AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2022 - 98

RUDDER & WRENCH
FINALLY!
A CARD
FOR PILOTS.
That can't happen, I explained.
The oil pickup tube is protected by a
suction screen that prevents anything
larger than about a millimeter in diameter
from entering the pump. There's
no way a bearing ball from the magneto
could pass through that screen and damage
the oil pump. It would just sit in the
sump, mind its own business, and not
bother anything.
" I've seen a whole lot worse than a
couple of bearing balls fall into engines, "
I continued. " Just be glad it wasn't a
shop rag or paper towel that could get
wrapped around the suction screen and
obstruct oil flow. A bearing ball in the
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sump is basically a harmless stowaway. "
" Oh, and the impact on weight and
balance is negligible, " I joked, attempting
to lighten the owner's mood.
" So, you're saying that there's no
risk? " he said.
" Well, the main risk would be if the
bearing balls fell into the accessory case
while the engine was running and got
tangled up with the gear train on the way
down, " I said. I suggested that while the
mags were off, somebody should look
closely at the gears to make sure there
weren't any chipped teeth or other damage.
" Have them rotate the propeller to
make sure they can see all the gear teeth.
Have them use a borescope if needed to
get a good look. If there's no damage to
any of the gears-and I'm betting there
isn't-then I suggest you have them
install the new magneto, make sure the
engine starts OK, and then fly home with
a smile on your face. "
Our hero contacted me a few days
later to tell me he'd passed all this on to
the Florida A&P, who to his credit saw
the logic in what the owner was telling
him. The mechanic carefully inspected
the gear train, found no damaged gear
teeth, installed the replacement magneto,
and ran up the engine which started
perfectly. The owner then flew home
uneventfully, much relieved, with budget
intact.
There might be a couple of bearing
balls at the bottom of the Lycoming's oil
sump. Or maybe not. Who knows? Who
cares? If they're there, they'll still be
there someday in the hopefully distant
98
AOPA PILOT / February 2022
future when the engine eventually gets
overhauled. I suspect the overhaul shop
won't even think twice about finding
them there, because they've seen far
worse lying at the bottom of oil sumps
of fine-running engines.
Continental cam
Not long afterward, I heard from a
Skylane owner who was clearly shaken.
" My Cessna 182 is in annual, and
my A&P/IA found one cylinder with
low compression (38/80), so with my
approval he pulled the cylinder. Now he's
telling me that the cam is toast and the
Continental O-470-U needs to be overhauled
or replaced! What should I do? "
I didn't have the heart to tell this
owner that he shouldn't have approved
the cylinder removal and thereby opened
Pandora's box. According to the guidance
in the Continental Motors M-0
Standard Practice Maintenance Manual,
the appropriate response to a cylinder
with low compression is to perform a
borescope inspection to determine the
cause of the low compression. If the cylinder
looks OK under the borescope,
then Continental says the engine should
be flown for a minimum of 45 minutes
and the compression test repeated with
the cylinder hot. In my experience, this
almost always results in a compression
reading 10 to 20 points higher, usually
enough to exceed the no-go threshold.
In fact, I had one client with a Cirrus
SR22 based in Florida whose Continental
IO-550-N had a cylinder that measured
38/80 at annual. The IA wanted to pull
the jug, but I insisted that the Continental
guidance be followed to the letter. The
IA reluctantly buttoned up the airplane
and let the owner take it up for a onehour
flight. When the airplane landed
and taxied to the maintenance hangar,
I made sure the mechanic was standing
by to pull the cowl, remove the top spark
plug, and perform the retest quickly. This
time, the cylinder measured 72/80 and
the cylinder escaped euthanasia.
Sadly, the Skylane owner had contacted
me too late for me to prevent the
cylinder from being pulled, so now I had
to deal with the reality of the exposed
cam that his IA was claiming to be
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2022

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