Meesh

My Feedback: (135)

I had 3 flights on my P-70 Saturday with no problems and normal shutdown sequence. I fueeld up for the 4th flight, got a hunt on the LED's pushe the throttle forward and nothing. I aborted the start and plugged in the GSU. I read "Power Fail" on the OC Line. Thinking my ECU battery was low I charged it. It took about 650MaH (NiCad battery capacity is 2400MaH). Plugged the GSU in and tried the start sequence. "Start" showed on the OC line but the starter motor didn't turn over and I heard a faint humming sound. Thinking the turbine wheel might be jammed I aborted the start and spun the turbine over manually from the exhaust end using the wood handle of a small artist paint brush I had in my tool box. It turned freely and was not jammed. I then tried to start it again and it fired right up as it had done the previous 3 flights.

Any idea what might have happened??

Bob

Thud_Driver

My Feedback: (1)

Engines do, well, "stick" occasionally. I've seen it mostly on P-80's but also on 70's and a P-200. The Power Fail can come from either a low ECU battery or even low Rx batteries. It's possible that the current going into the starter, with the engine stuck, pulled the ECU battery voltage down to the Power Fail level. The hum you heard is evidence that something like that happened. If you had the GSU conencted, you could have seen the voltage sag on the screen.

You basically did the right thing to spin the engine with the wooden handle. Just takes a nudge and usually you can just feel it come free. You can alwys push the IGN button on the GSU to test spin the engine if you want to see if it's free.

I've never seen any consequence to this problem, so just keep flying.

Meesh

My Feedback: (135)

Thanks TD!