ScottM
Taxi to Parking
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2005
- Messages
- 42,529
- Location
- Variable, but somewhere on earth
- Display Name
Display name:
iBazinga!
Since I am traveling for a couple of weeks my plane went in for it's annual. I was not expecting much and true to form it has been going swimmingly.
One thing I wanted taken care of was the habitually high oil temps that I have been getting when the OAT is above 70. I go to red line, pressure drops a little but not out of green. Since I have owned the plane I have taken care of just about everything firewall forward except a bottom overhaul and anything with the alternator. More on the alternator later.
So I bought a new oil cooler, last year I did the hoses and it got a little better. I figured with the colder WX there was no rush for the oil cooler install and it would be a good thing to do at annual. It was the only deffered item I had.
My wheel pant had cracked again so I had them patch it. This year I will search for some new ones as this is the third time it has cracked. All on the same spot.
Nothing surprising, aka expensive, but I just had one eye opener.
A friend was doing a preflight with me and when I checked the alternator belt it felt like it always did to me. To him it felt loose. He also has a warrior and we figured it was just tensioned a little different or the belt was getting old. We noticed this about two months ago. So I figured I would have the mechanics look at it. i had also received a coupon for a free dynamic prop balance. I thought they pulled the prop for that and told them to check just install a new belt.
Well for dynamic prop balance they do not pull the prop but they did look at the belt and alternator and what they found was one of the close to scary things. Years ago when the alternator was installed it was installed with the wrong bolt and the bolt has worn through the alternator and there was only a small amount of metal holding it on. Maybe in 10 or 20 hours it would have come off. We know it never comes off on run up, it would be at some inopportune time. I am glad my mechanics are so thorough!! So my big surprise for the annual is a new alternator. But everything else is just minor little stuff. This annual should be about $2k.
I am in Munich for the night with a terrible cold. I am glad to be out of Finland, it was getting very depressing never really seeing the sun.
A couple of pics are attached. One taken at noon (the one with the ski slope) which shows how bright it gets at midday. We never saw the sun up in the sky. And the other is of the airport. Note all the ice on the taxiway and ramp. The runway was clear but there is about an inch of ice everywhere else. SOP for the arctic!
One thing I wanted taken care of was the habitually high oil temps that I have been getting when the OAT is above 70. I go to red line, pressure drops a little but not out of green. Since I have owned the plane I have taken care of just about everything firewall forward except a bottom overhaul and anything with the alternator. More on the alternator later.
So I bought a new oil cooler, last year I did the hoses and it got a little better. I figured with the colder WX there was no rush for the oil cooler install and it would be a good thing to do at annual. It was the only deffered item I had.
My wheel pant had cracked again so I had them patch it. This year I will search for some new ones as this is the third time it has cracked. All on the same spot.
Nothing surprising, aka expensive, but I just had one eye opener.
A friend was doing a preflight with me and when I checked the alternator belt it felt like it always did to me. To him it felt loose. He also has a warrior and we figured it was just tensioned a little different or the belt was getting old. We noticed this about two months ago. So I figured I would have the mechanics look at it. i had also received a coupon for a free dynamic prop balance. I thought they pulled the prop for that and told them to check just install a new belt.
Well for dynamic prop balance they do not pull the prop but they did look at the belt and alternator and what they found was one of the close to scary things. Years ago when the alternator was installed it was installed with the wrong bolt and the bolt has worn through the alternator and there was only a small amount of metal holding it on. Maybe in 10 or 20 hours it would have come off. We know it never comes off on run up, it would be at some inopportune time. I am glad my mechanics are so thorough!! So my big surprise for the annual is a new alternator. But everything else is just minor little stuff. This annual should be about $2k.
I am in Munich for the night with a terrible cold. I am glad to be out of Finland, it was getting very depressing never really seeing the sun.
A couple of pics are attached. One taken at noon (the one with the ski slope) which shows how bright it gets at midday. We never saw the sun up in the sky. And the other is of the airport. Note all the ice on the taxiway and ramp. The runway was clear but there is about an inch of ice everywhere else. SOP for the arctic!