(I own a RV7A with an IO-360 with dual electronic ignition with auto spark plugs)
Here is a quick story that I thought was important to share and to emphasize how important run-ups are even though 99% of the times they are un eventful.
My wife and I flew down to SC to visit friends for the weekend. We had a great flight down and our RV7A performed great. After a few day visit, we departed KAND after a thorough preflight and uneventful Run-up. We decided to stop at Lake Norman (14A) to check out the area and grab some lunch. This time my run up detected a very bad ignition issue. I taxied back, uncowled the engine and searched for the issue checking the connections to the coil and then spark plugs. When I got to the left side of the engine, the lower spark plug wire was just dangling!!! I was shocked. The spark plug "cap" had fallen off which led to the spark plug wire to come off. During annual I always make sure that I tighten these 'Caps", but never in a million years would I expect one to come off. Luckily I had spare plugs in my tool kit and was able to replace the "cap" and be on out way home to NJ without any issues. I'm disappointed in myself because I always try scanning my CHT/EGT's but I never saw any indications of poor ignition to indicate a problem during the flight.
I'm so thankful I was trained well to use check lists and I never cut corners and skip Run-ups!!
My question is, has this happened to anybody else and do you think locktite on the threads would help prevent this from happening or is there another solution.
Here is a quick story that I thought was important to share and to emphasize how important run-ups are even though 99% of the times they are un eventful.
My wife and I flew down to SC to visit friends for the weekend. We had a great flight down and our RV7A performed great. After a few day visit, we departed KAND after a thorough preflight and uneventful Run-up. We decided to stop at Lake Norman (14A) to check out the area and grab some lunch. This time my run up detected a very bad ignition issue. I taxied back, uncowled the engine and searched for the issue checking the connections to the coil and then spark plugs. When I got to the left side of the engine, the lower spark plug wire was just dangling!!! I was shocked. The spark plug "cap" had fallen off which led to the spark plug wire to come off. During annual I always make sure that I tighten these 'Caps", but never in a million years would I expect one to come off. Luckily I had spare plugs in my tool kit and was able to replace the "cap" and be on out way home to NJ without any issues. I'm disappointed in myself because I always try scanning my CHT/EGT's but I never saw any indications of poor ignition to indicate a problem during the flight.
I'm so thankful I was trained well to use check lists and I never cut corners and skip Run-ups!!
My question is, has this happened to anybody else and do you think locktite on the threads would help prevent this from happening or is there another solution.