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CO Detector

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Joined
Oct 3, 2020
Messages
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Hey Gang-

We have a 1979 Turbo Arrow IV and installed a Aithre CO monitor at the beginning of the year. About 6 weeks ago we started getting small CO readings. My son was flying from home to AUO where he goes to flight school. He diverted into AHN because the CO monitor was reading in the red. Mx worked on the plane, found a few places they needed to tighten up. They pressurized the exhaust and all checked out. He went up and grabbed the plane and got as far as FFC when he had another CO alarm. The plan was to fly to next airport with the gear down (8 miles) so he could leave it at mx & get a ride home. On departure the #4 cylinder head separated from the barrel and had a partial engine failure. He got it back around and safely landed. mx looked at the engine and found the separation. Maintenance said you usually only see that type of failure with an over boost. We downloaded the data from the G3x and it only got to 37.5" on t/o (41" is max). The cylinders were taken off the engine and an engine shop took a good look at the bottom. It got a clean bill of health and we decided to replace all 6 cylinders. The engine has 1035 hrs SMOH but was rebuilt in 1994. We bought it about 1.5 years ago and flew almost 380 hrs last year. I asked shop to take a look at the exhaust again and told them about the CO issue. On the test flight and subsequent flights we have had readings of zero on the monitor. We are thinking there was a crack in the barrel and that is what was giving us CO readings and it finally let go with the cylinder failing. We change the oil every 25 hrs. and do a compression check and boroscope. Something to think about when chasing CO leaks and can't find. There is an AD on Continental barrels and a procedure to pressurize with piston at the bottom of the cylinder and check for leaks...Food for thought....
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