AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022 - 97

RUDDER & WRENCH
Dead jug?
A Cessna owner called the hotline to say
that one of his cylinders died in flight and
he was grounded at a small unattended
airstrip. When asked for more details, the
owner reported that his JPI engine monitor
had alarmed with a " DIFF " message,
signifying that there was an abnormal
spread between the hottest and coolest
exhaust gas temperature. When the owner
looked at the JPI display, the EGT bar for
the number 3 cylinder had disappeared. He
decided to make a precautionary landing.
Our on-call account manager asked the
owner a series of questions to determine
whether this was a genuine cylinder issue
or just an indication problem. Was the
engine running rough? Did it lose power?
" Uh, no, I don't recall feeling any
roughness or power loss. "
" What was the cylinder head temperature
indication for cylinder number 3? "
" Honestly, I didn't notice. When I
saw the missing EGT bar, I immediately
thought 'the fire has gone out' and
decided to get on the ground and sort
things out there. "
This was sounding more and more like
a simple indication problem-bad EGT
probe, flakey connection, or the like-but
our account manager wanted to make
sure. He really wanted to get the captured
engine monitor data, but that was going to
be difficult under the circumstances.
" Could you go do a short engine runup
and capture a video of the engine monitor
display that I could look at? "
About 15 minutes later, the account
manager received and reviewed the
requested video. He observed that the
CHT for cylinder number 3 was roughly
the same as the other cylinders, and also
noticed that the digital readout of the number
3 EGT was missing altogether and not
just displaying some cool temperature.
" This is definitely an indication
problem, " he told the owner. " Might be a
bad EGT probe or a loose harness connection.
In any case, it's not a safety-of-flight
issue, so I suggest you continue your
trip and have the harness fixed or probe
replaced when you get home or at the next
convenient opportunity. "
The owner was relieved and continued
his trip uneventfully.
Loss of oil
A Piper owner who called the hotline
sounded panicked. " Shortly after takeoff,
oil covered the windshield, " she said.
" I reduced power and returned to the
airport immediately and was able to land
safely. When I shut down and got out,
there was oil everywhere and I found the
oil filler cap was loose. "
" Welcome to the club, " our on-call
account manager said. " Quite a few of us
have had that experience. "
" But when I checked the dipstick, I
couldn't see any oil there, " the owner said.
" Is my engine toast? What should I do? "
You're typically stuck
somewhere you don't
want to be and at the
mercy of strangers you
don't know whether
to trust. It's usually
frustrating, frightening,
and exasperating.
" Don't panic, " the account manager
said. " There's a good chance the engine
is fine, but we need to check some things
to be sure. "
Our account manager contacted the
local A&P and asked him to cut open
the oil filter and pull the suction screen.
The A&P reported back that no significant
metal was found in either place.
Our account manager asked the A&P
to install a new filter, service the sump
with fresh oil, and clean up the oil mess
as well as possible.
" You should be good to go, " the account
manager told the owner, " But in an abundance
of caution I suggest you have the oil
filter inspected again in 10 hours or so. I'm
confident you'll find it clean. "
Gear won't retract
A Cessna 340 owner had just taken off,
but when he tried to retract the landing
AOPA PILOT / October 2022
97
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2022

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