Tag: cirrus

187 – Wonders and Woes of a Cirrus SR22

September 18, 2021 / Dean Showalter / 0 Comments

In today’s podcast episode, I talked about this specific SR22, and some maintenance I was involved in… scroll down for some related photos.

But first, I just wanted to say the SR22 is a great airplane! Here are some of the “wonders” of an SR22, as I see it:

It’s a beautiful aircraft!
It feels so natural, sitting in the pilot seat.
It has a parachute.
It’s composite-built.
It’s been around long enough to become “time-tested” and to have many of the bugs worked out.
The paint jobs are usually amazing.
It goes fast, but has fixed landing gear.

On the other hand, the SR22 also has some “woes.”

The nose gear and fairing have had issues.
Sometimes the nose gear fairing breaks apart due to shimmy (probably often due to poor maintenance and low swivel friction.)
Differential braking is required for steering, and sometimes the brakes overheat.
When the brakes overheat, you have to replace the o-rings in the brake caliper (and they are special, high-dollar o-rings.)
An airworthiness limitation requires replacing or repacking the parachute every 10 or 11 years, depending on the model, and this is costly.
And then there’s the maintenance… the SR22 definitely takes some maintenance to keep it in good condition.

And now here are some tasks I helped with on the SR22 at the top of this post:

Repositioning a loose induction coupling which caused full power RPM fluctuation (and probably a few other related things):

Magneto timing, and how I almost dropped one of the rubber drive bushings down inside the engine! It was barely hanging on the edge of a gear inside the engine!

Fixing a piece of baffling (fwd of cylinder #6) that came loose when its 2 attaching rivets failed:

Repositioning an ALT 2 wire so it would not chafe on the prop governor:

Resealing the right brake caliper and installing new temp stickers:

Tightening an oil plug and installing safety wire:

It was an adventure, and I look forward to the next time I get to work on an SR22… I really like those airplanes!

As promised, here’s the video that explains the electrical system in an SR22… I found it to be excellent training:

As usual, if I can serve you with any of your “airplane owner needs” I’d be happy to do so… you can check out my services on the “store” page for details about:

Borescope photo reviews
Maintenance records research
One-on-one consulting
Safety Wiring video training course
Shock Strut Servicing video training course

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165 – A Shop Towel in the Engine! Don’t Do What I Did!

January 22, 2021 / Dean Showalter / 2 Comments

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Hi Friends!

I have a story for you today that I wish I didn’t have. But it’s true, so we might as well learn from it. Thankfully, everything turned out well on this one.

At Moody Aviation where I went to school years ago, we had a concept called “SYE.” It stood for “Share Your Experience.”

It was a concept to encourage us to take our mistakes and make a learning opportunity from them.

Listen to today’s podcast for the story of how I accidentally left a red shop towel inside an airplane engine… I hope I never do that again! Definitely an opportunity to learn “what not to do!”

Ok… it’s time to ‘fess up 🙂 I know I’m not the only one out here who’s done a dumb thing or two in airplane maintenance… so, if you’re willing to share your story, leave me a message here on the website, or shoot me an email dean{at}airplaneownermaintenance{dot}com

I’ll assume it’s ok to share the stories, without names (unless you ask me to share your name.) Thanks!

Another item we discussed in this episode is a Cessna 172 that would not start. It turned out to be a problem with the left magneto, but in the process of troubleshooting, we discovered the spark plugs had gone far too long without being cleaned.

Take a look:

And here’s the loose distributor electrode inside the magneto:

Other items we discussed in this episode:

An oil leak on a Twin Cessna (you might have seen the email I sent out about this.)
The items we used to fix that oil leak: Aviation Permatex, Continental silk thread P/N 641543 (If you only need a small amount, check with Fresno Airparts… they sell it for 20 cents per foot) and the third item used was Loctite 515. These 3 components, used properly, make an excellent seal for the oil pump cover.
Some interesting electrical information about a Cirrus SR22 – here’s the YouTube video I mentioned with some excellent visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCeHxk-fJvE

The post “165 – A Shop Towel in the Engine! Don’t Do What I Did!” appeared first on AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com

143 – Oh No! A Lycoming Exhaust Stud Pulled Out!

May 30, 2020 / Dean Showalter / 2 Comments

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Note: The “Safety Wire Like A Pro!” video training course is available for one more day at 20% off (use code “canard” for discount coupon.) Read about the training here:

https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring

Three stories for today:

Story #1:

A Lycoming exhaust stud pulled out.

It was disappointing, but turned out to be an inspiring learning experience.

A helicoil had previously been installed, which pulled out, and left a hole too big to install another helicoil (thread repair). Listen and find out how we solved the problem with a “Keensert” thread repair:

It worked fantastically!

Story #2:

Bad spark Plug.

We also talked in this episode about a bad spark plug and how we determined which one was bad, using the engine monitor system in a Cirrus SR22.

