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#11
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As the inititator of this thread, just thought I would update... Fat
Albert still sits lacking a carburetor on the port engine... I sent the new, but very defective, remanufactured carb back to Kelly Aerospace on Monday, via next day air... They promised to do the same the day they had their carb in hand... At worst it should have arrived by noon on Thursday... Of course it is now a week later and I have no carb... Of course, Kelly Aerospace is not answering the phone from Thursday on... It is now a month since the annual commenced... Steve may have to start charging me hangar rent... Denny |
#12
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Just got off the phone with Steve... The replacement carburetor from
Kelly Aerospace came late Friday, so being Christmas Eve he hung it on the plane and went home without calling me.. Today he finished the hook up and pushed the plane out to start it.. The bottom line is the replacement, zero timed, CERTIFIED, carburetor leaks even worse than the one we sent back as defective - dumped fuel all over the ground the instant he hit the boost pump, and he aborted the start... He called Kelly Aerospace and they told him to open the carburetor and see what the problem is... Jeez, the original, worn out carb didn't dump fuel on the ground and was flyable as long as you paid attention to the EGT... The only thing I can do is laugh as the labor bill keeps going up... I asked Steve how long he has been wrenching on airplanes... He said more than 40 years... I asked him if he had ever had two zero timed, carburetors in a row be defective... He said no... I'm waiting for a call back on what he found but it's after 6PM and I'm going home, so thought I would post this update... Denny |
#13
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In my recent experience Kelly products are not holding up as well as the
original manufacturers stuff did. I don't have anything concrete to point to but I have sent back more Kelly accessories than anything else. John Dupre' The replacement carburetor from Kelly Aerospace came late Friday, snip The bottom line is the replacement, zero timed, CERTIFIED, carburetor leaks even worse than the one we sent back as defective - |
#14
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Gees!!! When will this nitemare end! That royally SUCKS! Let us know where
exactly it is leaking from... truly weird. We've been having ongoing problems with our autopilot, an S-Tec 60-2. First a runaway trim so they pulled the pitch computer, sent it to S-Tec and for $150 the told us it was A-OK. Now we pulled the pitch servo and sent it in for diagnostics and possible new switches. We've been flying in without pitch or altitude hold and it seems to work fine until last night when one of the other partners said that in HDG mode it oscillates about 10 degrees one way and then corrects back 10 degrees the other way. NAV mode works perfect other than it tracks with the cdi needle 2 1/2 degrees left. Good luck with the carb, I feel for you. Jim "Denny" wrote in message ups.com... Just got off the phone with Steve... The replacement carburetor from Kelly Aerospace came late Friday, so being Christmas Eve he hung it on the plane and went home without calling me.. Today he finished the hook up and pushed the plane out to start it.. The bottom line is the replacement, zero timed, CERTIFIED, carburetor leaks even worse than the one we sent back as defective - dumped fuel all over the ground the instant he hit the boost pump, and he aborted the start... He called Kelly Aerospace and they told him to open the carburetor and see what the problem is... Jeez, the original, worn out carb didn't dump fuel on the ground and was flyable as long as you paid attention to the EGT... The only thing I can do is laugh as the labor bill keeps going up... I asked Steve how long he has been wrenching on airplanes... He said more than 40 years... I asked him if he had ever had two zero timed, carburetors in a row be defective... He said no... I'm waiting for a call back on what he found but it's after 6PM and I'm going home, so thought I would post this update... Denny |
#15
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Well, it's Tuesday... Steve called back and says the carb is on, the
