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Water contamination

My RV14A was washed by an unaware mechanic which sprayed water into the engine intake. Water made its way throught the wing tanks' fuel caps too - these will need newer o'rings btw... Airplane is brand new - only 19 hours "old".

I tried to start the 14 but it did not fire at all. I have removed the spark plugs, cleaned them with the Universal Spark Plug cleaner I bought from Aircraft Spruce, removed all blasting media, changed copper gasket, added a tiny amount of Loctite Copper-based anti-seize compound and reinstalled them with the torque specified on the IO-390 MM. Magneto timing is per specs - 20 deg BTDC.

I also purged (drained) the fuel line from the fuel servo to the "spider" atop the engine. I even disconnected and purged the injector lines from the "spider" to each injector where I found no signs of water.

Is there any procedure which must be done on the fuel injector servo to purge or clean any stubborn water which may still be present?

Any insights and or tips will be much appreciated.
 
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Fuel, air, spark, compression, timing, mixture------if all are OK, they it should run.
 
My RV14A was washed by an unaware mechanic which sprayed water into the engine intake. Water made its way throught the wing tanks' fuel caps too - these will need newer o'rings btw... Airplane is brand new - only 19 hours "old".

I tried to start the 14 but it did not fire at all. I have removed the spark plugs, cleaned them with the Universal Spark Plug cleaner I bought from Aircraft Spruce, removed all blasting media, changed copper gasket, added a tiny amount of Loctite Copper-based anti-seize compound and reinstalled them with the torque specified on the IO-390 MM. Magneto timing is per specs - 20 deg BTDC.

I also purged (drained) the fuel line from the fuel servo to the "spider" atop the engine. I even disconnected and purged the injector lines from the "spider" to each injector where I found no signs of water.

Is there any procedure which must be done on the fuel injector servo to purge or clean any stubborn water which may still be present?

Any insights and or tips will be much appreciated.

just run it. That will purge out any water. Water is not bad for the engine. Many hot rodders inject water to reduce detonation potential.

Larry
 
He said:

I tried to start the 14 but it did not fire at all.

If you still suspect water in your system, so much that the engine would not start as you pointed out, you could simply disconnect the fuel supply line at the spider (again) and pump out a good amount of fuel (or water) by turning on the boost pump, mixture rich and throttle open.
After you get a clear stream of fuel, your engine should start. As lr172 pointed out, running it will purge out any remaining water.
IMHO:I cannot imagine that washing your airplane would introduce enough water into your engine to keep it from starting??
Something else may be the cause??
 
Sparying water into the intake snorkel or air filter should have no impact on starting. Water in the full tanks also should not prevent starting. There should have been enough fuel in the lines, filter adn servo for it to start and then die several seconds later. Would have taken several seconds of running for the water to make itf rom the tank to the injectors. This was proven by the OP seeing no water at the spider.

No start is possibly coincidence or water soaked the mag or EI, creating a no spark condition.

Larry
 
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+1
I’ve washed dirt bikes thousands of times. Any starting issue afterwards has always been water intrusion into the ignition system.
Questions: Was it washed with the cowl off? Do you have an EI?
 
My RV14A was washed by an unaware mechanic which sprayed water into the engine intake. Water made its way through the wing tanks' fuel caps too - these will need newer o'rings btw... Airplane is brand new - only 19 hours "old".
Any insights and or tips will be much appreciated.

Did all he do is wash the plane? Cowl on or off? Any other maintenance done...
Back track everything that was touched. You will find your answer.
 
Thanks all for your insights. This is a stock IO-390-EXP10 without EI, with an impulse coupling (Slick 4372) magneto as the left one and a regular (Slick 4370) magneto as the right one. Right magneto is grounded when starter is engaged.

The plane was not washed with the cowl off so I don't believe water made its way inside the left magneto. I noticed a few droplets of water on cylinders 3 and 4 bottom spark plugs so I presume that these were still on the lines between the spider and the injectors.

Upon cleaning the spark plugs this evening I noticed that some of the antiseize compound made its way to the spark plugs. I have applied the copper antiseize according to Lycoming's instructions (sparingly from the 3rd thread on) but interestingly the spark plugs had up to the 4th thread some stain from the combustion chambers. This made me wonder if this part of the plugs protrude outside the cylinder head and are subject to the combustion process so any excess antiseize compound could reach the plugs and make the plug not fire as it's a copper-based compound.

As a side note: this engine uses long reach plugs and its still using the factory-supplied ones - of course, it has less than 19 hours running time.

Once again, thanks all for your support.
 
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Makes no since

This seems bizarre and would love to read the outcome. I don't think a fuel injected engine could ever see this issue no matter how much water was used. Was this a carbureted engine? Maybe washing the airframe with fuel caps removed??
 
Maybe washing the airframe with fuel caps removed??

If an FAA certificated mechanic washed an airframe with the fuel caps removed, I'd be extraordinarily suspicious of anything and everything he or she had done to that aircraft.

--Ron
 
An expert pilot friend of mine managed to start the engine today. At first cylinders 3 and 4 were not firing but after a few attempts and lots of puff from the exhaust stack the engine roared back to life.

We waited until all temperatures were normal and shut the engine off then after a few minutes started it back up normally. We then taxied the plane to the runup area and performed mag and prop pitch check. All was ok, idle was smooth and the engine is responsive as before.

I will keep an eye on it but I believe the issue is solved.

Thanks all for the messages and support.
 
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