Borescope and Nonsense

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:02]Oh, it's you. We must stop meeting this way. Uh, so I'm back again to do a video that I'm sure some of you are going to find super interesting considering the last one, Boriscope video blew up. By the way, I've also noticed how many people don't know that I work on airplanes and they're like, "What GMC is this? What freaking Mitsubishi? Who's No. Sorry, guys. Airplanes, not cars. I don't do cars. I do airplanes. Airplanes. See wings. No engine. That's what we're going to talk about. This thing." So, we're going to talk about engines as per usual with me.

[00:00:50]Um because I boroscope things and people get really up in arms about it. So we're also going to talk about that. Um I had one guy that came for me in the comments and he's like, "Oh, you can't replace compression test with boroscopes."

[00:01:00]Nobody's saying that, people.

[00:01:04]Nobody's saying that. What I am saying is that a lot of times I will boroscope before I do a compression test because it tells me a lot about the engine.

[00:01:12]Especially if I'm on a pre-by, it's going to tell me a lot about an engine before I even do a compression test. And today's video, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of that. Perfect example. I just want to like I just I'm excited. I got the owner's permission to be able to talk about this. And um there's another video that I'm going to make also based off this airplane. Um again, owner consent was gained. Um but as you can tell, you notice that everything blurs out because guys, please stop posting tail numbers unless the owner gives the consent. These tail numbers have a lot of information attached to them. So, I really would love it if people would stop posting tail numbers unless you have the owner's consent.

[00:01:53]That that's pretty like I'm like all funniness aside, like dead serious, stop posting tail numbers. Just just don't do it. If it's not your airplane, don't post the tail number because you put other people at risk. Whether that be with the FAA, and I know you guys are watching. I know. I've heard I heard about that. Actually, I will tell you.

[00:02:13]Uh there's an NTSB guy or an FAA guy um that knows of me and my videos and of the work that I do. Um apparently I'm slow, which is fine. I'm one person uh and I'm not going to rocket through these things because that's how [ __ ] gets missed, especially as a single person working by myself. Um and just for people to know, I do call in help if I have an airplane that I've been sitting on for too long.

[00:02:38]Um I call in other mechanics. I call in friends who are in the aviation industry, engine shop guys, that sort of stuff. And I have them review the work before it goes back on the line, okay?

[00:02:48]Because a lot of these projects, and I mean this like I love most of my airplanes are are we're getting out of project phase, but some of my aircraft are projects. Um they've come to me, this one, for example, came to me where it had been having some pretty garbage maintenance. the guy was doing annual inspections and that's another story for another day as far as like talking about pencil whipping things and that sort of stuff. Um, but this is one of those this is the um this is a casualty of airplanes just getting pencil whipped signoffs and guys walking away with $1,000. And when you have to explain to an owner that an annual is not $1,000 anymore and I don't care how you do it.

[00:03:29]You're you're not pay that's not an annual. Okay, I'm sorry people. an annual is not a thousand dollars anymore. It's not $500 in a picture of it flying, right? It it's not like that anymore. Um, we're getting down to limited numbers and things are crashing and we don't want that, right? So, we want to be smarter. We want to be we want to be smarter about this stuff. So, this is a casualty of that situation.

[00:03:50]But overall, we got really lucky because we caught a lot of this stuff. This is my first annual on this airplane. Um, and I did tell the owner no initially. I didn't want to work on it because I knew it was going to be a project. I didn't want another project. But, um, somehow these airplanes keep finding me.

[00:04:06]It It's like I have It's like I have something written across my forehead.

[00:04:10]Idiot project. I don't want money. I want to run a nonprofit organization. Like I swear to Christ it's written up there somewhere. Anyway, um so I want to talk about Boriscope. So basically what's going to happen here after I get done yakity yaking, there's going to be a video that pops up. Now do not laugh at my editing skills. I am trying to do this in between working full-time here today. I will be leaving here catching a 9:30 flight to the east coast so that I can do a pre-by so that I can then turn around and catch a n a 6 a.m. flight back to the west coast so I can get my [ __ ] together so I can pack up all my stuff and I can drive to Washington for two weeks.

[00:04:51]I don't know who's making this schedule.

[00:04:53]My boss is an [ __ ] Hate that person. I'm just kidding. Um, I'm my own boss. Hate myself.