engine has been extensively ground run, the cowl is on, and the airplane is ready for flight testing... I'm trapped here at the office and there is freezing rain outside and more predicted for the night... Maybe I'll be able to test fly it tomorrow, and maybe I won't... The bottom line is that the guy at Kelly Aerospace did not replace my remanufactured carburetor as promised, but 'overhauled' and returned the carburetor to me... He stated to Steve that he personally stood there and watched the work being done (the point of this will be clear in a minute)... Anyway, Steve disassembled the overhauled-remanufactured carb at the direction of Kelly Aerospace and found that the the pivot pin for the float was missing the cotter key that keeps the pin from sliding out and jamming the float... He put in a new cotter pin, verified that the float height is correct set, (it was) and the bench repaired carb now works perfectly... When Steve called Kelly Aerospace back with the news, the guy's comment was, "That's interesting." When Steve called me I asked him if the guy's seeing-eye dog needed glasses... Now the "interesting" part will come when Steve and I discuss the bill... It seems to me that Kelly Aerospace has some responsibility for the labor to remove the carb, the shipping costs, the labor to reinstall it, the labor to remove it a second time, the bench time to fix it, and the labor to reinstall it a second time... Once I am presented with Steve's bill I will be calling Kelly Aerospace to enquire as to how they see their responsibility here... Denny |
#16
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I would have a product liability lawyer send Kelly your bill. Missing
cotter pin that holds the pivot pin for the float?! Float drops to the bottom of the bowl calling for more fuel flow and spilling fuel everywhere.... sounds like a good start to an engine fire. I wouldn't pay them a dime, I'd tell them to sue me. Order a few more things from Kelly, then deduct Steve's labor invoice from Kelly's statement. How can they expect that you should pay for finishing their work and for all the problems and costs you had to incur from it? Glad to hear it's ready for some air time! Jim "Denny" wrote in message ups.com... Well, it's Tuesday... Steve called back and says the carb is on, the engine has been extensively ground run, the cowl is on, and the airplane is ready for flight testing... I'm trapped here at the office and there is freezing rain outside and more predicted for the night... Maybe I'll be able to test fly it tomorrow, and maybe I won't... The bottom line is that the guy at Kelly Aerospace did not replace my remanufactured carburetor as promised, but 'overhauled' and returned the carburetor to me... He stated to Steve that he personally stood there and watched the work being done (the point of this will be clear in a minute)... Anyway, Steve disassembled the overhauled-remanufactured carb at the direction of Kelly Aerospace and found that the the pivot pin for the float was missing the cotter key that keeps the pin from sliding out and jamming the float... He put in a new cotter pin, verified that the float height is correct set, (it was) and the bench repaired carb now works perfectly... When Steve called Kelly Aerospace back with the news, the guy's comment was, "That's interesting." When Steve called me I asked him if the guy's seeing-eye dog needed glasses... Now the "interesting" part will come when Steve and I discuss the bill... It seems to me that Kelly Aerospace has some responsibility for the labor to remove the carb, the shipping costs, the labor to reinstall it, the labor to remove it a second time, the bench time to fix it, and the labor to reinstall it a second time... Once I am presented with Steve's bill I will be calling Kelly Aerospace to enquire as to how they see their responsibility here... Denny |
#17
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Gawd, I'm begining to feel like I'm writing episodes for a soap opera,
or something... But, here we go with the next installment... I hurried through my work Wednesday as best I could and got the the airport at 3 PM... Steve was all smiles, glad to finally have this annual finished (6 weeks now)... The cowls were on and the airplane ready to fly... So, out Doug (another guy that hangs around the shop) and I went into the mist and haze of an indefinite ceiling... At least we taxied to the end of the runway this time without fuel running on the ground... Took off and climbed to a thousand feet... The starboard engine does not run as lean as it did with the original carb that started this whole thing going, but it is still showing significantly higher EGT as compared to the (assumed) normal port engine at full rich, and still over an inch of displacement between the knobs when leaned to the same EGT, and the same when leaned further to just a trace of roughness on each side (never blindly trust electronics)... "Well, it's some better." - I say... The ceiling is dropping and ten miles out we are forced down to 800 feet to stay out of the clag... We go back and land and taxi in... Steve is out on the ramp, still all smiles... I pull the mixture to cut off - and the engine continues to run - and run, and run, shaking and wallowing like a wet dog - Steve is not smiling... I goose the throttle to break the vacuum that is pulling fuel through the carb, and it winds down... "Well, that's not better." - I say... Back to square one! We call Kelly Aerospace... He is just as unhappy as we are.. He tells me to have Aircraft Spruce do a warranty exchange