REFLECTOR: Franklin Paranoia?

[John Dibble]

Welcome to the Franklin group.  See comments below.

Hiroo Umeno wrote:

> Between the last weekend and today, so far, N21HV has about 7 hours
> flight time.  In these hours, I have come to a few "headscratchers" I
> wanted to get the forum's opinions on concerning the operation of the
> Franklin engine. 1.  Difficulty starting in the morning.  It seems to
> me that compared to the Lycomings I have flown in the past, my plane
> is much harder to start cold.  Steven Murphree gave me a few tips in
> doing this but I am not quite doing it right.  The procedure I use is
> the following.
>
>    * Mixture - Rich
>    * Mags - Both
>    * Boost pump - On
>    * Throttle - Pump 2 strokes, then open 1/4"
>    * Starter - Crank
>
> Well, this morning, I just about ran the battery dead before I finally
> got it started.  I suppose I need a bit more practice.  I would
> appreciate any tips you may have.
>
> How cold are you talking about?  Yes, below 40F it can start hard.  I
> have fuel lines to the manifolds so I can inject fuel.  The colder it
> is, the more I inject.  But when it is above 60F it is easy to get too
> much fuel and then it starts real hard.  When this happens, the only
> thing that saves me is my EI.
>
>   2.  In flight, sometimes, it feels like the engine "skips a beat"
> sometime.
>
> I haven't noticed this, but a mechanic who heard me take off commented
> on hearing an occasional "pop" which he said was characteristic of
> Franklin engines.
>
>  As far as the parameters go (RPMs, temps, pressures, etc) it does not
> seem to indicate any issues but it does not have the "well oiled
> sewing machine" feel I would like from an airplane engine.  The engine
> is fresh overhaul and literally has the same number of hours as the
> airframe (7 hours).  Is this something I should expect from a fresh
> engine?  This also seems to happen on ground ops as well.  One of my
> to-do is to pull the plugs and check for signs of fouling. 3.  When I
> am flying with the speed brake down (approaches), the carburator temp
> goes up fairly rapidly.  I have seen temps as high as 128 degrees and
> above (that is where the instrument "pegs").  Is this to be expected?
> I am thinking that when Carb-Heat is ON, it picks up hot air around
> exhaust that is probably much hotter but still, thought of carb fire
> does scare me a bit.
>
> Interesting.  I don't use carb heat when landing, unless my carb temp
> indicates a need for it and then I just use enough to get the temp
> above freezing.
>
>   4.  The engine "weeps" oil from the main seal aft of crank shaft in
> front of the prop.  It is not a significant amout (the engine holds
> oil fairly well) but after an hour or so of flight, we see some
> blackish splatter marks on the cowl surrounding the area and a small
> amount of blackish oil smear near the seal.  The breather is not
> blocked as we get a lot of splatter from there (greasy props!) so I
> don't think the case is over-pressured.
> Myself and a few other Franklin owners have had this problem.  The
> leak is not around the shaft, but around the outer edge of the seal
> where it fits into the engine case.  I stopped my leak with high temp
> silicone sealant.  I can provide details if you want.
>
> John
>
>
>  I am new to the plane and the powerplant so perhaps I am more
> paranoid than I should be but I spend much of today's flight watching
> the engine monitor looking for first signs of trouble staying low and
> close to the airport. Hiroo
>
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