[00:05:02]Self-loathing. No. Anyway, um, forget you saw that. Uh, okay. So, the video that's going to pop up after this is a boroscope video. Now, again, I want to preface with the fact that I did a boroscope because this is a Cherokee 140. Cherokee 140. The nose cone does not come off unless the prop comes off.

[00:05:21]Okay? I need everybody to remember that.

[00:05:23]Nose cone does not come off unless the prop comes off. Those of you that know Cherokee 140s, you know this. Anybody who knows the later model uh PA28s, 150, 151, 160, 161, 180, 181, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. You get it. The cowling splits in half. This one does not. Because I've never seen this airplane. Some of you are going to be like, "Why'd you pull the prop off?"

[00:05:44]Well, because I've never seen the damn airplane. This is my first time. I'm not cutting corners. I already know corners were cut. I'm not going to do it. So, I had a hanky feeling about it. I pulled a prop. Guess what? The prop bolts are broken. They're coming out in pieces.

[00:05:59]Yeah, let that sink in for a second.

[00:06:01]Coming out in pieces.

[00:06:03]Over tort log books. No indication that this prop has ever come off. Now, there in the prop book, there's no indication the props ever come off. And this is something that I also want to touch on.

[00:06:14]This is going to get lengthy. I apologize. But the other thing I want to touch on because again, this is a perfect example of it, y'all. These fixed pitch props are not meant to last forever.

[00:06:26]They're not fixed pitch props also have a TBO, guys. And I get it as a part 91.

[00:06:31]We It's a recommendation for us.

[00:06:35]But holy [ __ ] people do not last forever. And most engine or most prop shops, I like American Propeller. If you got negative [ __ ] to say about American Propeller, you can take your [ __ ] elsewhere. I like them. They're good people. I like Todd. Um, I deal with them on a regular basis. That is a good group of people. I don't care what anybody says. I have been working with them forever. Their prices are a little bit higher, but they will drive their butts down here and they'll pick stuff up from me. They call me when they tell me they're going to call me. They're good people. I support them. I I I want to keep them going. They will do an overhaul. Overhaul, which and and I say it like this because overhaul for us normally means parts and pieces are being replaced, but on a fixed pitch prop, there's no parts and pieces to be replaced. So, they get stripped down, they get repainted, Eddie Curr, Magna Jazz, whatever. Okay? And they do it for about 2,000 bucks. And then you add taxes and stuff, right? These props, brand new, I just had to buy one, was 107.

[00:07:30]107.

[00:07:32]Why would you not pull a fixed pitch prop off and send it out for $2,000 and get it redone so that you have peace of mind? The prop that came off of this thing, the bolts were stretched. Some of them came out in pieces. Um, it it just it was a whole mess, people. Like, this is not good. and they're not coming off regularly. People are not looking at them regularly because we all think, "Hey, it's just a piece of metal.

[00:07:58]There's no working parts. What's it gonna do?" Apparently, people can't read anymore and we're over torquing the crap out of this stuff. Okay, I digress.

[00:08:07]We're going back. So, props need to be coming off more often. I had the hinky feeling, which I have a lot. I mean, it I've learned in the 13 years I've been doing this to trust my gut. If something doesn't look right, it's probably not right. And if I can't put my brain on exactly what's not right, I'm still going to dig into it because this guy's putting his family in it. I'm not getting in it. I'm not flying it. He is. So, I need to be better. Okay? Got to be better than those around. And just just we we got to do better, guys. So, when it comes to this stuff, like I said, pull I pulled the prop off. Prop bolts not good. Um I get everything apart. I'm looking over the engine. Now, I got to say again, TBO, I want to specify this, okay? TBO on some engines, it depends on the engine, right? But most of the time, they have a calendar time and they have a hourly time. Now, this one had not made it to or to hourly time. It was over calendar time, but this was a Lycoming uh factory engine from 1998. Okay, it's I'm older than the engine, but not by much. Okay, so 1998 factory engine and this was back back when you know we all know it manufacturing these days is kind of not as good as it was right I mean in the '9s we had lot less EPA craziness we still had some but less and anyway it was good so 1200 hours on the engine but again factory no one had been in it no cylinders had ever come off I mean if that's not a testament to lycombing, like really knowing and doing their [ __ ] Um, nobody ever had to pull a cylinder. And when I looked over the engine, the engine actually was fairly dry. Um, no major shenanigans. Little bit of rust, obviously. 1998, guys. A little bit of rust, but but all in all, not bad. Compression's freaking good. Okay. Now, this thing has been holding really good compression.

