync it up to the Garmin 430, add a master avionics switch, and install new circuit breakers for the avionics for about $3,000. 

Forget about the nulite light rings ($1445 to install 11 of them), and replacing all the plastic (L $2550, R $2000, and sub panel overlays $2250) with aluminum.  That's just too much money, and I may run into some bugs when it comes time for the annual.

[gotyacovered]

Sounds like you're about to be back in business.  Hope it's not too bad on your hip pocket.


Got the quote late yesterday afternoon.  A little high was an understatement!  Just under $12K to do everthing I mentioned, other than he forgot to quote me adding altitude hold to my AP, and he forgot to quote cleaning up the old antennas and stuff on the belly.     No freaking way I can spend that much to make my panel look nice. 

I can get the transponders swapped out between the 2 planes, re-rack/re-arrange the radios/transponder(everything in the middle), add an airgizmo panel mount at the top of the stack (so that I can use the aera 500 that we already have) and add a power/data cable to sync it up to the Garmin 430, add a master avionics switch, and install new circuit breakers for the avionics for about $3,000. 

Forget about the nulite light rings ($1445 to install 11 of them), and replacing all the plastic (L $2550, R $2000, and sub panel overlays $2250) with aluminum.  That's just too much money, and I may run into some bugs when it comes time for the annual.

those prices are crazy, i decided real fast i didnt care how my panel looked until after i have a 430+. after that i will work on looks over functionality.

its going to be close on my plane, need it for a trip to ruston sunday...

[GusMcRae]

its going to be close on my plane, need it for a trip to ruston sunday...

Well, did they finish you up?

[gotyacovered]

Well, did they finish you up?

no... had to drive. should be finished today. planning on flying after work!!!

[GusMcRae]

no... had to drive. should be finished today. planning on flying after work!!!

There is a new wind farm under construction right now in the northern part of the county. I think I'm going to take the 150 up before dark and check it out from the air.

[gotyacovered]

didnt get to fly until yesterday... shot 3 touch and goes... and flew around just to get a good feel for her again. wind kept me on the toes landing... it was 180-200 13g20 used rnwy 16.

she was running cooler than normal, but smoother. the exhaust pipe is a little shorter, it def has a different sound to it, maybe even a little louder. they had to re-jig b/c the tension in the rudder and aleron cables were loose. she seemed more responsive than normal - but that could just be because i haven't flown in a month.

she got finished just in time, headed to dequeen and crossett for work.

[GusMcRae]

There is a new wind farm under construction right now in the northern part of the county. I think I'm going to take the 150 up before dark and check it out from the air.

I did take a friend, who has been wanting me to take him flying, Tuesday evening to look at the new wind farm progress and a few other items of interest.  Went in the C-150.  It amazes me how light the yoke feels compared to the C-182, and how much easier it is to grease a landing in it.
I'm flying the C-182 this weekend xc, should be about 5 hours all total, provided weather holds up. 

[gotyacovered]

uh... got my bill.

i am sure some of you experienced people could have told me, but i dont think i asked enough questions. ill put it this way, i have 8 months of engine reserves and ~140 hours and it isnt enough to pay for it. 

[bvillepig]

It is tough at times and I kick myself every once in a while and wonder what the heck was I thinking.   

Soon forgotton as the wheels leave the payment and that nose eases toward that beautiful blue sky.

[GusMcRae]

uh... got my bill.

i am sure some of you experienced people could have told me, but i dont think i asked enough questions. ill put it this way, i have 8 months of engine reserves and ~140 hours and it isnt enough to pay for it. 

Yikes! Both planes due in June. Sorry to hear it was that bad. Maybe you'll get off a lot easier for several years now.

Well put bville. Will have to remember that in times like these.

[bvillepig]

gotya sorry to hear the bad news. I know this annual must have been a suprise. Is it from a shop you have used in the past?

Steve

[gotyacovered]

gotya sorry to hear the bad news. I know this annual must have been a suprise. Is it from a shop you have used in the past?

Steve

yep... he is my regular mech, here in Hope. he brought in a guy to help him b/c he had quite a bit of work to do. i am not sure if that made a difference or not.

and yes, i was shocked, it was double what we thought the worst case scenario would be.

my other thing is there were a few voluntary repairs that could have been done throughout the year as opposed to all at the same time, i would have appreciated the warning - or a just so you know we already have about xx hours into it at this point! they had 60 hours of labor in it by the time it was all said and done. 

