Cowl flap motor resolution

[kevin]

Hello folks,

If you have been reading this board for a while, you may remember that I had a problem with my front cowl flap motor. It had been operating slower and slower, then froze. Bob Cook suggested I remove it disassembled and cleaned, which I did, and that got me going again. (Thanks again Bob.) The problem that was found was that it was full of engine oil.

So I put it back on again, flew 20 hours, and the problem repeated. So I took it off and had it cleaned again, reinstalled it, and was back in the air. We also looked pretty carefully at the engine, but could find no source of leakage, and the belly was pretty clean. We should have looked harder at this point.

You guessed it, 20 hours later, same problem. This time, after R&R cowl flap motor for cleaning, jokes about changing the oil in the cowl flap motor every 20 hours, etc., my mechanic/supervisor looked really closely at the whole engine compartment for the source of the leak.

We found that the shaft seal (Garlock) on the vacum pump was leaking. This is a 250 hour motor, with all accessories having been overhauled at the same time as the engine. Anyway, we replaced the seal, and the engine compartment is now dry.

I have great hopes of getting more than 20 hours before my next cowl flap motor oil change.

If anyone needs someone WELL checked out in cowl flap motor changes, on the front anyway, I am available... :-)

Kevin