[00:10:07]like the and in this case um you know I I typically do boroscope before compression. Um I had fussed around with this airplane. I did an oil change on it 50 hours ago and I did compressions on it then just because again I don't know the airplane. I hadn't done any real maintenance on it. Um and I didn't trust it. Um but it it proved me wrong. There was no metal in the filter, no metal in the screen. Looked really great. I did a compression on it because I had time and I didn't build a guy for it. at Curiosity got the best of me. Great compressions, 70s, high7s. So, when I got in to do the annual, pulling the prop off, I didn't worry about doing the compressions right out of the gate because I knew the prop was going to have to go out when I found the bolts.

[00:10:50]And I said, "All right, we'll send the prop out." The prop usually takes a little bit to come back, a couple of days to about a week with a fixed pitch prop if it's still good and you don't have to replace it. Um, and so I was like, well, I can survive that. I still have the whole freaking annual to do.

[00:11:04]And we've got ads that had been overlooked. The guy who had been signing it off prior had not been doing the ads.

[00:11:10]He didn't do any research into the log book. So, we had a bunch of [ __ ] overdue on this airplane. So, I knew it was going to be fine. So, I had done the boroscope or I had done the compressions previously. I got into the boroscope on this thing and I will be damned. And what you're going to see is two videos.

[00:11:26]One is going to be a cylinder that is a good cylinder.

[00:11:30]Don't get ahead of me. A good cylinder.

[00:11:33]Valves open nice. Things look good. uh shows a little bit of age, a little bit of wear, and some corrosion because prior to these guys owning it, it it sat a little while, right? That's what happens. This has like 3,000 hoursish total time on the airframe. And like I said, the engine had 12 1,200 hours um and over calendar time on TBO. And so I did the Boroscope inspection in one of the cylinders, and it was nice.

[00:11:55]Everything looks really good. I mean, it's got a little wear and tear, but for a 1200 midtime engine, not freaking bad.

[00:12:01]Okay. Okay. And like I said, keep in mind I did compressions at a previous oil change 50 hours ago. These guys fly the crap out of this airplane. And that 50 hours ago oil change was like 2 months ago, 3 months ago. Okay. Um because again, the uh one of the sons is learning to get well, he already got his private pilot, but now he's just building to get that 1500 hours commercial time. So they're flying the crap out of it. So normally we wouldn't do a 50-hour oil change. I like to keep them at like 35. Some customers like it at 25. Personal preference. We'll go with that. But these guys are flying so much that they would be doing oil changes every week just about. Um, also not a flight school, privately owned.

[00:12:38]Never been in a flight school. Okay, so this thing, boroscope the first cylinder, everything looks really nice.

[00:12:45]Boroscope the second cylinder and it took me a second to like process cuz I saw it and I'm like, that ain't right.

[00:12:52]And I was like, oh my god, that really ain't right. The valve, the intake valve went like this and then closed. A normal valve goes like this and then closes. The exhaust valve on that cylinder went the intake valve.

[00:13:15]So, when you see the videos, you'll you'll see what I'm talking about. And then, uh, I went to the opposite side. I checked another cylinder.

[00:13:24]both valves and then the cylinder directly across that shares a cam lobe.

[00:13:30]It's got a double double on it. Those of you that like in-n-out, it's not my favorite. Anyway, got a double double lobe, right? So, it's running two valves. And the valve, nothing, right? Like little movement. I just did a compression test on this thing not that long ago. High7s, oil change, cut the filter, cut the jazz, check the things. Nothing. Like typical typical stuff that you would see for a 1200 hour engine. A little bit of glitter. Stripper glitter. Okay. I don't like stripper glitter. Any man knows what I'm talking about. Most women do, too. Anyway, stripper glitter. Okay. But not chunks, not pieces, not long, not not crazy glitter, not like confetti glitter, none of that. Just just stripper the stuff that's going to get you in trouble with your wife. Um anyway, uh anyway, so but nothing crazy.

[00:14:25]So I do this and I'm like, of course I want to live in fantasy land and I want to be like, oh well, it's maybe it's got a bad lifter.

[00:14:34]Maybe maybe maybe the push rods aren't right. Right.

