Maintenance Day

I decided to take advantage of the cooler weather this morning and head over to the hangar for some maintenance issues. I loaded up the Ziva pup and few tools along with some anti-freeze and the Garmin  VIRB.

I guess I have been inspired by watching all the sailboat refit videos on you tube. I decided I need to use my camera more and figured today would be a good start.

My little ranger pick up truck spewed coolant on a previous airport visit. I couldn't locate the source of the leak that day, needing a few tools to remove a shield blocking my view of the radiator bottom and hose connection. Today I had sockets and assorted tools to get the job done.

Play time comes first so Ziva and I went for a walk and she decided to run the fence line multiple times, along with her izzy dizzy drills running high speed tight circles.  I don't get it, and I gave up trying to figure out why she loves doing that maneuver. We finally retreated to the hangar for a cool drink, her water from a gallon jug in the fridge and a Gatorade for me.

Time to get to work...

I opened the truck up to get some cool air circulating and release the hood latch. I used one of 08Romeo's winter cowl cover moving blankets to ease my ground work while on my knees and crawling under the front end. I quickly removed the shield and the hoses looked fine, no visble leaks or stains from leaks. I crawled back out from under to top off the coolant, hardly took any at all, and then start the truck.

I let the Ranger run until it showed some temp on the gauge and then crawled back under to check for leaks. Not a drop to be found. Hmmm...I shut the truck off and figured maybe it would leak from the pressure build up now that it stopped circulating, nadda. I rechecked the coolant level and it was perfect, I haven't got a clue.  I decided to take ranger for a drive around the hangars and try to build up more heat, no change, not a drop. I guess I'll move this repair to the divine intervention category. Actually, I'll move the truck from the airport to the house and see if that triggers anything.

On to 08Romeo...

I have noticed more oily type grease from the nose landing gear. I think it is coming from either an oil leak or the grease is breaking down in the extreme heat in the hangar.

First the cowl needs to come off. Of course the winds started to pick up and all I could think of is me either tripping over the dog or a gust taking the cowl out of my hands. Fortunately the cowl came off without a problem and I gently set it down next to the plane, in one piece.

I did find some oil splatter, very light, on two hoses near the firewall and some residue on top of cylinder 2 around the push rod shroud tube. I cleaned everything up and then took a look at each valve cover and the bottom cowl for any oil leak that may have collected there.

I checked around the oil filter, filler tube and just about everywhere I could think there might be a leak. Everything looked clean, so for now I rehung the cowl and cleaned up any fingerprints.


push rod shroud tube

I think I am going to purchase a new grease gun and grease for the plane. I'll re-grease the nose and main landing gear fittings just to be safe. I'll also check with the shop when I get the oil changed later this month in prep for our BACFest flight in September. For now I am going to search the internet for some new exhaust gas temp probes.


lower cowl is clean

Where is the rest of the video? I'm only providing the intro, the rest was poor camera angles, not enough light looking down into the bottom cowl and it just sucked. I really need to refine my video skills for ground work. I will have to dig out my tripod for better shots and find something small to clamp in a safe position in order to free up my hands and not take pictures of my feet, the ground or whatever should not be in the shot. Kudus to the sailboat guys that do a great job, I have a new appreciation for your work.

Next up, a flight across the Delaware Bay to Eagles Nest Airport (31N) in West Creek, New Jersey. Mary and I are going to spend a day with her brother and his family at Long Beach Island. I will need to call and check on the availability of a car rental.