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Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:54:45 -0500
From: Bill Bradburry <bbradburry@allvantage.com>
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To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: First engine start!
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My engine started immediately today!  Probably between first and second 
blades!  It also ran very smoothly.  Thank God and thank you, Tracy!

The only problem was...I removed the oil pressure switch about a year 
ago and never got around to putting a plug in the hole...You would not 
believe how much oil that engine can put through a 1/8 pipe fitting in a 
few seconds!!!

So, anyway, here is my present difficulty....The starter will only try 
to move the prop about 5 degrees or so and then starts to click.
I have been using the starter to turn the engine to get oil and water to 
move through (apparently not enough to discover the missing plug!) and 
the engine started effortlessly and ran for a few seconds.  After the 
leak, I turned the engine over with the starter to determine where the 
leak was located.  It worked fine all these times.

After the leak was plugged, I made another attempt to start and this 
time the starter would not move the engine.  I thought that maybe the 
battery was down, so I charged the battery and tried again.  No Joy! 
Then I moved my truck over and tried to jump start the battery.  Still 
no joy.
Now one thing is happening that I am suspicious of..When the starter 
engages and fails to turn the engine, the pinion stays engaged in the 
flywheel and will only retract when the prop is moved a little.  I 
really do not think this is a problem, since if the engine should start, 
the pinion would probably retract...??

Does anyone have any ideas?
Here is my plan for tomorrow:
I am going to try and move the starter a little in the mount on Tracy's 
drive to provide a little relief in case it is binding.  I do not know 
if this is possible...(how much slop is in the starter hole on the drive)
If this fails to fix it, I will take the starter off and to a shop to 
have it tested.  It is a rebuilt starter and has only been operated 
about less than 10 times, so I am doubtful of this as the problem.
The engine turns over by hand both by using the flywheel and by using 
the prop, so I am doubtful that the drive is somehow out of alignment (I 
hope Tracy has some input here)

So, what do you think??

Thanks,
Bill B