When I got back from Carlsbad yesterday, I thought something looked funny up front - sure enough, my carb heat door was hanging down vertically in front of the air filter, blocking off the intake. It was hanging loose, and was pretty much acting like a blow-in door - I'm sure it was fully horizontal by the time I had flying speed! (Hey, blow-in doors to prevent FOD and dirt on the ground - very high tech!) Clearly, it was disconnected from the cable end, or the cable was broken.
I went out tonight to investigate, pulled the cowl, and the problem was obvious - the "bug nut" had enlarged the hole in the end of the door's control arm and pulled through. Don't ask me what happened to the washer and cotter pin - they were gone! Don't know that could happen.....
The proper fix is probably to replace the door, hinge, and control arm completely, as the hinge is getting pretty "loose" as well, but I figure that if it lasted 475 hours, it will probably make it to the next condition inspection, so I simply drilled a new hole or the bug nut a little closer to the pivot point, installed a new washer and cotter pin, and called it good to go.
The carb heat door, hinge, and lever are high wear points in many of the RV's I have seen (with the stock config), so I am not surprised at this. As we all know, there isn't much in the way of carb heat anyway...but it's nice to have the pieces that we have all where they are supposed to be, and operating properly....
Once again, the Val does accelerated life testing for the fleet....475 hours in 19 months!
Paul
I went out tonight to investigate, pulled the cowl, and the problem was obvious - the "bug nut" had enlarged the hole in the end of the door's control arm and pulled through. Don't ask me what happened to the washer and cotter pin - they were gone! Don't know that could happen.....
The proper fix is probably to replace the door, hinge, and control arm completely, as the hinge is getting pretty "loose" as well, but I figure that if it lasted 475 hours, it will probably make it to the next condition inspection, so I simply drilled a new hole or the bug nut a little closer to the pivot point, installed a new washer and cotter pin, and called it good to go.
The carb heat door, hinge, and lever are high wear points in many of the RV's I have seen (with the stock config), so I am not surprised at this. As we all know, there isn't much in the way of carb heat anyway...but it's nice to have the pieces that we have all where they are supposed to be, and operating properly....
Once again, the Val does accelerated life testing for the fleet....475 hours in 19 months!
Paul