hevansrv7a
Well Known Member
This is really embarrasing but perhaps it will help someone.
The first time, I broke my starter and destroyed the ring gear. That was because, in part, I had mis-labeled left and right mag wires in my wiring kit which eventually resulted in starting on the normal magneto instead of the impulse coupled one which in turn caused kick-back. Sky-Tec rebuilt/repaired the starter for a reasonable fee. I fixed the wiring and thought my problems were over. This was late last year. As revealed below, there was a second problem.
Fast forward to yesterday. Smaller kickbacks. Grinding noises. Finally, away from home, of course, the starter would not engage the ring teeth enough to rotate the prop. A good friend flew to where I was, hand propped my airplane and I flew it home. The starter casting was found broken (the casting) again, in two places. I just knew I had to be at fault, consulted Superior. Yes, it was me, again. Then I got my RA and sent the starter for repair again.
The engine is Superior's IO-360 Plus 180 HP with their standard updraft FI. I had been starting from "cold" with mixture full rich (like I always did in my C-150). It turns out this causes many problems and accounts for my second episode of kick back and starter damage. As an aside, a similar issue was the cause of some "blown out" Ryton sumps. My sump is the standard cast aluminum and survived. Correct procedure is on page 34, I think. Mixture rich, pressurize the system with the aux. pump, turn off the pump, THEN MIXTURE LEAN CUTOFF, then engage starter, push in mixture as it starts. That part in BOLD is what I did not do and should have. BTW, the manual doesn't say to turn off the pump but at least I got that right.
I had been using approximately the correct method for hot starts, but very wrong for cold starts. They were amazed I was able to start it at all. It might have been better if I had not been able to because then I might have re-read the manual. My father always said that if all else failed, read the manual.
All sympathetic and/or educational comments welcomed. Gloating and calling me dumb, well maybe you can restrain yourselves. Thank you.
The first time, I broke my starter and destroyed the ring gear. That was because, in part, I had mis-labeled left and right mag wires in my wiring kit which eventually resulted in starting on the normal magneto instead of the impulse coupled one which in turn caused kick-back. Sky-Tec rebuilt/repaired the starter for a reasonable fee. I fixed the wiring and thought my problems were over. This was late last year. As revealed below, there was a second problem.
Fast forward to yesterday. Smaller kickbacks. Grinding noises. Finally, away from home, of course, the starter would not engage the ring teeth enough to rotate the prop. A good friend flew to where I was, hand propped my airplane and I flew it home. The starter casting was found broken (the casting) again, in two places. I just knew I had to be at fault, consulted Superior. Yes, it was me, again. Then I got my RA and sent the starter for repair again.
The engine is Superior's IO-360 Plus 180 HP with their standard updraft FI. I had been starting from "cold" with mixture full rich (like I always did in my C-150). It turns out this causes many problems and accounts for my second episode of kick back and starter damage. As an aside, a similar issue was the cause of some "blown out" Ryton sumps. My sump is the standard cast aluminum and survived. Correct procedure is on page 34, I think. Mixture rich, pressurize the system with the aux. pump, turn off the pump, THEN MIXTURE LEAN CUTOFF, then engage starter, push in mixture as it starts. That part in BOLD is what I did not do and should have. BTW, the manual doesn't say to turn off the pump but at least I got that right.
I had been using approximately the correct method for hot starts, but very wrong for cold starts. They were amazed I was able to start it at all. It might have been better if I had not been able to because then I might have re-read the manual. My father always said that if all else failed, read the manual.
All sympathetic and/or educational comments welcomed. Gloating and calling me dumb, well maybe you can restrain yourselves. Thank you.