Ed_Wischmeyer

Ed_Wischmeyer

Well Known Member
Flew the RV-8 this morning, and the battery was a little low and it had just enough juice to start, even with the P-mags. Runup was nominal, but in initial climb, there was a tick-tick-tick sound sort of like the electric fuel pump but louder. Turning off the fuel pump did not change the sound.

What to do? Turn downwind for the umpty thousand foot runway I just took off from, of course. Told tower that there was a funny sound, but that everything seemed to be running fine. There was no traffic, and I was cleared to land. If they had given me a delay, I would have declared an emergency (why not? doesn't cost anything) but I didn't. I don't know if they did or not.

Haven't started to debug this yet, but when I went to fly the plane a week ago, there was a tick-tick-tick sound from the left wheel pant as the plane rolled out of the hangar before engine start. More air in the tires fixed that tick.

Ideas? Speculation? I don't think it was the crocodile from Peter Pan..
 
Check the wing root and HS root rubber fairing strip. If it came loose it could be slapping on the fuselage. Happened to me once - and came home fast. I used RTV in the rubber channel and reinstalled before the RTV set. Problem fixed.

Carl
 
Check and make sure one of the safety wires on the wheel assembly isn't sticking out just enough to scrape something. I had this happen and it drove me crazy for about 2 days.

:mad:
 
I had almost this exact problem one time and it was a cracked cylinder. Although you would probably have guess it by now, as the engine lost rpm and ran a little rough. Also refused to start after I shut it down.
 
Once I had a part broken away from one exhaust valve. This caused a ticking noise and complete compression loss when turning engine over by hand.
 
Carl Froehlich said:
Check the wing root and HS root rubber fairing strip. If it came loose it could be slapping on the fuselage. Happened to me once - and came home fast. I used RTV in the rubber channel and reinstalled before the RTV set. Problem fixed.

Carl
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+1 I had the same thing, scared the **** out of me. So you see Timmy; secure those rubbers if you want to stay safe.... fairings
 
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Radio

Ed_Wischmeyer said:
Flew the RV-8 this morning, and the battery was a little low and it had just enough juice to start, even with the P-mags. Runup was nominal, but in initial climb, there was a tick-tick-tick sound sort of like the electric fuel pump but louder. Turning off the fuel pump did not change the sound.
Click to expand...

Turn off the radio/intercom to determine if the sound is mechanical or electrical.
 
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