Anyone got a bent needle
- Thread starter vh2q
- Start date
Well the repair option is taking months and the repair people are throwing up their hands saying "it's radiocative, we have to decontaminate it" ... so I found a used gauge that looks like it will work, same ranges, the only difference is the oil temp is in F not C. The interesting part is it came out of a 1950s Cessna 310, which is a twin, so presumably there are two in every plane .. so anyone who has the same issue, search for 310 gauge and you may get lucky. Note, I also found a couple gauges that came out of Bellancas but the range on one or more of the 3 subgauges is not the same. With the 2 pressure gauges, I don't think that matters, pressure is pressure; but the oil temp range has to be the same to be compatible with the sender that's in your plane. I think.
Hopefully we will get this Cruisair home before the one year anniversary of its purchase. I paid 3 different outfits at KEUL well over $10,000 to get the plane, which was in annual, into certain airworthy condition, including Bob Hinkle who did a premature annual on the plane and "fixed" the gear swing and charging circuit. Regardless, we ran into trouble half way home, with an increasingly severe oil leak from the oil cooler; failure of the radio; a weak generator that puts out 20A and not the rated 50A ; and an oil temp excursion that we are 99% sure is the gauge but may be the oil bypass valve, which one of said three outfits overhauled.
To quote Bob "All these old engines leak, it's not worth chasing down every leak". Well my engine has less than 200 hours on it and the leak that wasn't worth chasing grounded the plane half way home (and could have resulted in an engine rebuild had we not aborted the ferry). That "annual" was a waste of $4000, a large chunk of which went toward removal and bench-testing of the generator as well as checking the function of the voltage regulator.
Hopefully we will get this Cruisair home before the one year anniversary of its purchase. I paid 3 different outfits at KEUL well over $10,000 to get the plane, which was in annual, into certain airworthy condition, including Bob Hinkle who did a premature annual on the plane and "fixed" the gear swing and charging circuit. Regardless, we ran into trouble half way home, with an increasingly severe oil leak from the oil cooler; failure of the radio; a weak generator that puts out 20A and not the rated 50A ; and an oil temp excursion that we are 99% sure is the gauge but may be the oil bypass valve, which one of said three outfits overhauled.
To quote Bob "All these old engines leak, it's not worth chasing down every leak". Well my engine has less than 200 hours on it and the leak that wasn't worth chasing grounded the plane half way home (and could have resulted in an engine rebuild had we not aborted the ferry). That "annual" was a waste of $4000, a large chunk of which went toward removal and bench-testing of the generator as well as checking the function of the voltage regulator.
A&P here.
"but the oil temp range has to be the same to be compatible with the sender that's in your plane. I think."
Curious. I have a 14-13 hangar queen with a similar gauge. The oil temp part is actuated by vapor pressure in the bulb at the end of a capillary tube, so the "sender" is always the right one. Is your oil temp electric?
Ron
"but the oil temp range has to be the same to be compatible with the sender that's in your plane. I think."
Curious. I have a 14-13 hangar queen with a similar gauge. The oil temp part is actuated by vapor pressure in the bulb at the end of a capillary tube, so the "sender" is always the right one. Is your oil temp electric?
Ron
Yes my oil temp is electric. The oil pressure and fuel pressure portions are hydraulic.
I am still waiting for Lock Haven to return my gauge. They say they had to "decontaminate it" which is a fancy word for charging me a bunch of money, unnecessarily, to replace the face card.
The gauge I got off the Cessna is starting to look like the practical solution. We have to change the connector but that's about it.
I am still waiting for Lock Haven to return my gauge. They say they had to "decontaminate it" which is a fancy word for charging me a bunch of money, unnecessarily, to replace the face card.
The gauge I got off the Cessna is starting to look like the practical solution. We have to change the connector but that's about it.