Yes; also a lot of people put a plane up for sale when they know a lot of stuff needs doing. Same with cars, houses, whatever…
The other problem is that its not legal for the engineer to open the box
Is that so?
You’ve now encountered the thing that happens to every aircraft owner the first and 2nd year – the gremlin shakedown. No matter how good a plane you buy, the gremlins will be there. Thet need to be shook out. It’s easy to think this is now the yearly cost moving forward, but it’s not. It will even out. 
Yeah I’m going to ask about the engine mounts (how we didnt spot them). Do they usually wear evenly or suddenly? Also I’m not sure how badly worn they were. We replaced them in the quest to reduce vibrations and it actually helped as the engine now runs smoother and sits slightly differently.
Typically they are replaced based on periodic visual inspection because the rubber is cracking, which takes a long time, occurs slowly and doesn’t immediately affect function. The lower mounts are in compression and also tend to sag over a long period, which can be seen via the alignment of the spinner to the cowling. This is also something you can check during preflight inspection.
When removed, Lord manufactured mounts have a visible date stamp. Mine were over 20 years old when replaced due to cracking last year and although that dictated replacement there was no reduction in vibration that I could sense. I like to do a couple of things like this at every Annual although after 13 of them I’m running out of easy little projects on my 53 year old plane. Anything rubber is a prime candidate for periodic replacement, but even with that in mind nothing degrades very quickly if you’re the only one flying the plane and flying hours are limited.
Siba Maintenance and Services at Dinan should be able to help with the servo and KFC225.
https://www.sibavionique.com/en/homepage/
Mooney_Driver wrote:
You mean it stays there? So if you select say 10000 ft it will capture and stay at 10060-80ft?
Yeah so if climbing to 10,000 it will climb through and then change modes about 60 ft above. If descending, it will change at 10060 or so.
Myself and my engineer have reviewed Peter’s stuff and we have a number of things to check next week (thanks to Peters page!) – it may well be the servo.. but we may change it and nothing happens that would be a waste of $3k ! The other problem is that its not legal for the engineer to open the box. It can only be opened stateside. Unfortunately, it may well be something in the box.
The ultimate problem is that it takes forever to take it to an avionics shop who has the equipment to diagnose it. The ones who do are incredibly busy. So i am left with trial and error with the things that the engineer IS allowed to do. I believe Straubing have actually fixed the roll servo on this (by replacing it lol) during the last annual..which is probably why heading mode works well! I dont have a full IR so taking it to Germany will be a whole world of pain (find ferry pilot or try to go VFR once i have my flight review done good luck with that!!)
Also we found the torque from the clutch of the pitch servo quite weak so that could be a cause? Again the equipment to adjust it is only available in Mars…..
Mooney_Driver wrote:
I heard of the avionic shop problem in the UK… if it was my AP I’d probably consider a trip to Straubing. But I understand your reasoning, apart from the fact that the GFC500 certainly IS a much better AP than anything built before it.
In these days of GPS jamming, you should consider that the GFC500 does not fly an ILS unless GPS is available. Possibly it doesn’t track a VOR either? Heading mode would always work, of course.
Rami1988 wrote:
Regarding the autopilot it captures altitude about 60-80ft higher
You mean it stays there? So if you select say 10000 ft it will capture and stay at 10060-80ft?
Rami1988 wrote:
it keeps rocking back and forth very slightly after capture.
Strange. I read Peter’s page on the KFC225 and this may well look like a servo problem or the internal altitude sensor acting up with the deviations you get. And yea, reading this page does not really motivate one to keep that AP, that is true enough.
I heard of the avionic shop problem in the UK… if it was my AP I’d probably consider a trip to Straubing. But I understand your reasoning, apart from the fact that the GFC500 certainly IS a much better AP than anything built before it.
Yeah I’m going to ask about the engine mounts (how we didnt spot them). Do they usually wear evenly or suddenly? Also I’m not sure how badly worn they were. We replaced them in the quest to reduce vibrations and it actually helped as the engine now runs smoother and sits slightly differently.
Regarding the autopilot it captures altitude about 60-80ft higher consistently and it keeps rocking back and forth very slightly after capture. You can see the FD moving back and forth similar to an issue Peter experienced. Doesn’t change the altitude by much but you can see the nose going back and forth. It happened to me after about 30h. I am also yet to test it in turbulent conditions to see how it acts.
I read a lot about how unreliable KFC225 is and the endless issues Peter experienced. Trouble is there’s no easy to access avionics shop in the UK. You will have to wait forever and most likely end up sending the box state side. I do think I can eventually fix this but life is too short to have a problem with it every x hours and Garmin is apparently much more reliable so..
Rami1988 wrote:
- New engine mounts – not known issue – £3k and 2 days downtime
- New spark plugs – not known issue – £250 – during 50h check
- New battery – not known issue – £1k – 1 day downtime
- New alternator belt – not known issue – £500
- Oil temperature sensor bug – not known issue – unknown cost and downtime
Didn’t you say you had the airplane inspected? While a new battery and spark plugs are stuff which simply gets exchanged quite normally during checks, engine mounts and even the alternator belt should have been spotted at a PBI. And to exchange a battery, one day downtime? Why?
* AP broken down – not known issue – unknown cost and downtime for now. Will likely install a new Garmin one for around £20k and probably 3 weeks downtime
What exactly is wrong with it? It’s a KFC225 i understand? So any good AP shop should be able to diagnose and fix it? When did it break down, after a couple of flights or did you find it broken after you took possession? The King AP’s are usually of a fairly good quality and also work well. Stuff which tends to break are servos.
I find it is quite important to have a good maintenance and avionic shop nearby who know the airplane and are on top of it.
@Rami1988 thanks for that honest report 👍🏻
I now sincerely hope your aircraft will now fulfil all you wished for.
It also nicely demonstrate how costly such an exercise can be. A old (and new…) certified tourer is an expensive toy… on a personal note I’m happy my interests turned around since I couldn’t justify these kind of costs without my better half having a go at lynching me…