The EGT for cylinder #2 was higher than all the others because only one spark plug was firing in that cylinder which caused the exhaust gases to be hotter when they crossed the EGT probe.

It turned out the spark plug ceramic was cracked and the plug was not working at all: (I verified it using the spark plug tester.) There’s actually another crack on the other side of the ceramic as well.

With some basic training, an engine monitor can be an excellent troubleshooting tool.

Story #3:

Rough engine in an Ercoupe.

After some troubleshooting, it was discovered that cylinder #2 had no compression due to a stuck exhaust valve.

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

https://airplane-owner-maintenance.teachable.com/p/safetywiring

(Use code “canard” for 20% off on the safety wiring training course until midnight May 31, 2020.)

PilotWorkshop.com

(Be sure to sign up for the free pilot “Tip of the week.”)

134 – An Unlikely Cause for a Hot Mag on a Cirrus

February 2, 2020 / Dean Showalter / 4 Comments

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“There’s no RPM drop when I select left mag, and if I turn the ignition switch off, the engine continues to run.”

That’s what the owner of this Cirrus reported when he arrived at our airport the other day.

One of our technicians got to work to troubleshoot the problem. Here’s what he found:

The magneto P-lead wiring checked good.
The ignition switch checked good.
It appeared the problem was with the magneto.

So let’s pause and ask, “Which magneto, left or right?”

Good question, because this stuff can sometimes be confusing.

When the pilot got no RPM drop when selecting left mag, it likely means the ability to ground (or turn off) the right mag has been lost. So even though we are selecting left mag, it’s the right mag that actually has the problem.

And sure enough, that’s exactly the case here… upon removing the point cover from the right mag (which also contains a capacitor with a stud for the P-lead attachment,) we determined with an ohm meter check that the capacitor in the P-lead circuit had failed in the open position, making it impossible to ground (or turn off) the right magneto.

The point cover along with the capacitor, mounts to the magneto as seen on the left side of the following picture:

The new capacitor has been ordered and the Cirrus should be flying again real soon. You can hear the full story in today’s podcast episode.

The other P-lead story in this episode is from an A36 Bonanza I’m inspecting. This is a very different situation… this one had some chafing P-leads in the engine compartment that were a problem-in-the-making. Take a look:

After pulling the wires down a bit, the worn areas became really obvious:

These wires have 4 layers:

An inside center wire (the actual P-lead.)
A layer of insulation on the center wire.
A layer of braided shielding to prevent radio noise.
An outside layer of insulation.

Thankfully, the inside wires (P-leads) were still protected… if those inside wires had shorted to ground, the magnetos could have failed to operate. If the P-leads are shorted to ground by touching the airframe, it’s the same effect as turning the ignition switch off.

Here’s one last picture of the P-leads with some context of how they are attached to the magnetos:

So… any time you’re working in the engine compartment, whether for an oil change, or anything else, it’s a good idea to look around for any signs of chafing… sometimes you might be able to avoid a future in-flight problem by catching the issue early.

117 – Cirrus SR22 Flap Problem Solved

June 9, 2019 / Dean Showalter / 2 Comments

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Four things for this episode:

An announcement about Oshkosh.
An Aeronca Champ that landed at SHD recently.
My new friend, Brad Flickinger. Brad is a podcast listener from Pennsylvania who stopped in to see me at SHD recently.
A flap problem on a Cirrus SR22.

1.Oshkosh Announcement:

I’ve never been to the EAA Airventure Oshkosh Airshow. But this is the year to change that, and I’m planning to go this year! I can’t wait.

I have been scheduled to give a workshop presentation at Oshkosh this year. The name of my workshop is “Exhaust Valve Borescoping and Lapping,” and you can click this link to get the details:

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/event/Exhaust_Valve_Borescoping__Lapping?id=B60EDF7E3005415C9DE8F72AB063B6F9

It will be in Workshop Classroom A, on Saturday, July 27, at 8:30 am.

If you will be at Airventure / Oshkosh this year, please stop by for this presentation… I would love to meet you there.

2. The Aeronca Champ that landed at SHD:

Such a classic little airplane!

And it even had a backwards tachometer, like the one I flew years ago.

… and with a wooden prop and no electrical system, it’s a really simple airplane.

3. My new friend, Brad Flickinger.

Brad stopped in to see me at Classic Aviation at SHD recently. I found out he’s been listening to the podcast while driving a truck.

Brad owns and flies a Mooney, and we are currently making plans for me to go spend some time with him and some of his airplane friends in PA.

Thanks Brad, for taking the time to stop in for a visit. I always love to meet podcast listeners in person!

4. Cirrus SR22 Flap Problem

I’ve been doing an annual inspection on an SR22, and one of the squawks was that the flaps would not extend all the way.

A call to Cirrus Tech Support turned out to be a fantastic experience!

Ben gave me some ideas about what to check, and one thing he suggested checking was the flap system relays under the floor panel behind the copilot seat.