Fearless Tower
Touchdown! Greaser!
Experienced my first excessive mag drop since I've owned my plane on the runup today.
I've flown it about 15 hrs since the annual was completed in October. The drop on the left mag was about 200 rpm so suspecting plug fouling, I leaned and ran it at a high rpm for a bit. That seemed to correct the problem fine and I went flying.
So, immediate problem solved, but since I am the only pilot of this plane, I'm trying to figure out what I am doing wrong - as a longtime renter, I've been under the impression that plug fouling is usually the result of 'some other guy' running the plane too rich and/or not leaning on the ground. I always lean on the ground and in flight. I have been doing alot of pattern work in the plane in the last 15 hrs, but the 2 flights immediately preceeding today's experience were both x-countries slightly over an hour each and I leaned as much as possible at 6000' and around 2450 rpm (airplane is a 170 with O-300).
So, is this common with O-300s, or is there something I need to check? I can't imagine running the engine any leaner than I was doing on the trip this weekend.
I've flown it about 15 hrs since the annual was completed in October. The drop on the left mag was about 200 rpm so suspecting plug fouling, I leaned and ran it at a high rpm for a bit. That seemed to correct the problem fine and I went flying.
So, immediate problem solved, but since I am the only pilot of this plane, I'm trying to figure out what I am doing wrong - as a longtime renter, I've been under the impression that plug fouling is usually the result of 'some other guy' running the plane too rich and/or not leaning on the ground. I always lean on the ground and in flight. I have been doing alot of pattern work in the plane in the last 15 hrs, but the 2 flights immediately preceeding today's experience were both x-countries slightly over an hour each and I leaned as much as possible at 6000' and around 2450 rpm (airplane is a 170 with O-300).
So, is this common with O-300s, or is there something I need to check? I can't imagine running the engine any leaner than I was doing on the trip this weekend.