In the last months I’ve seen many different REP pilots using the wrong startup procedure, ending up with a starved or flooded engine, a blown starter or a dead battery.
This is somewhat frustrating because things like that in real life would cost money! But there’s a simple procedure, used in real world operations, that will help you. 🙂
The TCM IO-520 startup procedure:
- Check your engine temperature (CHT). Is it cold or the needle is near/inside the green arc? This will influence the priming time
- Set max throttle
- Set max prop RPMs
- Set full mixture
- Now it comes the important part:
- If the engine is cold, engage the electric fuel pump until the fuel flow peaks
- If the engine is warm (CHT needle in the green arc), engange the electric fuel pump for about half a second
- If the engine is between cold and warm (CHT needle near the lower end of the green arc), engange the electric fuel pump for more than a second but disengage it before the fuel flow peaks
- Set the throttle at about 1/4”
- Engange the starter until startup
The engine should startup in few revolutions.
Some more tips:
Remember these things:
- It’s better to underprime the engine than flooding it. If the engine does not start at the first attempt, do another fast priming and re-engage the starter
- There’s no need to keep the fuel pump on during startup. It will only help you flood the engine.
- With REP the engine may be flooded by the pump even when it’s running at low RPMs, so beware of it and switch off that damn pump!
- The turbocharged TSIO-520 (the one that powers the Centurion) is more delicate and need to be primed with much more attention to avoid a fuel flooding
That’s it. Did this procedure work for you? Let us know on facebook!
See you soon with some V35B news!
How To: quickly startup the engine with REP