-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net]  On
Behalf Of Ed Anderson
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 7:56 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Hard starting - the saga continues

You mention that you had voltage to all four injectors which is good.
However, you made the statement that

"....I also verified using the second battery, that I get a click on each
injector, when applying power.  "

I took all four of the injectors to the truck, where I used the 2nd battery,
and some test clips to apply power to each injector to make sure that it
clicked.

I knew what I meant, but I wasn't very clear about it.


I'm thinking that if you can run the engine at 30" HG then your fuel
pressure and flow sound like it is not the problem.

Actually at 30 HG the mixture drops off the scale to lean, and stays there.
Engine does continue to run, but definitely doesn't sound as good.


Ok, one last question.  I seem to recall that you mentioned in one of your e
mails doing some electrical work of some kind before these problems started.
What was that, Steve?

While parked, some water had gone into the Cessna style ignition switch.
The first indication I had of this was when the starter would not engage.
If you hit the start position several times, it would eventually start.
Still ran normally at that time, just had to fiddle with it to get it to
crank.  I traced the problem to the switch, and when I opened it up, the
water came out.  Probably 1/2 teaspoon.  The contact had some gunk on it
which I cleaned up.  I use that switch to also do the ignition test (mag
test positions).  Other than take the switch apart, clean the contacts, and
put it back together.  That was about it.  I did remove the wires from the
starter contacts, install new heat shrink, and re-solder them.  The ignition
test contacts are separate, and they get pulled to ground when in the mag
test position.  Unlike the starter contact, which gets 12 volts applied when
in the start position.  The 12 volt pulls a 30 amp ice cube relay, which
powers the starter solenoid.

Steve

Ed





----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Brooks" <cozy4pilot@gmail.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 6:58 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Hard starting - the saga continues

I spent about 4 hours today, at the airport, trying to fin a solution to my
engine hard starting issue.
I went there with two fully charged batteries.  I verified power leaving
the
breakers to the coils and the injectors.  I also replaced three of the
slide
on connectors, because they seemed a little looser fitting than most of
the
others.  I also verified that the cold start  lead was not grounded.
Measuring it with an ohm meter at the EC-2 connector, I could see the
transition of the switch.  It changed from sever thousand ohms off, to
less
than one ohm with the cold start switch on.

Came time to crank the engine, and I had the same issue.  It wouldn't
start.
I did, however, only have the fuel pump on for a few seconds, because I
assumed that I was going to flood the engine.  After it failed to start, I
pulled one of the spark plugs. The plug was dry.  Seeing that it wasn't
flooded, I decided to verify ignition on each coil.  I pulled one plug on
e
each rotor, and hooked up a spark plug to each of the 2 leads.  Cranking
the
engine (which spins really well with 2 spark plugs removed) I had good
spark
on the front rotor, but the rear rotor plug seemed to spark a couple of
times initially, but then did not spark on several engine revolutions.
Repeated the test for the other two coils, with the same result.

Even though the spark seemed to be not up to snuff, I decided to try to
start the engine again.  After replacing the plugs, I hit the primer 3
times, and cranked the engine.  It fired up after a few revolutions, but
was
only running on one rotor.  I turned the cold start switch off, and the
other rotor fired up as well.  I ran the engine at about 2800 RPM's for
several minutes.  I tried both A and B controllers.  Each seemed to run
about the same.  Since I had adjusted the mixture the last time, I retuned
the  A controller at several MAP locations to get the desired mixture.
Running it at higher per levels, however caused the mixture to bottom out
at
about 30 MAP.  I didn't try a higher power level, since I was still
sitting
close to other aircraft, and still tied down.

At this point, I decided to take Ed's suggestion and verify power to the
injectors.  To do this, I had to unbolt the fuel rail, and slide it out
with
the injectors to get to the connectors.  I removed the retaining clip (RC
Engineering injectors) and verified that I do indeed have power to all
four
injectors.  I also verified using the second battery, that I get a click
on
each injector, when applying power.  Unfortunately, while re assembling
the
fuel rail, I have an seal leaking when I turn on the fuel pump.  I had to
order some new seals, and that ended the testing for today.

My next steps at this point, are to get the seals and fix the fuel leak.
And also find my fuel pressure gauge and hook it up, so I can see what the
fuel pressure is doing.

The only thing I'm confused about is the intermittent spark on the rear
rotor that I observed, yet once it started, it ran fairly well up to 30
MAP.


Steve Brooks

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