[00:14:38]No. So, and the reason why I knew that it wasn't a bad lifter is because when you're doing a boroscope and you're pulling the prop through now, in the videos you're going to notice that it's a little like draggy, a little shaky, and that's because the prop was already off. So, I'm using the flywheel. And my Vanna White, who's not here right now, um the son of the owner, he was moving the flywheel for me. So, it's a little um little jerky. Basically, you'll see movement where it looks a little jerky.

[00:15:03]And that's all because we weren't we didn't have the prop, so we didn't have smooth movement going on. Um, but you know, so I I things right and jazz. Um, sorry I got a little off track trying to make sure that I told you guys that because when you see the video, you'll notice it's it's a little like and it's a thing.

[00:15:21]Just don't worry about it. So, when I found this, one of the things that is an indicator that you've got a failing lifter is when you pull the prop through and you have the boroscope in the top of the cylinder so that you can see the two valves as they're moving.

[00:15:35]You can open the valve just a hair and then wait. And you'll see that I have videos of that that I've um that I've been trying to get together, but obviously I work too damn much. So trying to do anything with social media has been an absolute cluster. Uh so I try to keep it updated and I'm doing a terrible freaking job. But I have videos where you'll see um and and I again if you want things I can absolutely show them, but like I said, trying to do this while I'm running a business with one person.

[00:16:04]Um, so you can open the valve just a hair.

[00:16:09]Um, and then wait, don't move anything.

[00:16:12]If a lifter is failing, that valve will start to close on its own, which means the lifter is not staying pumped up.

[00:16:18]Okay? And it will do it at certain levels. Once it gets full throw, most of the time once it's full throw, it won't start to to drift unless the lifter is absolutely end of life. It's in hospice care and we're trying to it's trying to go to lifter Jesus. Okay. But you'll notice that you'll start to get a failure at the lower openings. So as you start to just barely open it, you'll notice it will start to fall on its own.

[00:16:44]Okay? And that's gives you a pretty clear indication you got something going on. All of the [ __ ] is rock solid.

[00:16:52]There went that idea. So then like in the deep of my pit of my soul, I don't know if you guys have seen the meme where like it's Kermit and then Kermit standing there with like the Sith um little Palpatines's little thing on and it's like, you know, kill them or whatever. Um in the back of my mind I'm like, you know what it is? It's a cam.

[00:17:10]And I'm like, no sadness, you're not my cam problem. It it go with your gut, guys. If you think it's wrong, it's probably faking wrong.

[00:17:20]So, I talked with the owner, and this is something that I do want to say, like again, I'm I'm PSA a lot here, and this is getting a little long-winded, but we haven't talked in a while, and I thought you guys might miss me, so I wanted to come in and give you my attention. I'm just kidding. Tolerate me, please. Um, so pulling a cylinder is not the end of the world, people.

[00:17:41]We try to avoid it as much as possible because, you know, but if you do it right and you put it back on right and you stay on top of the torque and you put the new gaskets on, it's not the end of the world. And sometimes pulling that cylinder may be the difference between saying I don't want to do it and I'm cheaping out to a point where it saves your life. Okay? Like that's what happened here. I talked with the owner and this has been one of the most agreeable owners I've had. And I'm not here trying to take his money. He did an owner assist. It's a these are like a 17-hour annual is is roughly what we're looking at for these. That's open, close, oil change, inspect. And that's the that that is the annual.

[00:18:26]That's not that's the oil change. That's open, inspect, lubricate, close, wheel bearings. Like that's all the stuff that's on the checklist. It should take you about 17 hours to do that on this airplane. Okay, we're talking realistic hours. So, Jim in the back, the old guy that's going to be like, "You could do it in 8." No, you can't. And you know you can't.

[00:18:45]You want to see me go into like full gremlin mode because you people, I cannot safely conduct an annual on this airplane with there. Cannot safely conduct an annual on this airplane in eight freaking hours. You can't freaking do it. It's time for people to start living in reality. Jim. If your name's Jim and you're watching this, I'm not actually yelling at you. It's just I always feel like old guys are Bob and Jim. Everyone that I've ever met that's crotchety with me at an airport is usually a Bob or a Jim. Sorry, guys. You just got lumped into it. Um, you can't success you can't successfully I'm really screwing this up here. You can't successfully do an annual on one of these things in 8 hours. You have to be realistic about it. The people I used to live in fancy land. You can do a 172 annual in 8 hours. No, you freaking can't. No, you can't. You're not doing everything. I I promise you that you ain't doing it. And you can't tell me that the annual flat rate's $1,000. No.

