WindOnHisNose
BENEFACTOR
Lino Lakes MN (MY18)
Thanks to all for your suggestions and input. Here's the latest...
The general consensus is that the problem likely lies with the mags. With this in mind we have pulled both mags (I have 450 hours on the Slick mags). In speaking with Bolduc Aviation people it was pointed out that there is a recommendation from Slick to inspect the mags at 500 hours, but Bolduc feels it should be mandatory to do so. They will inspect and repair the mags.
While we were at it the plugs were pulled, and they looked pretty good. Since we (Larry Kassem, IA, A&P, and I) needed to go to Bolduc with the mags we took the plugs to clean them with the sandblaster. After making them look much cleaner Tim, one of the aces at Bolduc, suggested we check the impedence on the plugs and guess what....4 of the 8 showed very high resistance. He suggested that those be replaced (Tim pointed out that Champion had conducted a study in which they checked resistance on plugs that were stored sealed and to their surprise and dismay some of the plugs which had been stored and never used failed the resistance test!). Given that my plugs were all stamped as being made in 2000, I made the decision to replace all of them. We checked the gaps and installed the plugs. We are now awaiting the mags.
Some of my hangar neighbors suggested considering putting an impulse coupler on the right, as well as the left, mag. The redundancy was thought to be of considerable help should the impulse coupler (apparently normally installed on the left mag only) fail when I am out in the boonies. Darrell Bolduc listened to this suggestion and pointed out that it could be done (at some expense), but that he didn't recommend this. Please forgive my interpretation of his words, but it was my impression that he felt the engineering of the housing upon which the right mag is mounted is not as supportive as the left, and he worried that it might cause problems (again, my interpretation of what he said). Hence, I decided not to install an redundant impulse coupler on the right.
I am feeling really good about the decision to pull BOTH mags and to replace the plugs. Plus, I learned how to gap the plugs from Larry, in addition to learning more about my supercub.
I'll let you know how this all goes.
The general consensus is that the problem likely lies with the mags. With this in mind we have pulled both mags (I have 450 hours on the Slick mags). In speaking with Bolduc Aviation people it was pointed out that there is a recommendation from Slick to inspect the mags at 500 hours, but Bolduc feels it should be mandatory to do so. They will inspect and repair the mags.
While we were at it the plugs were pulled, and they looked pretty good. Since we (Larry Kassem, IA, A&P, and I) needed to go to Bolduc with the mags we took the plugs to clean them with the sandblaster. After making them look much cleaner Tim, one of the aces at Bolduc, suggested we check the impedence on the plugs and guess what....4 of the 8 showed very high resistance. He suggested that those be replaced (Tim pointed out that Champion had conducted a study in which they checked resistance on plugs that were stored sealed and to their surprise and dismay some of the plugs which had been stored and never used failed the resistance test!). Given that my plugs were all stamped as being made in 2000, I made the decision to replace all of them. We checked the gaps and installed the plugs. We are now awaiting the mags.
Some of my hangar neighbors suggested considering putting an impulse coupler on the right, as well as the left, mag. The redundancy was thought to be of considerable help should the impulse coupler (apparently normally installed on the left mag only) fail when I am out in the boonies. Darrell Bolduc listened to this suggestion and pointed out that it could be done (at some expense), but that he didn't recommend this. Please forgive my interpretation of his words, but it was my impression that he felt the engineering of the housing upon which the right mag is mounted is not as supportive as the left, and he worried that it might cause problems (again, my interpretation of what he said). Hence, I decided not to install an redundant impulse coupler on the right.
I am feeling really good about the decision to pull BOTH mags and to replace the plugs. Plus, I learned how to gap the plugs from Larry, in addition to learning more about my supercub.
I'll let you know how this all goes.