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MPPalmer(at)AOL.COM
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 Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:30 am Post subject: 70% power |
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Hi Craymondw:
I'm confused by your lack of power description. It sounds like you had to be developing much LESS than 70% power if you were struggling to maintain altitude. (Unless you're at 8000 MSL or higher, but we know that can't be, since you circled at 4000.) I mean, we cruise at 65% power on a 160HP engine and see 140 KIAS down low. We can maintain altitude at 15 inches. If you have a 200 HP engine, you should have been able to climb just fine at 70%. So it sounds like you must have been really low on power. (Although your 14 GPH is confusing too... that's what we see on takeoff with 160HP!)
When you say FRAM no longer sells the filter... are we talking about the FRAM HPG-1 unit S/H started selling in the GII kits? If so, Summit Racing has the elements. So does NAPA. We've been flying 2500 hours with those. Absolutely no problems.
If that's the filter, there're some precautions about double washers and the like that come with the filters. (You remove one so there's no doubling.) There's also a "trick" to making sure the filter housing seats against the O ring in the top part. (Rock the housing around as you tighten the center bolt.) Does your housing have the old Stat-O-Seal, or did you change over to the copper washer?
My guess is you were sucking air in your system, perhaps from maintenance on the filter. Something vibrated into place and sealed the system. Either that, or, during maintenance of the fuel system, some junk broke free and blocked something down the line. My procedure after working on the fuel system is to disconnect the hose to the carb (spider in your case) and purge the system for a few seconds into a glass jar to check for debris. Vapor lock also comes to mind, although not classic vapor lock, where the fuel boils, but vapor lock as in air trapped in a hot part of the system.
You've got big ones... even tho your engine suddenly came to life and you circled at 4000 for a while, I would have landed to find out what was wrong before heading out 20 miles for fuel. I suggest you go back to the filter and make sure everything is tight and purge the line. Maybe check the spider finger screen too.
(One other possibility, not causal with the maintenance you described... you could have a rubber flap in a fuel hose if you're using 303 style hose. Yours is a classic symptom of the flap acting like a valve to shut off flow.)
Hope this helps,
Mike Palmer <><
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Craymondw(at)aol.com
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| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:21 am Post subject: 70% power |
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Hi,
Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I wasn't very clear. The very beginning of the problem started on the take off roll just before lift off and became worse as we gained altitude. My homebase airport is 750 feet above sea level. The highest altitude we obtained was less than 1,000 feet or 250 feet above ground. It was at this point the power out put dropped to what I would guess was 30% power.
I stopped using the washers on the filter elements years ago. After installing the new filter I pressure tested the fuel filter assembly for leaks. I thought about the possibility of a flap in a fuel line. I haven't replaced them since 1997.
I have a fuel injected engine and my fuel flow is normally 18 gallons per hour under full rich and full throttle. I took note that it had dropped to a little over 14 gallons/hour. After the loss of power, I cleaned the injectors with Hoppes #9, reinstalled them and test flew the plane. On that test flight the full power fuel flow went back to 18 gallons per hour.
I talked to the man that sold me the engine and he said he remember something like this years ago on a Super Cub. He went on to say that after inspecting everything it was determined that a piece of carbon may have broken way and temporarily messed up a valve seat. I had something like this happen in a Decathlon back in the 1980s. But that plane back fired and mine didn't. We landed the plane and ran the engine at full power and leaned the heck out of the engine until we burned away the problem.
Another thing I forgot to mention was that I noticed a soft cylinder on a cold pull through. I removed the plugs from that cylinder and sprayed in WD40 and hit the valves with a rubber mallet. A few mechanics think the WD40 may have loosened carbon. I followed through with a hot engine compression test and all cylinders were 80/80. One mechanic feels that I may have worn valve guides and carbon has infiltrated the guides and may be jamming a valve on the cold cylinder. I added AVBLEND to the gas and will add Marvel Mystery oil to the header tank. I have 960 hours on this set of cylinders with the hope that if it is a valve jamming in a guide, it will loosen up. I used Champion Spark Plug thread Lube and some think I may have shorted some of the plugs and that when it burned off, the engine regained power.
I broke my own maintenance rule by performing a multitude of tasks. I only like doing one task at a time because if something goes wrong that task becomes suspicious. I recently returned from two long flights out west, One to Utah and One to El Paso Texas, then up to Durango Colorado. I had an up coming trip Fort Walton Beach Florida and knew that I was behind on several engine services and decided to do them all at once.
Thanks for your suggestions
Chuck Raymond
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Craymondw(at)aol.com
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| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:23 am Post subject: 70% power |
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Hi,
When you say Spider Finger screen, do you mean the finger screen in the injector throttle body?
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