Maybe it would be a good idea to put a switch guard on the cold start switch. I put a guard on after my engine started bogging and I saw that I had inadvertantly brushed againt the cold start switch while adjusting the mixture. My guard is just a piece of stainless sheet bent into a U shape that makes it hard it inadvertantly flip it.

 

Brian Trubee

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Anderson <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Sat, Oct 15, 2011 6:32 am
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Bill Eslick's EC2 inspection

My own experience is that when the cold start switch is inappropriately selected  and the engine is running at medium-hight rpm - is that the engine does not stop immediately, but starts to bog down, sloppy sounding exhaust and then eventually dies.  But, then I am using 460 cc/min injectors.  I even found that I could fly (keep engine running) with the cold start on provided I put the manual mixture control maximum lean and it was still sloppy sounding - if I had 550 cc/min injectors I doubt that it would have kept running.

 

My best SWAG given that Tracy found no fault and the sudden termination of the engine - is either CAS problem or ignition (and it would have to be an ignition problem that would taken out both sets of spark producing devices).  If CAS then that could account for the sudden stoppage more so than a misplaced cold start switch in my opinion, but then distant diagnostics is still an evolving "Art". {:>)

 

Ed

 

 

From: David Leonard

Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:32 AM

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Bill Eslick's EC2 inspection

Man,  I hate that cold start switch  ;-)

Dave Leonard

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 1:02 PM, Tracy <rwstracy@gmail.com> wrote:

Thought the group would like to hear what i found when I Finally had a chance to closely examine Bill's EC2.   I was hoping to find a definitive reason behind his sudden and complete loss of power on takeoff on his last flight.

On powering it up on the bench I found both A and B controllers Working normally.   Bill noted in his report that in the 'Fly The Plane' situation  called for in a power failure during takeoff he had not tried switching to controller B.  It does not appear that it would have done any good this time.

None of the parameters were set outside the expected range so no sign of data corruption.  In fact the only thing notable about the data downloaded from it was the unusually smooth programming of the MAP table.  Most of the time I find units returned for updates with choppy looking data in the table indicating a lack of care or proper methodology in setting it up.  A and B controllers had identical data.

The PCM was also returned with the unit so just in case the control panel was the cause I substituted it for the bench test panel I normally use.   Thought I saw a problem because the injection pulse width was so large that it could well have caused engine flooding.  This was caused by the mixture control being set fairly high and the cold start switch being in the on position.  This does not prove anything because that could easily have happened during removal of the panel from the plane or while packing it for shipping.  When the switch and mixture control was returned to normal settings the injection pulse width returned to normal.

Ran the unit on the bench for several hours while heating and subjecting it to vibration but nothing else turned up.

Tracy
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David Leonard

Turbo Rotary RV-6 N4VY
http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
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