Airplane Owner Maintenance

A Maintenance Oriented Podcast For Airplane Owners, Pilots, and Mechanics

Month: March 2023

219 – I Installed New Brake Linings and the Wheel Would Not Turn!

March 23, 2023 /

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It took some significant detective work and deciphering to solve this mystery.

The brake caliper at the top of the photo was the wrong part number for the A36 Bonanza I was working on.

The one at the bottom of the photo is a serviceable one we found on eBay. It was the correct one, and the 1/8 inch extra depth at the edges of the caliper made all the difference.

This problem apparently went unnoticed for an undetermined amount of time.

The only reason I discovered the problem was because I installed new brake linings and after reassembling the brake caliper, the wheel would not turn at all. Everything seemed to be working fine with the worn linings.

But new linings made it too tight for the wheel to turn.

After installing the correct brake caliper, everything was back to normal.

What an ordeal! I’m glad it’s fixed.

In this week’s podcast episode, I talked about the brake situation above, and about some flying from this week.

Here’s a sampling of the places I had the opportunity to fly to this past week:

  • Near Myrtle Beach SC.
  • Pennsylvania
  • New York
  • Montpelier VT
  • Chattanooga TN
  • Dalton GA

And just for fun, here’s a photo of the King Air on the ramp in Vermont… we put the engine and pitot covers on for the night while we were there.

Thanks for checking out the podcast! The next episode might just come from Maui! We’ll see.

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218 – Engine Oil was Seeping Out of the Top Cowling

March 17, 2023 /

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Not long ago, there was an oil leak on the right engine of a Cessna 414. The leak was significant enough to come out the louvers on the top cowling in flight. There was oil all over the rear inboard area of the engine, so the big question was, “Where is the oil leak coming from,” or “Where is the source?”

With so many possibilities, it was difficult to find the leak.

After multiple cleanings and ground runs, it was becoming more clear.

It was still however, hard to be certain. It seemed to be coming from the inboard forward base of the oil cooler. A flashlight and small mirror were somewhat helpful to see the area:

The borescope was also helpful to take a closer look:

Finally, after making the best evaluation I could without disassembling anything, I told the owner I was fairly certain the oil cooler was leaking… it seemed there might be a small crack in the oil cooler.

The annual inspection was already scheduled for this airplane, so it made a good time to verify the oil leak. The owner is an A&P, and he removed the oil cooler himself. I was hoping I had not steered him down the wrong path on this one!

He discovered it’s not an easy task to remove the oil cooler from his engine, but he persisted and got it done.

He sent me a text message and told me he had removed the oil cooler and when they first looked at it, he was not sure it was cracked. But after pressurizing it with 5 pounds of air pressure, the leak was obvious.

About the oil cooler, he told me “I tell you it was a job getting that off.”

The black circled area is where the crack was:

And here’s the really fun part… watch this video to see the bubbles confirming the source of the oil leak:

Here’s the engine after the oil cooler was removed… definitely “major surgery!”

This was the main maintenance topic in this week’s podcast, and we also talked about these items as well:

  • Aerostar voltage regulator adjustment.
  • Alternator charging system troubleshooting.
  • Our upcoming trip to Maui!

Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you in the next episode!

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217 – Does Your Magneto Have Any Broken Teeth?

March 10, 2023 /

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I recently removed a magneto from a Piper Cherokee, and my curiosity about why the magneto had failed got the best of me.

I took the mag home, sat down at the kitchen table, put my grandson Spencer on my lap, and took the magneto apart! It was great fun having him help me 🙂

Before long, we had the case apart, and it quickly became obvious why the magneto wasn’t working… there were 6 broken teeth on the distributor gear! And 3 of the broken teeth were together in a row, making it impossible for the distributor gear to mesh with the drive gear… this mag was completely dead.

It had been more than 600 hours since the last 500 hour magneto inspection.

I wonder how long it had been since the first tooth broke… we’ll never know.

But it does remind me of the importance of doing 500 hour magneto inspections. For Part 91 airplanes, it’s a recommendation and not a requirement, but in this case, I think the recommendation is a really good one.

You can listen to the podcast episode for more details about the troubleshooting process on the magneto, and here are some other items also included in this episode:

  • Some King Air flying this week (I never get tired of the “view from the office!”)
  • Our complex ATC clearances we received on the way to the Boston area.
  • The annual inspection I’m currently doing on an A36 Bonanza… here’s the overhauled alternator drive coupling I installed because the old one failed the slippage torqe test:
  • Our IA renewal seminar at Blue Ridge Community College… it’s always a good time to see friends, learn some things, and satisfy the FAA requirements to keep my IA certificate current.
  • And finally, Maria and I are getting very excited about our trip to Hawaii! We’re going to visit John and Leslie Caubble on Maui, and I’ll be working with them on the flight school airplanes at FlyMauiHI.com It’s going to be a grand adventure!

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216 – WHY is the alternator not working?!

March 3, 2023 /

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Here’s the short answer: Worn and contaminated brushes inside the alternator. Check it out:

My theory is that the excessive amount of carbon dust from brush wear was causing a short circuit situation between the brushes, and not allowing the field circuit in the alternator rotor to be properly energized for normal operation.

Here’s a comparison of the old and new brushes:

This story comes from a recent situation on the right engine of this Aerostar aircraft:

Since the alternator has externally removable brushes, it turned out to be a minimally invasive surgery to fix the problem. I cleaned the brush holder and also the slip rings inside the alternator, and after installing new brushes and reassembling everything, the alternator performed flawlessly.

Listen to the audio to hear the full story.

This episode also covers some of the email responses I received last week from some listeners, and here’s one of the highlights:

Glen sent me a photo of he and his dad in front of his Piper Cherokee… I love to see different generations enjoying aviation adventures together!

One more fun fact: Glen’s mom took her private pilot check ride years ago with Glen in the back seat of their Cessna 175 when he was 3 weeks old! What a great story!

Thanks Glen, for sharing some of your story with us!

This episode also covers a recent trip to Charlotte in another Aerostar, and the interesting routing we got from ATC on the way there… definitely some great IFR and ATC lessons to observe and learn from this one!

The Charlotte trip also sparked some conversation about twin engine charging systems, and paralleling issues that can happen… this situation is still in process, and I’ll try to give an update sometime in the future.

Finally, I had the privilege of joining Carl Valeri, Tom Frick, and Bill English on episode 301 “What is Your Most Challenging Approach” of the Stuck Mic AvCast. It was great fun talking about challenging approaches, both instrument and visual approaches.

Here’s a link where you can listen:

SMAC301 What Is Your Most Challenging Approach?

I also highly encourage you to check out Carl Valeri’s Aviation Careers Podcast:

http://www.aviationcareerspodcast.com/

You can also find the Aviation Careers Podcast on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/@AviationCareersPodcast

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