Bubblehead
Well Known Member
On the way back from Sun-N-Fun to Fort Worth Monday I landed for fuel at Mount Pleasant, Texas and could not get out before ceilings and visability lowered. I tied the plane down, signed up for the crew car and went to dinner and to find a hotel.
Overnight the town and surrounding area got 5 to 8" of rainfall and gusty winds. The next afternoon ceilings were improving so I went to the airport to load up and get on home. When I cranked the engine the prop moved about 20 degrees and stopped, which is definitely not normal. I tried it again but no go. After turning the ignition and Master off I got out of the plane and saw water coming out of the exhaust pipe.
I pulled the prop through about 20 blades and got more water out. Once I stopped getting any water out I tried starting the engine again but could not get it to fire. It did crank but more water was coming out!
Thanks to a good Samaritan mechanic we rolled the plane over to his hanger and put the batter on charge. I pulled the cowling off and removed the spark plugs. All were wet with water. I blew them out and fulled the prop through another 20 blades or so. More water came out!
I have a Superior cold air sump and there are two drain plugs for the air section. I removed the rear one and got about a cup of water out! I jostled the plane a lot to get all the water I could out before putting all the spark plugs back in and finally the bottom drain plug. The engine started and ran normally and a quick mag check told me things were back to normal. I replaced the cowling, loaded up the baggage, disconnected the charger, restarted the engine and flew the rest of the way back to T67 Hicks Airfield north of Fort Worth.
I did not install the sniffle valve when I installed the cold air sump. I'd never had much trouble starting the engine when hot so I did not think I needed the valve and left it off. KISS ruled. I think having the sniffle valve would have allowed the water to drain and perhaps helped me avoid a delayed departure and a lot of work.
My plane is an RV-8 with horizontal induction and the air filter on the baffle ramp on the left side. The driving rain Monday night must have been blowing right onto that filter and the water flowed down the duct through the FI unit into the air sump.
I am also ordering cowl plugs. Those would have helped this situation too. And yes, I realize what hydraulic lock would have done, which is one reason I am writing this! Perhaps someone else can avoid this problem by installing the sniffle valve, cowl plugs, or both, and if they see water coming out the exhaust pipe will reconsider trying to start the engine.
Overnight the town and surrounding area got 5 to 8" of rainfall and gusty winds. The next afternoon ceilings were improving so I went to the airport to load up and get on home. When I cranked the engine the prop moved about 20 degrees and stopped, which is definitely not normal. I tried it again but no go. After turning the ignition and Master off I got out of the plane and saw water coming out of the exhaust pipe.
I pulled the prop through about 20 blades and got more water out. Once I stopped getting any water out I tried starting the engine again but could not get it to fire. It did crank but more water was coming out!
Thanks to a good Samaritan mechanic we rolled the plane over to his hanger and put the batter on charge. I pulled the cowling off and removed the spark plugs. All were wet with water. I blew them out and fulled the prop through another 20 blades or so. More water came out!
I have a Superior cold air sump and there are two drain plugs for the air section. I removed the rear one and got about a cup of water out! I jostled the plane a lot to get all the water I could out before putting all the spark plugs back in and finally the bottom drain plug. The engine started and ran normally and a quick mag check told me things were back to normal. I replaced the cowling, loaded up the baggage, disconnected the charger, restarted the engine and flew the rest of the way back to T67 Hicks Airfield north of Fort Worth.
I did not install the sniffle valve when I installed the cold air sump. I'd never had much trouble starting the engine when hot so I did not think I needed the valve and left it off. KISS ruled. I think having the sniffle valve would have allowed the water to drain and perhaps helped me avoid a delayed departure and a lot of work.
My plane is an RV-8 with horizontal induction and the air filter on the baffle ramp on the left side. The driving rain Monday night must have been blowing right onto that filter and the water flowed down the duct through the FI unit into the air sump.
I am also ordering cowl plugs. Those would have helped this situation too. And yes, I realize what hydraulic lock would have done, which is one reason I am writing this! Perhaps someone else can avoid this problem by installing the sniffle valve, cowl plugs, or both, and if they see water coming out the exhaust pipe will reconsider trying to start the engine.