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View Full Version : 582 Seizure, ... I Suggest You Avoid This



Robin G
01-31-2009, 02:48 PM
Thursday afternoon we adjusted the strut to deal with the previously discussed washout issue. It was a beautiful cold clear afternoon. I took off and determined there was need for a bit more adjustment but still did a bunch of touch and goes. We made another adjustment and I again made a test flight. I had just turned downwind and was at about 750' AGL and the engine stopped. I tried 2 quick re-starts w/out success, made a quick transmission to clear out the traffic and set up for the glide back. By this time I was mid field. There are tall fir trees on both ends of the 3000' field so it was just a matter of timing the turns to clear the trees. When I cleared the last tree top I just slipped her down and made a reasonably good dead-stick 3-point in the grass.

I was completely surprised by the failure. This was only the second flight since installing new temprature gages and I was monitoring them regularly. Everything was fine on the run-up, takeoff and climb. I looked at the gages (coolant and EGT) about 20 seconds prior to the failure and there was no indication of a problem. The re-start attempts turned the prop and the engine fired once and ran for a few seconds. The prop windmilled a couple times on final.

Today we started the investigation. Coolant and oil levels were fine and the prop pulled manually without difficulty. Fuel bowels were clear and clean. Removal of the manifold however showed evidence of scoring on both pistons and walls. Then we activated the throttle cable and noticed that the oil injection pump arm did not move. And so the answer. At the throttle cable splitter, under the panel, the head of the sheathed cable had popped out of the holder. We slipped it back in place and activated the throttle cable again. Advancing was no issue, but retarding caused the cable assembly to move slightly and out popped the head from the splitter bar. Both throttle cables remained tight, but the entire oil injection cable tended to move even though it was securred to an engine mount on the forward side of the fire wall. Why now, after 70 hours it worked loose we are still investigating.

So, for what its worth, you can bet that I will be making the splitter part of my pre-flight from now on.

robin g

RandyL
02-01-2009, 10:17 AM
Robin, good job keeping your cool and getting it down -- really glad you weren't out in some remote area! I'm so glad to hear of a pilot doing what we're all taught... aviate, navigate, communicate. Too often we hear about pilots forgetting the first thing... FLY THE AIRPLANE. You did, good for you.

IIRC you are based at Lenhardt?