Yesterday on a hot day late morning (90F inside hanger and outside)
went to start 912.
Normally starts right up in less than 2-3 seconds of cranking with my normal startup routine
(not full choke in warm weather, throttle always in full idle position.)
This time no start.
Not even a hint of firing on maybe five or six seconds of cranking.
Five seconds seems like quite a long time :dry: in that situation.
Check all switch positions (mags both one, etc) and all normal.
Tried again.
Can't remember if second attempt was "I'll try MORE choke" or "I'll try LESS choke."
Went back and forth probably between those alternatives on the theory that either it's not getting enough mixture or too rich and starting to flood.
Would rest the starter between approximately 7 second cranking startup attempts.
Nary any indication of firing.
At some point decided "maybe it's flooded" and tried what used to work on flooded auto engines with carbs: Crank with throttle wide open.
At another point decided "maybe it's fuel starved" and turned on the electric aux fuel pump.
All to no avail and I was finally running battery down to point where it was obviously cranking slower, and clear I was going nowhere.
So I pushed the plane back into hanger and put the battery on the slow charger.
Came back 5(?) hours later and it started right up perfectly normally.
My theory is that I had somehow put in a bit to much choke on my first attempt that morning and had indeed flooded it.
And then by jumping back and forth between more choke/less-choke, etc, did myself no good.
But that letting it sit in a warm hanger all day dried it out.
So my question are, finally:
1) Is there some way to tell when starting balks that flooding _is_ the cause?
Go sniff the exhaust for raw gasoline smell?
2) If I believe it IS flooded, what's the best procedure?
Crank with WOT?
FWIW: This aircraft has NO fuel cutoff valve (Yeah, I know... we probably should install one) but I probably could cut off the fuel with a hemostat clamp of the fuel line where it comes into the fuel filter.
Al
went to start 912.
Normally starts right up in less than 2-3 seconds of cranking with my normal startup routine
(not full choke in warm weather, throttle always in full idle position.)
This time no start.
Not even a hint of firing on maybe five or six seconds of cranking.
Five seconds seems like quite a long time :dry: in that situation.
Check all switch positions (mags both one, etc) and all normal.
Tried again.
Can't remember if second attempt was "I'll try MORE choke" or "I'll try LESS choke."
Went back and forth probably between those alternatives on the theory that either it's not getting enough mixture or too rich and starting to flood.
Would rest the starter between approximately 7 second cranking startup attempts.
Nary any indication of firing.
At some point decided "maybe it's flooded" and tried what used to work on flooded auto engines with carbs: Crank with throttle wide open.
At another point decided "maybe it's fuel starved" and turned on the electric aux fuel pump.
All to no avail and I was finally running battery down to point where it was obviously cranking slower, and clear I was going nowhere.
So I pushed the plane back into hanger and put the battery on the slow charger.
Came back 5(?) hours later and it started right up perfectly normally.
My theory is that I had somehow put in a bit to much choke on my first attempt that morning and had indeed flooded it.
And then by jumping back and forth between more choke/less-choke, etc, did myself no good.
But that letting it sit in a warm hanger all day dried it out.
So my question are, finally:
1) Is there some way to tell when starting balks that flooding _is_ the cause?
Go sniff the exhaust for raw gasoline smell?
2) If I believe it IS flooded, what's the best procedure?
Crank with WOT?
FWIW: This aircraft has NO fuel cutoff valve (Yeah, I know... we probably should install one) but I probably could cut off the fuel with a hemostat clamp of the fuel line where it comes into the fuel filter.
Al
