jamessclarkiv.com

5/24/16

Returned to the airport to investigate the oil pressure gauge problem. The goal was to get the sensor to do its off-scale high in the pattern, land, and investigate by probing the wires, switching the gauge plugged in, and cycling power.

Preflight: Measured 5.9 quarts on the dipstick. Added 0.5 quarts oil.

Fuel totalizer not reset from yesterdays 2nd short flight.

Time before: Engine 16.8, Total: 19.4

Time after: Engine 19.0, Total: 21.6

Flight time: 2.2

Flight Data

Flight Map

Well, I filed a flight plan to depart, on the off chance the gauge behaved. It did, and so I departed Manassas and did a climb to the moderately high altitude of 13,500 feet.

I spent a hour or so flying straight and level doing the first leaning of the mixture. Till now, I have almost entirely been flying full rich. This is pretty costly as I’m burning 14+ gallons per hour. This is done to help keep the engine cool during this break-in period. During the leaning, I was able to see the EGT’s rise from ~1200 to ~1550 before peaking and going lean of peak. I continued to lean and saw 7.2 GPH before I noticed any engine roughness; the engine was really beginning to threaten to quit at 6.9 GPH. I didn’t want to push it further, and returned to running full rich. I’ll need to check with VAF to see when I can stop burning 14+ GPH.

Spend the remainder of the flight doing 2600 RPM climbs and 2650 (Full) RPM climbs. These performed better than the 2400 and 2500 RPM climbs from flight #11. I will need to download the data and add it to that flight’s data table.

Oil pressure was entirely nominal throughout the flight. Weirdness.

After landing:

Fuel totalizer: Remaining: 19.1, used: 22.9 (includes flight #13 & 14)

Gauges: L Remaining: 11, R Remaining: 13

Dipstick: L Remaining: 8, R Remaining: 10

Fill: L: 11.4, R: 10.4 (T:21.8)

5/23/16

Fuel totalizer reset prior to flight. Flash data card installed before flight.

Attempted to do a second flight today. Filed flight plan to depart Manassas, but immediately after takeoff, the oil pressure gauge did it’s off-scale high anomaly again…Dammit…thought it was fixed. Aborted flight plan and immediately landed. This leaves only a few things left to try: Plug the oil pressure sensor wires into the manifold pressure gauge to see if that changes things or helps isolate, buy a new oil pressure gauge, and update the computer firmware. I’ve checked wiring at each connector end.

Time before: Engine 16.6, Total: 19.0

Time after: Engine 16.8, Total: 19.4

Flight time: 0.4

Good news is my takeoff and aborted departure saved me from having to wait out the rain cell on the ground in Warrenton while Manassas got drenched for an hour.

Flight Data

Flight Map

 

5/23/16

Inspected interior of left and right wings IAW SB16-03-28:

Vans SB16-03-28

No cracks found.

Pictures (right wing):

Pictures (left wing):

5/23/16

Great flight today with lots of clouds. Takeoff had few 1600, few 5000, broken 7000.

Times before flight: Engine: 14.7, Total: 17.1

Times after flight: Engine: 16.6, Total: 19.0

Flight Time: 1.9

Flew mostly 2500 and 2600 RPM. Flight data card was missing (not installed prior to flight) so no data for this flight.

Flew some slow flight with 1/3, 2/3, and full flaps with turns left and right.

Flew 90% of the time full rich, tried leaning out once during flight. Leaning from 14.7 to 12.1 GPH caused EGT rise from 1290 into the 1400’s, and caused CHT to go from 360 to 400. I didn’t try any leaner or LOP.

Added 100 Low Lead markings over the vinyl near the fuel caps.

Flight Data

 

5/23/16

Checked the tire pressure: L: 35, R:35, Filled F to 38

Inspected and took pictures of the inboard aileron brackets from inside the wing. Removed outer access panels, inserted a flashlight, and used the iPhone to take pictures. Inspected in accordance with the service bulletin. No cracks found.

Measured Oil Cold = 6.0 Quarts

Found missing left wingtip lens screw (bottom side). Replaced screw with new.

5/20/16

Post Flight Times: Engine: 14.7, Total: 17.1

Flight Time: 2.7

Oil Measured 6.75 (HOT) after the flight, but measured 6.0 (COLD) before flight #12.

This flight consisted almost entirely of climb performance testing.

First series of tests were done 2400 RPM and 2nd series of tests were done 2500 RPM.

Climbs were from approximately 2000 to 6500. Stable data was 2500 to 6500.

For each climb test used the trim to set the airspeed. All data was recorded and later entered into a spreadsheet.

Flight Data

Flight Map

Rough numbers:

RPM	IAS	Alt Start	Alt Stop	Time Start	Time Stop	DeltaAlt	DeltaTime	FPM
2400	122	2503	6082	0:18:38	0:25:03	3579	06:25	558
2400	105	2371	6529	0:30:30	0:35:45	4158	05:15	792
2400	88	2262	6463	0:40:51	0:44:35	4201	03:44	1125
2400	76	2147	6577	0:50:27	0:54:18	4430	03:51	1151
2500	75	2159	6535	1:01:11	1:04:50	4376	03:39	1199
2500	78	2164	6575	1:10:56	1:14:26	4411	03:30	1260
2500	81	2420	6618	1:19:33	1:23:03	4198	03:30	1199
2500	98	2012	6535	1:27:22	1:31:09	4523	03:47	1196
2500	104	2077	6511	1:36:50	1:40:52	4434	04:02	1099
2500	117	2154	6526	1:47:17	1:52:09	4372	04:52	898
2500	123	2167	6547	1:59:05	2:05:13	4380	06:08	714
2500	130	2453	6481	2:13:36	2:21:46	4028	08:10	493

It was evident that there was better performance in the climb at lower altitudes in the beginning of the climb. IAS was taken as an eyeball average of the data mid climb around 4000 feet.

Need to find and record OAT here.

 

3 takeoffs and 3 landings. No problem with the oil pressure gauge.

I changed the oil, and oil filter for the first time on the engine. This seemed ok to do, even though I was still investigating the cause of the oil pressure off-scale high event from the previous day. I also checked the oil suction screen.