My first AOG

Spoke to the mechanic today. He cleaned the plugs, which got it running smoothly on either mag. He also cleaned the fuel injectors, which he said "were as dirty as any he'd ever seen". No smoking gun though. He said fuel pressure & flow were solid both before and after he worked on it, which didn't make me feel great.

Going to put a pressure gauge on it this afternoon and double check. He also going to look into how fast we could get an overhauled servo.

FSDO is keeping close tabs on this. Spoke on the phone with two ASI's this morning. Apparently they spoke to the mechanic as well and are planning to follow up with him. I'm surprised by their level of interest. They said they were satisfied that both me and the aircraft were in compliance and that their interest was in what went wrong for the purpose of identifying trends.
 
Jim K said:
FSDO is keeping close tabs on this. Spoke on the phone with two ASI's this morning. Apparently they spoke to the mechanic as well and are planning to follow up with him. I'm surprised by their level of interest. They said they were satisfied that both me and the aircraft were in compliance and that their interest was in what went wrong for the purpose of identifying trends.
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I smell an AD coming! Thanks a lot Jim!
Kidding of course.

On Lycoming's trouble shoot guide the first remedy for a surging io540 is to clean the injectors with MEK or Acetone.
 
I gotta say...
When I bought this plane I spent a couple full days going through the logs and updating the AD records. I found a couple that had been missed and the current ELT certification was missing. The previous owner had been actively flying the plane until a month or so before I bought it. I thought maybe I was wasting my time, but when the FSDO requested my AD log and log entries of all the required inspections, it suddenly felt like time well spent.
 
Just to bookend this thread, my man @NealRomeoGolf picked me up this afternoon and gave me a ride to sus. I cannot thank him enough, and I must say he is an excellent pilot. I wouldn't think twice about sending my kids with him.

The mechanic:
- checked both screens, which were clean
- pressure tested the servo, which checked fine
- cleaned the fuel injectors
- adjusted the magneto, which was a couple degrees off
- cleaned & tested the plugs

One of these fixed it. She ran perfectly all the way home. It's going to take a couple more hours to really trust her again, but it feels awfully good to have her back in my hangar.

Neal arriving at cmi
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Back in the saddle again...
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asicer said:
@NealRomeoGolf's CitationJet looks nice :)
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Beat me to it!

So no bums in the club were gonna give you a lift? And you're still a member? Good to hear she's back to full song. I'd lean towards the injectors being gummed up. Hate not having that ah ha moment, but it sounds like they did.
 
Racerx said:
Beat me to it!

So no bums in the club were gonna give you a lift? And you're still a member? Good to hear she's back to full song. I'd lean towards the injectors being gummed up. Hate not having that ah ha moment, but it sounds like they did.
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I'm sure I could've found somebody, but all the planes are booked solid this week. Besides, once you get used to a pa-32, it's hard to ride in anything else ;)
 
Jim K said:
I'm sure I could've found somebody, but all the planes are booked solid this week. Besides, once you get used to a pa-32, it's hard to ride in anything else ;)
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Tell me about it. Used to my dad's six...then I bought the 180. Fun to fly, real light on the controls. But man is shoulder room underrated.
 
I'm late to this conversation but I'm surprised by the poor service you had on the field. I'm based there and I've had good luck with the company that does my maintenance there. If you'd like, PM me with the name if the place who did the work...I'm curious to see if it's the same one.
 
So you'll be making it to 6Y9 now right? :D
 
bcool said:
I'm late to this conversation but I'm surprised by the poor service you had on the field. I'm based there and I've had good luck with the company that does my maintenance there. If you'd like, PM me with the name if the place who did the work...I'm curious to see if it's the same one.
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Elite aviation did the work. I was frustrated it took so long to get it in, but I understand they are busy and their school planes are a priority. Once they got it in, the mechanic was excellent and communicated very well. I have no complaints about their shop. I was afraid it'd be weeks even after they got it in, but he was right on it would've had it done same day but for a part they didn't have. He actually found and fixed a couple nagging oil leaks while he was in there.

Aero charter took good care of me the day I arrived, but really let me down on getting the plane over to elite. That set me back at least a day.

EdFred said:
So you'll be making it to 6Y9 now right? :D
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Don't count me out. If I can get the combine & trucks ready to go by then I might be able to sneak up there.
 
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If ever there was a risk driver for pressing on (stupidly) in the face of trouble, your experience is it. The potential outcome would still not have been worth it.

Instead of reading this and wishing I didn’t learn what a PITA this was, it’s good to know to be prepared for the logistics that may be ensue with a precautionary landing. If you had to do it over again, I’m sure you’d pick the same.

Welcome back and kudos to @NealRomeoGolf
 
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