[00:19:39]Open, inspect, lubricate, oil change, close ads, over and above. Any maintenance that has to be done over and above. Quit trying to cut corners with your mechanic and tell your mechanic that they're not worth the money.

[00:19:53]They're absolutely freaking worth the money. We're trying to keep you people alive. Gremlin mode. Okay. So, I asked him, I was like, "Look, Kent, um, I need to pull a cylinder. Is that okay?" And this man was like, "Off top rope." Yes. You found a bunch of other things. Thank you so much for putting the time and energy. Thanks for taking care of us. Hop on it. Make it happen.

[00:20:19]Got it. So, I did. I reached in with my little my little little fingies here and I went to go touch the cam lobe and came out with blood. Dude, that thing was wicked.

[00:20:34]Oh, it was gone. Second cam lobe delete that I found.

[00:20:39]Yeah, not good, homie. Not good.

[00:20:42]Compressions were fine just two months prior. That this isn't a joke, guys.

[00:20:47]Like, I'm not messing with you. I'm not exag this fine cam lobe delete. You'll see pictures at the end of this video. There's pictures, there's videos, there's all the things.

[00:20:57]Check the receipts, dudes. I took the engine off. I sent it out of Pacific Continental Engines. Again, you got problems. You got beef with Pacific Continental Engines. Bring it on, people. I'll fight that. We'll throw down with a chair. Be like Bernie Sanders chair, metal chair, WWE. We know that's real. Just kidding. Um, don't come at me for my choices. These are good people. Um, so Cameron came up. He picked up the engine. He looked at it with me. He was like, "Oh shit." We pulled um we pulled the suction screen full of metal. Pulled the oil filter full of metal. 50 hours, homies. That's how fast it changed. And these people before, again, before you come after my owners, these people run this engine well. They are conscientious. They take constructive criticism coming from their mechanic.

[00:21:45]Hey guys, maybe throttle this back.

[00:21:46]maybe do this a little bit differently.

[00:21:49]Fantastic. They're not out here throttle jockeying. They're not out here causing chaos. They're just out here building time in a Cherokee 140. I can run faster than this thing down the runway. I can't cuz I'm broken, but that's besides the point. I mean, you can get out and run faster. Okay. So, these people are taking this seriously. They have been open to the communication, the discussion. They're not fighting me on it. So, this this is not this isn't just neglect. It's just how fast this stuff can happen. There were other neglectful items on the airplane that we're taking care of and this thing is going to be a freaking smash. Awesome. Am I out here trying to take this money from people or trying to overcharge them? No. I just want to make sure that my people come back alive. Cool. Okay. So, be prepared.

[00:22:31]You're going to see the videos at the end. I'm glad we got a chance to touch base again. This is probably not going to happen again for another millennium because again, like I said, I'm about to do an overnight in North Carolina on a pre-by that I'm not prepared for.

[00:22:44]Honestly, I really thought the guy wasn't going to do it because I thought the tickets would be too expensive, but it turns out he really wants the airplane. So, I mean, I'm thankful, don't get me wrong. I'm not upset about it. It's just piss poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on others.

[00:22:58]So, yeah, it's going to be a quick turn and burn to come back home and drive to Washington.

[00:23:06]Anyway, from me here, I was going to say from all of us, all of us, like there's actually other people with Hangar Queen Aviation Services. Um, but from me here at Hanger Queen Aviation Services and the nonsense that I managed to get myself into. Uh, they go, you see it, you just All right, goodbye. So, you probably thought you were done listening to me, but here I am again. So, this video shows what the valve should be doing.

[00:23:34]You see how tall that gets and then the valve closes? That's your intake valve.

[00:23:38]And then your exhaust valve opens. And you see you see the little stumble there. That's a keeper issue or a a guide issue. But again, you see how high those open. Here we go. Watch the intake valve on your left.

[00:23:56]Oh my good. If you blinked, you missed it. Should we Should we do an instant replay? Nah. You saw what happened. But that's what I found. Compressions were good and that's the nonsense. So this is after I pulled the cylinder. You can see just how rigid and ragged here at the bottom of the screen. And again here you can see where the the tapets all falling apart and the lifter. And this is a good one. This is what a good one should look like for 12,200 hours. Fantastic. And this is what it looks like when it's out. Look at that cam delete.