JLowe
Pre-takeoff checklist
Hey guys, kinda new here hoping you could help me out. Recently purchased a 172P and ran into my first maintenance issue the other day. I want to make sure I'm not being stupid and missing something.
Symptoms: The issue first presented itself by failed mag check. I was able to run it lean and clear it out, and after a good test took to flight.
The next day I went up again and the plane failed the OTHER mag check. This time I was not able to clear it. I took a couple laps around the pattern and noticed it wasn't running perfectly, but not too much of a loss of RPM.
Landed and took it to the A&P. We tried to start it up, but it wouldn't start. First thing we did was take the plugs out and clean/gap them all. After a reinstall it would start but was severely failing R mag check... the engine wouldn't stop, but very strong vibration and loss of rpm. I overnighted some new plugs, and we replaced them with the same results... although it was running a bit smoother there were still some misses.
PLeads checked, ignition checked, timing checked, harness checked, leads us to the mags -- which by my look through the MX records are original (1982, 3000ttaf) It's possible they were replaced when the engine was replaced about 1000 hours ago, but that wasn't noted anywhere so I'm going with them being original. Oh yea, and they are Slick (4370/4371) mags.
There was a spare mag on field we took the 'flywheel' out of (Maybe thats not the name) and replace it into mine, but it seemed just as or more corroded as mine was. The new part didn't help any, so I decided not to fly it to my home base this weekend (KADS) and rather left it in Houston until she's better.
So, I've bought two new mags (expensive) and they are getting shipped to Houston for install on Wednesday morning. I was ok with the expense because after some investigation I've heard this should really help with fast starts, better power, reliability, and of course my piece of mind.
A&P seems pretty sure this will resolve the problem and we'll be good to go.
Could I be missing anything? Could there be another problem?
Thanks!
Symptoms: The issue first presented itself by failed mag check. I was able to run it lean and clear it out, and after a good test took to flight.
The next day I went up again and the plane failed the OTHER mag check. This time I was not able to clear it. I took a couple laps around the pattern and noticed it wasn't running perfectly, but not too much of a loss of RPM.
Landed and took it to the A&P. We tried to start it up, but it wouldn't start. First thing we did was take the plugs out and clean/gap them all. After a reinstall it would start but was severely failing R mag check... the engine wouldn't stop, but very strong vibration and loss of rpm. I overnighted some new plugs, and we replaced them with the same results... although it was running a bit smoother there were still some misses.
PLeads checked, ignition checked, timing checked, harness checked, leads us to the mags -- which by my look through the MX records are original (1982, 3000ttaf) It's possible they were replaced when the engine was replaced about 1000 hours ago, but that wasn't noted anywhere so I'm going with them being original. Oh yea, and they are Slick (4370/4371) mags.
There was a spare mag on field we took the 'flywheel' out of (Maybe thats not the name) and replace it into mine, but it seemed just as or more corroded as mine was. The new part didn't help any, so I decided not to fly it to my home base this weekend (KADS) and rather left it in Houston until she's better.
So, I've bought two new mags (expensive) and they are getting shipped to Houston for install on Wednesday morning. I was ok with the expense because after some investigation I've heard this should really help with fast starts, better power, reliability, and of course my piece of mind.
A&P seems pretty sure this will resolve the problem and we'll be good to go.
Could I be missing anything? Could there be another problem?
Thanks!