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 Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:12 pm Post subject: Part 2 forwarded P-Mag E-Mag Safety info... |
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************** From Canard Aviators ****************
--
Marc J. Zeitlin mailto:marc_zeitlin(at)alum.mit.edu
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2008 http://www.mdzeitlin.com/Marc/
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6.
Emagair Emag/Pmag Electronic Ignition warning - Part 2
Posted by: "Marc J. Zeitlin" marc_zeitlin(at)alum.mit.edu zeitlinm
Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:14 am (PDT)
Continued from Part 1:
In mid July, 2008, I headed east at the crack of dawn for a two week
trip that would take me to Provincetown, MA for a week vacation, a few
days in NJ with my mother and sisters for my father's footstone
dedication, and then to OSHKOSH with my wife for the obvious reasons
and to give the COZY and Canard fora. I took off at 5:30 AM, just as
the sun was rising, and headed east. After about an hour and a half,
near Kingman, AZ, the engine started running a TINY bit differently -
a mag check seemed clean - it was running OK on either EI, but the
CHT's had gone up about 10-20 degrees and the power was down a bit. I
continued the flight for another 4.5 hours with no issues, landing in
Clinton, OK for gas, oil and a bathroom break.
Upon runup, I found that one EI was NOT working at all, but I was in
the middle of nowhere and had places to be. I'll be writing another
story about all of the poor decisions I made on this 36.5 hour trip,
and won't address them here, but I'll just describe the events because
that's what's germane to the warning.
I decided to take off on one EI to get to Ohio, where I'd be staying
overnight with Bill Kastenholz. I took off on one EI, climbed over
the airport to cruising level, and headed off. About 10 minutes after
takeoff, the second EI kicked in and the engine continued running as
it had for the previous 4.5 hours - CHT's a little elevated (but not
dangerous), power a bit down from normal. 5.5 hours later I landed in
Ohio.
The next morning, after refueling, I took off (again on one EI - the
bad one seemed to not work when cold and work when hot) and flew
towards MA. On the way I stopped at Westerly, RI to visit Don
Ponciroli but we didn't connect and I called Emagair to talk to them
about the issues I was having with the 114 units. I then flew to
Norwood, MA to visit Jose Velez, and after a couple of hours on to
Provincetown, MA. Each time, I took off on one EI, and each time, the
second one kicked in after 10 minutes of warming up. It was apparent
that there was a problem with timing, but since it didn't run on the
ground when cold, I couldn't adjust it.
Emagair sent me a replacement unit in P'town and I replaced it. A
test runup indicated that it was running fine, along with the other
one. On Friday of that week, I flew down to Brookhaven airport on
Long-Island with my son and nephew to bring my nephew home after the
vacation week. There was no issue on that flight, and no issue on
runup. However, about 7 minutes after taking off from Brookhaven,
just about over Orient Point, the engine suddenly started running like
crap - RPM's dropped off, CHT's shot through the roof on two
cylinders, and power decreased substantially. I brought the power
back and made a precautionary landing with my son at Easthaven.
On the ground, I called Ken Miller (whom I had spoken to for a few
minutes on the ground at Brookhaven), described the symptoms, and he
gave me a few things to look for. It turned out that one of the EI's
had failed catastrophically, with the timing shifting by a huge amount
(no wonder the CHT's were through the roof - it was firing on the
intake stroke). Retiming it twice did nothing - it wouldn't hold a
timing set. The one that had failed was NOT the replacement unit - it
was the second unit that had worked OK on the whole flight east. The
replacement unit was working OK. I had to completely unplug the power
from the unit in order to get it to stop firing, but once I did, the
engine ran OK on the one EI (the replacement unit) that was left.
My son and I took off from Easthaven on the one EI and flew
uneventfully back to Provincetown. I called Emagair to let them know,
and they agreed to send another replacement to NJ, where I would be
the next day. I sent my wife to NJ via car instead of having her fly
with me, and we made arrangements for her to fly commercial to OSH
rather than with me in the plane - I would pick her up when I got
there in Appleton.
To Be Continued...
--
Marc J. Zeitlin mailto:marc_zeitlin(at)alum.mit.edu
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2008 http://www.mdzeitlin.com/Marc/
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