[bvillepig]

The guy that I use in this area is starting to do similer stuff. I have also noticed a couple of things they have missed because they are getting so busy. I won't go into details because they are good people but I am getting concerned as they hire more people.

Questions were really raised when I had to take my plane to another group because of a gear down issue. There were some things found which were not good and I had just came out of annual.

Hopefully that will not be your case. Good luck to you. We will meet one of these days.

[gotyacovered]

The guy that I use in this area is starting to do similer stuff. I have also noticed a couple of things they have missed because they are getting so busy. I won't go into details because they are good people but I am getting concerned as they hire more people.

Questions were really raised when I had to take my plane to another group because of a gear down issue. There were some things found which were not good and I had just came out of annual.

Hopefully that will not be your case. Good luck to you. We will meet one of these days.

i am scared its going to chase my partner off...

cant wait to meet you, i want to see that 'toga.

[GusMcRae]

Yikes! Both planes due in June. Sorry to hear it was that bad. Maybe you'll get off a lot easier for several years now.

Well put bville. Will have to remember that in times like these.

One down, one to go.  A&P knocked out the 150 over the weekend.  Fairly non-eventful.  Replaced 4 plugs, serviced the nose strut,,, brakes are about 50%.  Bottom line was $658.00, which included an oil change (although I had to buy the oil).  We have been taking care of squawks as they arise (trouble with carb heat box and cable and starter clutch have been the main items and were several months ago) so any major item now would have been a surprise.   

C-182 scheduled for one of the last 2 weekends of the month.   Hopefully it will be similar to the 150.   

[gotyacovered]

One down, one to go.  A&P knocked out the 150 over the weekend.  Fairly non-eventful.  Replaced 4 plugs, serviced the nose strut,,, brakes are about 50%.  Bottom line was $658.00, which included an oil change (although I had to buy the oil).  We have been taking care of squawks as they arise (trouble with carb heat box and cable and starter clutch have been the main items and were several months ago) so any major item now would have been a surprise.   

C-182 scheduled for one of the last 2 weekends of the month.   Hopefully it will be similar to the 150.   

good luck, hope the 182 goes the same for you as well.

[GusMcRae]

Not so lucky on the 182.   .
Brakes were down to the rivets, so new pads, no surprise there.  They said I should plan to replace the discs sometime in the near future because they're a little warped and will wear out the pads quicker. Not that big of a deal. 

Next news I get is a bad compression on #1 cyl.  Will have to pull the jug to see if it's something obviously simple, or send it off.  They pulled it and it's obviously a valve seating problem of some sort. Nothing too alarming upon inspecting.

The exhaust manifold, right side, where it necks down from 3 to 1 at the end where it couples to the muffler, its rusted bad enough that its going to have to be replaced or sent off and weld a new end on.  Not that surprised about that.

So, I'm looking at 2+ weeks minimum, and no telling how much money.

Big surprise is the cyl.  What's weird is I've noticed nothing in the way of running rough, or a drop in performance since I've owned the plane.    Last trip last week to KBBD, slight headwind going down, 122 kts and returned with a tailwind at 140 most of the way.

Mag checks were a bit off after purchase until changing plugs the first 30 days I had it. Plugs were old and fowled. I'm not so sure that it's had this problem all along, but if that's the case, the silver lining is if I've been running on 5/6 of an engine all this time, I'm anxious to see how it does on all 6 after we resolve all of this.

Also disappoints me that my A&P didn't even suspect anything during the pre-buy.  Log book had a very recent high compression check on all 6.  Owner climbed in the back seat while we took it for a test flight.  Never again will I buy a plane without witnessing a compression check.  Not that that's going to happen anytime soon.

[gotyacovered]

Not so lucky on the 182.   .
Brakes were down to the rivets, so new pads, no surprise there.  They said I should plan to replace the discs sometime in the near future because they're a little warped and will wear out the pads quicker. Not that big of a deal. 

