Short story of a classic "time to spare, go by air" that happened yesterday.
Flew the Toga two days ago, a few hot laps and and an approach. Big romantic weekend planned at French Lick Resort (insert own joke here, it actually IS the name of the place!!! LOL)
Put the Mrs. in the plane, strapped the airplane to my ass, fired the motor, temps came to life, run up uneventful. Wind 27020G28, active is Rwy 29. Temp is -13C. Get a RARE clearance to climb right through KORD airspace and head on course. Airplane going up like a homesick angel. Scan reveals oil temp dancing around 190ish on JPI930. Scan again, Oil at 200-ish. Fiddle with seat, talk to Center, scan again, 215. Ruh roh. Reduce boost to 26", lower nose, pick up some speed, thinking partial obstruction on cooler? temp rising VERY fast now, pushing 240, pressures in the green... Power wayyyy back, more than a standard rate turn 180, let the nose slide through horizon, direct back to field. Inform Center, decline equipment, squawk 1200, CTAF, short approach, slip to kill altitude, and painted it on (I know, soundslike a lie, but was my best one in the past 3 months!)
Oil temp has dropped back below 200 during all this, all other systems in green. Let my wife out, got the A&P to go run up with me. Temps way high again. Shut down. Look at Stratoflex line between accessory case and cooler. Zip tied up out of gear linkage way, but has a curve in it. Cut ties. Ran up again, without mechanic onboard. Temps high. Taxi back, RIGHT as I am getting ready to shut down, oil temps plummet from 200ish to 160 Right where they should be. Operates normally during follow up run up. Gave it a bit while I collected the Mrs, we get in, temps go past 170, thats it. No go. Cancelled spendy reservation, scheduled spendy mechanic.
Came to conclusion that the vernatherm is bad. No one I have spoken with has seen them act erratically, either they work or they don't. So the not working, and then working thing is a mystery. I'll be honest, I didn't even know that part existed, much less how it worked.
Lesson here I learned is PAY ATTENTION to the airplane, and the instruments. If I had not seen the rise and waited til the lights started flashing.... Who knows. Set me on a mission to understand intricacies in my airplane (which I thought I knew pretty well). In hindsight, there is probably no chance that I would have gotten the oil temp to register high on the ground unless I did an extensively long ground run, and waited for the pressure to modulate. Might not be a bad idea in the future, but maybe a little overkill?
Flew the Toga two days ago, a few hot laps and and an approach. Big romantic weekend planned at French Lick Resort (insert own joke here, it actually IS the name of the place!!! LOL)
Put the Mrs. in the plane, strapped the airplane to my ass, fired the motor, temps came to life, run up uneventful. Wind 27020G28, active is Rwy 29. Temp is -13C. Get a RARE clearance to climb right through KORD airspace and head on course. Airplane going up like a homesick angel. Scan reveals oil temp dancing around 190ish on JPI930. Scan again, Oil at 200-ish. Fiddle with seat, talk to Center, scan again, 215. Ruh roh. Reduce boost to 26", lower nose, pick up some speed, thinking partial obstruction on cooler? temp rising VERY fast now, pushing 240, pressures in the green... Power wayyyy back, more than a standard rate turn 180, let the nose slide through horizon, direct back to field. Inform Center, decline equipment, squawk 1200, CTAF, short approach, slip to kill altitude, and painted it on (I know, soundslike a lie, but was my best one in the past 3 months!)
Oil temp has dropped back below 200 during all this, all other systems in green. Let my wife out, got the A&P to go run up with me. Temps way high again. Shut down. Look at Stratoflex line between accessory case and cooler. Zip tied up out of gear linkage way, but has a curve in it. Cut ties. Ran up again, without mechanic onboard. Temps high. Taxi back, RIGHT as I am getting ready to shut down, oil temps plummet from 200ish to 160 Right where they should be. Operates normally during follow up run up. Gave it a bit while I collected the Mrs, we get in, temps go past 170, thats it. No go. Cancelled spendy reservation, scheduled spendy mechanic.
Came to conclusion that the vernatherm is bad. No one I have spoken with has seen them act erratically, either they work or they don't. So the not working, and then working thing is a mystery. I'll be honest, I didn't even know that part existed, much less how it worked.
Lesson here I learned is PAY ATTENTION to the airplane, and the instruments. If I had not seen the rise and waited til the lights started flashing.... Who knows. Set me on a mission to understand intricacies in my airplane (which I thought I knew pretty well). In hindsight, there is probably no chance that I would have gotten the oil temp to register high on the ground unless I did an extensively long ground run, and waited for the pressure to modulate. Might not be a bad idea in the future, but maybe a little overkill?
