Thwarted

The plane is done being fixed again. Well, for the most part, but I'll get to that.

The vacuum pump had indeed failed, so they replaced it. They also replaced the starboard fuel sump drain valve. Interestingly, I received an email yesterday from the shop with an invoice attached. It was for a credit to my account, which they gave me because they drained the fuel from the right tank. The invoice notes that 16 gallons were removed. The tank's capacity is almost 30 gallons, and I had filled it almost full on Sunday before my flight. So either they didn't credit me for all of the fuel in the tank, or it had continued to leak and had lost about 12 or so gallons over the course of a few days. I don't know which, but I'm not going to worry too much about it.

I went out today to put some Camguard in the oil, run the engine, and possibly even go for a flight if the weather was nice enough. The grass runway and temporary taxiway are open so limited flight operations can proceed while the asphalt runway is resurfaced. I also needed to put some fuel in the right tank because it was still empty. I started through the checklist and got to the step where I turn on the master switch, only to find that the switch was already on.

It had been left on by the mechanic, and the battery was dead. I walked over to the shop and spoke to Alex, the dispatcher, who has been one of my primary points of contact with the shop. I told him about the battery and he said he would let Preston know and they'd take care of it.

I went back and put the covers and plugs back on the plane and headed home. I got a call a short time later from Alex who said they had the battery out of the plane and on the charger, and that it should be done and back in the hangar by tomorrow morning. So my plan is to go out tomorrow and do what I was going to do today.

As for the situation with metal in the oil, I also spoke with Preston while I was out there and he recommended I have the oil changed again after 25 more hours. He also had collected a sample for analysis, which I'll be sending in soon. If it continues to improve, then we'll extend the time to the next oil change, and so on out to the normal interval of about 50 hours. Fingers crossed that all goes well and my engine will be good to TBO and even beyond.

As the year progresses into fall and winter, opportunities to go flying will become fewer due to weather. From just about everything I've heard about it, Camguard will help reduce or prevent issues that might come from the engine sitting for longer periods of time. With the Lycoming engines, the main issue is the camshaft. Since it's at the top of the engine case, above the crankshaft, it is not in oil when the engine is sitting. Once the film of oil from the most recent flight runs off, the camshaft is exposed to air and any moisture that might get into the engine case, which can cause rust. A little bit here and there isn't that bad, but it can add up over time. This is what Camguard purports to prevent, by coating the camshaft and preventing oxidation. Not everyone swears by it, but a lot of aircraft owners do so I'm hoping it at least helps.