on his nickle, gives me an RMA number for them so I can get another carb next day air... It takes 40 minutes to get through to Aircraft Spruce... They flat refuse to do a warranty exchange, stating that all warranty work has to go directly through "Jerry" at Kelly Aerospace... Tim at Kelly, sighs, and says he replaced "Jerry" three years ago... Never the less, the little girl at Aircraft Spruce says she just works there and that is what her computer screen says - no jerry, no carb... But if I give her a credit card she can ship me a carb next day... Being that is a thousand dollar bill that I 'know' will never get straightened out, I decline... Tim sighs, says he has another core in house and has all the parts needed, and he will have his guys stay late tonite (Wednesday) to get it remanufactured and out the door Thursday so we will get it Friday by next day air... Now Steve sighs, and says that Friday is his wife's birthday and the shop is closed, as well as the airport is unattended that day so no one will be there to take a delivery, being both her birthday and New Years Eve that night... For the first time in the decades that Steve has been wrenching on my airplanes and for the first time in this entire carburetor fiasco, I lost my smile... In roughly ten seconds I explained that I was no longer a happy camper... The cowl came off, the carb came off, and I am assured that someone will be there to take delivery on Friday and that the airplane will be ready before dark... We shall see... Denny |
#18
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I hope you fly it the same day he finishes it. Otherwise, he isn't
likely to be too happy, either.... although I feel your pain. ************************************************** ******************** Well, no pain, though some annoyance... Yeah, Steve is unhappy... Says he has never had a thrash like this in 40 years of wrenching on airplanes... I can't blame him, he is sick of putting the cowls on so I can fly it, only to have to take them off again - which is a two man job taking a good 30 minutes each way, though they seem to be getting faster...With any luck, the next carburetor will have all of it's parts and will actually shut off the fuel flow when the mixture is pulled to cut off... I will be over there Friday afternoon to baby sit the install job and test fly it... That's assuming that Kelly Aerospace keeps it's word and gets it here on time, they didn't the first time around.. Denny |
#19
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Denny,
Is there an STC for a Split Lower Cowl modification for the Apache? Something makes me think it was an option on Geronimo conversions. Hopefully it will be too late to implement the STC (hoping that only one more cowl off/cowl on round trip will be required of you!) but maybe an option to think about in the future There are a couple outfits working on an STC for the Aztec and we may look into it this summer during our annual. A field approval for the cowl mod would also be an option. Either way it should pay for itself in reduced labor costs. Good luck! Jim "Denny" wrote in message ups.com... I hope you fly it the same day he finishes it. Otherwise, he isn't likely to be too happy, either.... although I feel your pain. ************************************************** ******************** Well, no pain, though some annoyance... Yeah, Steve is unhappy... Says he has never had a thrash like this in 40 years of wrenching on airplanes... I can't blame him, he is sick of putting the cowls on so I can fly it, only to have to take them off again - which is a two man job taking a good 30 minutes each way, though they seem to be getting faster...With any luck, the next carburetor will have all of it's parts and will actually shut off the fuel flow when the mixture is pulled to cut off... I will be over there Friday afternoon to baby sit the install job and test fly it... That's assuming that Kelly Aerospace keeps it's word and gets it here on time, they didn't the first time around.. Denny |
#20
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"Jim Burns" wrote in message
... Denny, Is there an STC for a Split Lower Cowl modification for the Apache? Something makes me think it was an option on Geronimo conversions. Hopefully it will be too late to implement the STC (hoping that only one more cowl off/cowl on round trip will be required of you!) but maybe an option to think about in the future There are a couple outfits working on an STC for the Aztec and we may look into it this summer during our annual. A field approval for the cowl mod would also be an option. Either way it should pay for itself in reduced labor costs. Good luck! Jim I have this on my Aztec, makes life a lot better overall (and you no longer need two people to remove the cowls). I don't have an STC for it, as it was done with a field approval. -- Louis L. Perley III N46000 - C152 N370 - PA-23-250 |
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