M20J Cowl Flap Adjustment

[comancheflight]

I have a 'new' 78 M20J and the cowl flap control comes almost completely out in flight. If I push it in, it immediately comes back to within 1" of opening. On the ground they will close to within 1" of firewall. If I unhook the flaps the control will firewall completely. Tried loosening the flaps to leave about 1/4" gap and I think its worse. IF I remove the cowl flaps and grap the connector by hand I can open it relatively easily I think..the spring looks pretty new also...ideas?

 

[gismo]

I have a 'new' 78 M20J and the cowl flap control comes almost completely out in flight. If I push it in, it immediately comes back to within 1" of opening. On the ground they will close to within 1" of firewall. If I unhook the flaps the control will firewall completely. Tried loosening the flaps to leave about 1/4" gap and I think its worse. IF I remove the cowl flaps and grap the connector by hand I can open it relatively easily I think..the spring looks pretty new also...ideas?

Yeah, find a mechanic with the shop manual and follow the cowl flap rigging instructions.

 

[Lance F]

It's not a complex mechanism, but there are a lot of possible adjustments built into it. By my experience I know they can act differently in flight and on the ground. It is a good suggestion to get with someone who has done this before. Where are you located? There are a lot of Mooney guys like me on this forum. Stay with us.

 

[comancheflight]

1.) I have the maintenance manual and have adjusted them accordingly but does not stop them from vibrating open.

2.) I have tried to adjust them open so as the control goes firewall forwart hoping to get the mechanism over center as far as possible but to no avail

3.) on the ground I can (in the closed position) take one finger and pull the flaps down with almost no effort at all...

maybe this weekend I'll pull the cowl and see what is going on.

what about the spring? is their much tension on it? wonder if it is way to weak? I remember when I installed the preheat looking at it and it looked shiny like it wasn't very old...dunno

 

[comancheflight]

well I decided to change the oil and check the cowl flaps out. No wonder everyone seemed puzzled. It took about 10 minutes of just looking at the mechanism and bingo I figured it out. The idiot who had worked on this in the past (I just bought it) had removed the hinge arms (whatever they are called) that the individual adjusting rods go into and put them on backwards. Left was on right and right on left and they were installed to the inside instead of outside. This made it where it would go over center when the flaps weren't attached but when they were it couldn't. Anyway, I reversed them and put it all back together and BAM it works great now.
thanks,
Brent