Been flying Sadie lately and also trying to figure out the static I'm hearing when the co-pilot's side mic jack is plugged in (which it usually is). Pull it out and the static goes away. Hmm..
It's in an awkward spot, but I could feel that the connections were solid to the co-pilot's mic jack. I did notice though that one of the wires was pressing against one of the spring contacts (coupling causing static?). I managed to push it away using a dentist's pick, so we'll see if that helps.
Haven't posted in a while, but it's been fun flying Sadie. I don't know if I posted about the solution to the low RPM, but it was a stuck turbo. Apparently, it was shut down without a cool-down on a hot day and sometimes the turbo can get stuck. The only solution was to pull the cowling, remove the air filter and spin the turbo by hand to un-stick it. That worked!
The last thing I was dealing with was erratic engine sensors, which turned out to be another loose ground on a "CHT" sensor. The more recent 914 engines measure coolant temp, not CHT. There are two, but they're measuring the same thing, so the factory only uses one. So, I simply turned off the one with the loose ground in the G3X and clipped that ground. With that done, all is well.
Other than that I've been checking the eyebolts in regards to the recent service notice and so far they've all been the correct types. Whew.... I really didn't want to have to change those and so far, so good.
Well, the engine and plane were perfectly fine on flights this past Sunday and Monday, but then this happened on Tuesday... Barely starts and even if advancing the throttle it won't get above about 780 RPM.
It looks like it's drawing only from the battery and never from either of the alternators. That's not sustainable, right?
Thoughts?
Lots of flying the past few days. 3 flights: An instrument training flight to New Bedford Regional, a flight to Martha's Vineyard's Katama Airfield, and a local sightseeing flight to a popular mountain for hiking, Mt. Monadnock.
Me and Mike Emery on our way to Martha's Vineyard.
The Oil Temp & CHT issues are FIXED!! Last night I closely examined (and cleaned) all the sensor-related connections and found that the Oil Temp sensor ground wire into the spade connector was completely loose. I could pull it out easily... I did also find that the sensor wires were bundled together with the alternator wire for a few inches and that's a no-no (I didn't do it...), so I fixed that too. I flew this morning and all was perfect!!
I uploaded the engine data from the two flights on Saturday where the oil temp went crazy. Interesting to compare them to two previous flights where everything was fine.