Next news I get is a bad compression on #1 cyl.  Will have to pull the jug to see if it's something obviously simple, or send it off.  They pulled it and it's obviously a valve seating problem of some sort. Nothing too alarming upon inspecting.

The exhaust manifold, right side, where it necks down from 3 to 1 at the end where it couples to the muffler, its rusted bad enough that its going to have to be replaced or sent off and weld a new end on.  Not that surprised about that.

So, I'm looking at 2+ weeks minimum, and no telling how much money.

Big surprise is the cyl.  What's weird is I've noticed nothing in the way of running rough, or a drop in performance since I've owned the plane.    Last trip last week to KBBD, slight headwind going down, 122 kts and returned with a tailwind at 140 most of the way.

Mag checks were a bit off after purchase until changing plugs the first 30 days I had it. Plugs were old and fowled. I'm not so sure that it's had this problem all along, but if that's the case, the silver lining is if I've been running on 5/6 of an engine all this time, I'm anxious to see how it does on all 6 after we resolve all of this.

Also disappoints me that my A&P didn't even suspect anything during the pre-buy.  Log book had a very recent high compression check on all 6.  Owner climbed in the back seat while we took it for a test flight.  Never again will I buy a plane without witnessing a compression check.  Not that that's going to happen anytime soon.

bummer...

FWIW those compression figures change, i would be curious to know what it was at the pre-buy and what it is now.... not sure how fast and how much they can change, but, when i was looking back at my logbooks i noticed that they varied quite a bit from annual to annual. i have one in particualr that has varied more then the rest, i find it alarming, but was told not to worry about it. last year it was 64 and this year it was 70 something.

how low was it? the big bore continentals can still be fine with 60 or higher from what i understand.

keep us posted!

[GusMcRae]

bummer...

how low was it? the big bore continentals can still be fine with 60 or higher from what i understand.

keep us posted!

It was 25.  All others in the mid 70's.
When we travelled to Alabama to purchase in December, documentation in the logbook of all cylinders in the 70s, and only a few hours of time on the engine since (like maybe 4 hours).  Primary plane mechanic met us to give us a logbook entry for swapping out the battery.  Time was not on our side that day.  We took it for a test flight with the owner in the back seat.  Mag checks revealed a little more drop than what we were comfortable with, and we were satisfied that the plugs were a little fouled from not leaning the mixture during taxi.  I make it a habit to lean it way out now.  And the new plugs I put in around Christmas improved the mag checks back to where they should be. 
My crusty ole CFI who is so knowledgeable said that a drop in compression like that on 1 cyl can be so subtle over time, that it is hard to recognize. 

I just can't believe that I haven't noticed anything.  Which makes me think that it was like this from the get go.  Not sure if the seller and his mechanic knew it and just pulled a fast one on us, or if it has slowly occurred since then.

Will fix, learn from it, and move forward.

[Pistol Pete]

It was 25.  All others in the mid 70's.
When we travelled to Alabama to purchase in December, documentation in the logbook of all cylinders in the 70s, and only a few hours of time on the engine since (like maybe 4 hours).  Primary plane mechanic met us to give us a logbook entry for swapping out the battery.  Time was not on our side that day.  We took it for a test flight with the owner in the back seat.  Mag checks revealed a little more drop than what we were comfortable with, and we were satisfied that the plugs were a little fouled from not leaning the mixture during taxi.  I make it a habit to lean it way out now.  And the new plugs I put in around Christmas improved the mag checks back to where they should be. 
My crusty ole CFI who is so knowledgeable said that a drop in compression like that on 1 cyl can be so subtle over time, that it is hard to recognize. 

I just can't believe that I haven't noticed anything.  Which makes me think that it was like this from the get go.  Not sure if the seller and his mechanic knew it and just pulled a fast one on us, or if it has slowly occurred since then.

Will fix, learn from it, and move forward.

I read an article about low compression in a cylinder... they basically said to fly the plane several hours, then check the compressions again while hot. One guy said to fly it as much as 25 hours before you check the compressions.
If the compression is still low, they recommended bore-scoping to see if there is an obvious burned valve or cylinder wall damage... if no visible damege, fly it more and check again. If still low, pull the jug.
25 sounds bad low, but at full throttle I can see where the engine could still run without too much of a noticeable lag in performance... this is from my general knowledge of engines from my drag racing days... I don't know crap about big bore, long stroke, low rpm airplane engines.

