Cessna 172 Engine Failure on Landing

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Sarah__10

Filing Flight Plan
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Feb 26, 2017
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Sarah
Hello all,

I am new to the forum world so bare with me..I have an uneasy feeling about my airplane and looking for some insight. I have been having issues with engine studder at all different power settings, mixture settings and altitudes. I brought this problem to my bosses attention and they sent me a new fuel servo unit to be replaced. I have a fuel injected Cessna 172...first flight out of maintenance, the aircraft ran great...up until I tried to pull some power back on downwind and almost lost the engine...I pushed the power back in and caught it before it spuddered out on me and continued to try to pull it on each turn on the pattern until I was over the runway and just let the engine quit on me...my guys have no idea what is wrong...let the airplane sit for about 15mins and it idled just fine...took it up today and ran it hot for about a hour and a half and it idled great again...does anyone have any insight on what could be going wrong?
 
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Wish I did but it really could be anything from the mags to the injectors to bad plugs to ..... You name it.

Take MX up and duplicate it real close to the field, as in right over it.
 
Unit74 said:
Wish I did but it really could be anything from the mags to the injectors to bad plugs to ..... You name it.

Take MX up and duplicate it real close to the field, as in right over it.
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Well I recently had the plugs cleaned and check..new air filter was installed while in the shop too..i took it up in the pattern today and flew it and could not get it to lose power at idle again...my bosses want me to go back to work with it (survey pilot) but I don't feel comfortable until they at least try to fix it ya know?
 
Rag left in the intake? Can you duplicate on a ground run? Engine monitor that can be down loaded?
 
Unit74 said:
Rag left in the intake? Can you duplicate on a ground run? Engine monitor that can be down loaded?
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I haven't been able to duplicate it at all...nothing in the intake..fuel checked before and after flight, all checked good...and no one has even tried to trouble shoot the engine yet..i asked them to at least do a compression check tmr before I take it..just incase it is a problem there
 
Sarah__10 said:
Well I recently had the plugs cleaned and check..new air filter was installed while in the shop too..i took it up in the pattern today and flew it and could not get it to lose power at idle again...my bosses want me to go back to work with it (survey pilot) but I don't feel comfortable until they at least try to fix it ya know?
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As the PIC, if you fly it, it's your responsibility. You crash it with a know issue, be prepared for the company to disown you. They will deny, redirect and make counter accusations. They cannot force you to fly an unairworthy aircraft. The FSDO would salivate over a report like that. Seriously. It's caused a lot of crashes in the past and they are dead serious about unscrupulous outfits flying unsafe aircraft.
 
Unit74 said:
As the PIC, if you fly it, it's your responsibility. You crash it with a know issue, be prepared for the company to disown you. They will deny, redirect and make counter accusations. They cannot force you to fly an unairworthy aircraft. The FSDO would salivate over a report like that. Seriously. It's caused a lot of crashes in the past and they are dead serious about unscrupulous outfits flying unsafe aircraft.
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well the good news is, once I told them no, they very much respected that..and told me they would have someone else look at it...what do you think about the engine being vapor locked...it was a hot day when I was flying..about 80...my only concern with that is it ran fine at power..anything below 1500 rpm it ran like crap and below 1000rpm it would just shut off...
 
mulligan said:
FTFY
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Both usually end up with sudden mechanical stoppages though...... Not sure which one has the worse reliability record.


When is your scheduled for delivery? I'm sure the wait is painful.
 
Unit74 said:
Both usually end up with sudden mechanical stoppages though...... Not sure which one has the worse reliability record.


When is your scheduled for delivery? I'm sure the wait is painful.
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So true. March 22nd
 
Hi Sarah. Welcome to POA.

I have heard quite a bit about people having trouble with hot starts, but not with engine quitting like you are having. I'm not a mechanic, and Tom D is out until Monday or so. I wouldn't think 80F would not be hot enough to cause the problem. Have your mechanics checked to be sure there isn't a heat shield or insulation missing between the engine and fuel lines? I would think for it to vapor lock, you would have to have the fuel supply getting too hot for some reason. I have had issues like this on old cars (a 1961 Ford Fairlane comes to mind) but not on an airplane.
 
Hello! and Thanks!

They have checked the fuel lines and don't seem to think there is any issue...Im throwing vapor lock out there just as a thought..only reason why I think that is bc I cant get the airplane to reproduce the problem.
 
Vapor lock could be the problem, but my thinking is the fuel would have to be routed somehow, without insulation, so that the fuel is getting hotter than Cessna designed it to be. I don't think the 80F ambient temp would be a problem.
 
What was your flight profile during the incident flight prior to the engine issue? What was the humidity and OAT at altitude? Suggest the mechanics check the operation of the alternate air door.
 
Sarah__10 said:
well the good news is, once I told them no, they very much respected that..and told me they would have someone else look at it...what do you think about the engine being vapor locked...it was a hot day when I was flying..about 80...my only concern with that is it ran fine at power..anything below 1500 rpm it ran like crap and below 1000rpm it would just shut off...
Click to expand...

Although vapor lock is a possibility, that is still an abnormal condition for that engine in that airplane. I did fly a DA40 before that had the same problem, and the same engine, and it was a vapor lock issue.
 
90% of the time people blame the fuel. That's because they don't understand ignition or magnetos. And yet 90% of engine troubles are electrical. SO much money is spent chasing nonexistent vapor-lock or dirt/water in the fuel or carb ice on unlikely carb ice days instead of looking to see when the mags were last inspected.
 
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