lperagallo
Senior Heliman
Location: Westfield, Indiana, USA
| OK,
so Duralite gets me the battery back so I decide I should finish the rebuild on the turbine. All I need to do is put the tail on, mount blades, check linkages and test.
I put the battery back in and decided that I'd test the start sequence and make sure things work. First thing I find is that I reversed the plugs on the Gas solenoid and Kero solenoid. Easy mistake, the markings on the FADEC are hard to understand. Try again. This time the gas valve opens and I see gas shooting out the front. Gosh, bad festo fitting. Now I have to take the nose off the turbine and replace the festo. To do this I had to take apart a bunch of the wiring and electronics to get to it. I get it taken apart, check the fitting and sure enough it is leaking. I put on an new one and put it all back together.
Try again. I hear the solenoid cycling but no "pop". Next check is the glow plug. I take it out and test, works fine. Then I check the valve again. It works, gas is coming out. I decide to blow through the line. Oh Boy, can't do it. Need to take the nose off AGAIN Check the fitting, it's clear. Try to blow out line, No Go. So I decide to take a small needle and push it through. I was able to get it in a bit but then it stopped. I pushed it in and out a few times and took it out. Since I don't know what it looks like on the other end I wasn't going to force anything. I tried to blow through it again and it's clear
Put it all back together AGAIN! Try it again. It starts right up. I immediately shut it down and try again. No luck, data port says bad glow. I take it out and its toast, so I put in a new one. You have to tease out two coils with a needle to get it to work. I take out three. Try again. Works!, Try again, Bad Glow plug on the data port
Take out another glow plug, tease out TWO coils and put it back in. Success
So I've gotten it all back together. I'll give it a try tomorrow where I can fire it up completely. It's going to be windy, so I might just test it on the ground. OH, I know, I'll have JC hold it over his head and I can run it up and check the tracking. That way I won't have to worry about crashing!
Let's hope I've used up all my bad luck,
Lou
Bergen Intrepid EB, G-26, 720mm; Bergen Turbine, Wren MW54; Raptor 50V2, OS50-Hyper |
never looked back since I moved up to kero start. good luck! 
I had little warning signs I missed just before the issues. I'm now better prepared, but it's a heck of a way to learn.