[gotyacovered]

I read an article about low compression in a cylinder... they basically said to fly the plane several hours, then check the compressions again while hot. One guy said to fly it as much as 25 hours before you check the compressions.
If the compression is still low, they recommended bore-scoping to see if there is an obvious burned valve or cylinder wall damage... if no visible damege, fly it more and check again. If still low, pull the jug.
25 sounds bad low, but at full throttle I can see where the engine could still run without too much of a noticeable lag in performance... this is from my general knowledge of engines from my drag racing days... I don't know crap about big bore, long stroke, low rpm airplane engines.

i bet you will notice the difference when you get it fixed (and the exhaust).

you said it best - fix, learn, move forward.

out of curiosity do you have oil analyzed? i am going to get my done for the first time at the next oil change. it is cheap to get done.

[GusMcRae]

i bet you will notice the difference when you get it fixed (and the exhaust).

you said it best - fix, learn, move forward.

out of curiosity do you have oil analyzed? i am going to get my done for the first time at the next oil change. it is cheap to get done.

I would think that I should see a noticable difference when firing on all 6. 

I have not had my oil analyzed.  A pilot friend of mine told me about that and it sounded very interesting. He said they could tell you exactly where any metal particles are coming from. 

I forgot to mention that I went ahead and had 2 new tires and tubes purchased and ready for them to swap out while they had the wheels off.  I don't know that they would have passed the inspection.  It was time. 

[gotyacovered]

I would think that I should see a noticable difference when firing on all 6. 

I have not had my oil analyzed.  A pilot friend of mine told me about that and it sounded very interesting. He said they could tell you exactly where any metal particles are coming from. 

I forgot to mention that I went ahead and had 2 new tires and tubes purchased and ready for them to swap out while they had the wheels off.  I don't know that they would have passed the inspection.  It was time. 

the oil analysis is going to be handy b/c you can get a baseline of iron and other minerals and when you see one of them spike you will possible have a clue that there may be some issues. the first one will be kinda scary!

[gotyacovered]

i meant to ask you... did you go back with the same size tires?

[GusMcRae]

i meant to ask you... did you go back with the same size tires?

yes, 6.00 X 6, Elite Re-treads, ordered from Desser.

[GusMcRae]

After running into my little cylinder surprise, and reading the failed engine thread that Gotya posted, it causes me to ponder looking into an engine monitor.  But damn,,, where does one stop? 

[gotyacovered]

After running into my little cylinder surprise, and reading the failed engine thread that Gotya posted, it causes me to ponder looking into an engine monitor.  But damn,,, where does one stop? 

there is no end... i have a list of stuff i want/need so long... the engine monitor isnt that expensive... relatively speaking, and i would think well worth the money. i have aging DG, VSI, altimeter, turn coordinator, HSI... so i am assuming one of those are going to go out next and am going to hang on to my moneis. my next purchase is probably going to be a used zulu.2 or A20 headset.

[Pistol Pete]

After running into my little cylinder surprise, and reading the failed engine thread that Gotya posted, it causes me to ponder looking into an engine monitor.  But damn,,, where does one stop? 

Did your mechanic say where it was leaking? I thought they could tell if it was leaking from the intake valve, or exhaust, or crankcase... before they remove a cylinder?

[gotyacovered]

Did your mechanic say where it was leaking? I thought they could tell if it was leaking from the intake valve, or exhaust, or crankcase... before they remove a cylinder?

im curious as well...

i think they have to remove it to see, i think a trained ear could make an educated guess, but only way to know is to look it it.

[Pistol Pete]

im curious as well...

i think they have to remove it to see, i think a trained ear could make an educated guess, but only way to know is to look it it.

My pea brain tells me a person could turn the regulator up and listen to the exhaust, intake, or crankcase breather to determine where the leak is.

[GusMcRae]

Did your mechanic say where it was leaking? I thought they could tell if it was leaking from the intake valve, or exhaust, or crankcase... before they remove a cylinder?

I don't believe they know for sure.  They are telling me they are "pretty sure" it's the exhaust valve.  Which tells me they don't know for sure.
The piston and rings looked good.  Suspecting valve seats.