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Introducing myself

jshettle

New member
St Petersburg FL
Aircraft Year
1992
Aircraft Type
114B/115
Reg Number
N114BX
Hi Everyone!

My name is John Shettle and I am the new owner of N114BX, a 1992 114B. I have been out of flying for over 30 years and just got active again in January of 2016. I took delivery in August this year and now have about 50 hours in my new bird and am loving it!

Guy Maher of Lanier Media gave me 25 hours of training in the plane and can't say enough good things about the experience and will certainly be going back for some recurrent training.

The plane has been great. My only issue is I can't seem to get the #3 cylinder cool. It runs much hotter than the other cylinders and I have to run pretty rich to keep that CHT under 400 degrees. Have checked out baffling, timing, GAMI injectors, etc., and all seems good. Appreciate any thoughts or others that have experienced this issue.

Otherwise, just love the plane and looking forward to meeting all of you in the next months and years!!

John
 
Re: Introducing myself

Good to see you with the paid member group, John. Hope N114BX doing well.

Judi
 
Re: Introducing myself

Thanks, Judy! Look forward to meeting you sometime soon and sorry it took me so long to get going with the group!
 
Re: Introducing myself

Welcome John, Great Group, Super People!
 
Re: Introducing myself

#3 being hot is odd. The hottest should be #5 and #6.

I wouldn't be surprised to find an exhaust leak of some sort on that cylinder.
 
Re: Introducing myself

John, search "hot cylinder" on the search engine here and you will be reading for days. I wrote up something awhile back on 8 reasons you may have a hot cylinder. At least 8. But if you have to run real rich just to keep #3 under 400, something is definitely amis. Two initial questions. What is your GPH in cruise when you are keeping that just under 400 and what are your other cylinder temps at that level?

There are many things you have to search:
Not enough fuel, such as a kinked injector line, plugged injector, plugged spider
Too much air, such as a leak around the plug gasket
Baffling problem, airflow (unlikely here, methinks, but still possible)
Bad plug
I have had all of these over the years.

For there it can get really strange like timing being off. Stange that can impact just one cylinder but I have heard of it.

Start eliminating things. First thing I would do is switch injectors hottest to coldest. Do not clean them! If problem stays the same, then you know the injector is fine. Check fuel lines very carefully. If the problem follows from one cylinder to another, then it is almost certainly the injector. If all this fails, switch plugs and check the plug gaskets carefully.

I hope you have found it by this point. Others will chime in with what I missed.
 
Re: Introducing myself

Have you ruled out bad probe first ? I had a JPI probe go bad on me and i was chasing a "hot" cylinder issue for a bit until i just swapped probes.
 
Re: Introducing myself

114BX, I know that airplane. We were in Houston together. That's a nice airplane. Welcome to commander land, John.
 
Re: Introducing myself

John, search "hot cylinder" on the search engine here and you will be reading for days. I wrote up something awhile back on 8 reasons you may have a hot cylinder. At least 8. But if you have to run real rich just to keep #3 under 400, something is definitely amis. Two initial questions. What is your GPH in cruise when you are keeping that just under 400 and what are your other cylinder temps at that level?

There are many things you have to search:
Not enough fuel, such as a kinked injector line, plugged injector, plugged spider
Too much air, such as a leak around the plug gasket
Baffling problem, airflow (unlikely here, methinks, but still possible)
Bad plug
I have had all of these over the years.

For there it can get really strange like timing being off. Stange that can impact just one cylinder but I have heard of it.

Start eliminating things. First thing I would do is switch injectors hottest to coldest. Do not clean them! If problem stays the same, then you know the injector is fine. Check fuel lines very carefully. If the problem follows from one cylinder to another, then it is almost certainly the injector. If all this fails, switch plugs and check the plug gaskets carefully.

I hope you have found it by this point. Others will chime in with what I missed.

Before you swap or change anything... I assume you have a good engine monitor that will allow you to download data. There are numerous tests you can do on the ground and in flight that are very illuminating.
 
Re: Introducing myself

John,

Welcome to the group! There is a wealth of info on here and some great people. I'm still new-ish but every day I find ideas and suggestions are that helpful.

Great to have you here!

Dean
 
Re: Introducing myself

Have you ruled out bad probe first ? I had a JPI probe go bad on me and i was chasing a "hot" cylinder issue for a bit until i just swapped probes.

Another for the list. It can be the cable, too. happened to me once years agp.
 
Re: Introducing myself

Welcome aboard John.
 
Re: Introducing myself

Welcome John...Give us a yell when you get over to new Orleans...
 
Re: Introducing myself

Welcome John.
 
Re: Introducing myself

Hi, I'm Byron Huff in Sunny Tucson, AZ. I'm a proud owner of N1147J and have about 30 hrs in it so far. I'm getting used to flying slow and enjoying it more! I'm used to flying USAF fighters (retired) and had a Glasair for about ten years. 47J is a cream puff in beautiful shape and is in for its first annual (with me).

I had a landing gear that wouldn't retract on our last flight after a few touch and go's. We haven't gotten to that yet in the annual and are trying to get our arms around the horizontal spar AD inspection. I can't seem to find the information about it in the forum (my personal problem...computers) and any help with that would be appreciated. I'm looking forward to some fun flying with 47J. If you see me on the ramp in an Orange/gold/White bird, come say hi. You can't miss it!:
 
Re: Introducing myself

Byron,

If you're not a member - you should join - I've found tons of help and resources just like this one. Last year during annual with my 114 similar challenge. A quick search on here provided everything I needed.

Here is what I e-mailed my mechanic during my annual:
1) AD-2012-02-10 supersedes AD-2011-07-13 (Section B)
2) AD-2012-02-10 allows for the AMOC for AD-2011-07-03 under Section N #3
a. “(3) AMOCs approved for AD 2011-07-13, Amendment 39-16650 (76 FR 18376, April 4, 2011), are approved for this AD.”

The AMOC L115W-11-315 is posted in the forum - I searched my e-mail and found the numbers. If you do a quick search you should find it.

My mechanic had the right bore scope so it was pretty painless after that.

Let me know if you can't find it and Good luck!

Dean
 
Re: Introducing myself

Welcome Byron,

The elevator AD and our AMOC is accessible via a link right on the home page - or here.

And if you haven't already grabbed a copy, download the official COG Gear Troubleshooting Guide. Explains the operation of the entire system and best practices for troubleshooting. Download in the Manuals section of the main site.
 
Re: Introducing myself

Hi Byron,

Im up in the PDX area but will be making trips to TUS in my 114 probably fairly often. Any leads on good covered parking would be great especially with the summer months and heat. TUS is pretty expensive....

PM if you like so we dont hijack the thread.

Tim
 
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