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6 Answers

rich mixture flame out in piston engine

Asked by: 3519 views Aircraft Systems

What all could be the causes of rich mixture flame out in piston engine. can at 3000 of density altitude rich mixture flame out can occur?

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6 Answers



  1. Mitchell L Williams on May 22, 2015

    In normal operation, the engine should not die due to rich mixture.
    On Carbureted engines, things that could cause rich mixture are:
    – Worn out carb: Bad/sunk Float, bad accelerator pump – Rebuild Carb.
    – Primer leaking by: Bad/worn O-rings on primer, especially on airplanes with fuel pump. Replace O rings on primer.

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  2. Mark Kolber on May 23, 2015

    Not too likely at 3000′ density altitude in most but can definitely happen at high density altitude. Cause would be failure to lean properly.

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  3. Flying Instructor on May 25, 2015

    thanx alot guys for your valuable answers.. Same is true for piston engines incorporating fuel injector?

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  4. Mark Kolber on May 25, 2015

    Yes, even fuel injected engines. There are some with automatic adjustments or wider ranges of mixtures that work but, essentially, if it has a functional mixture control you can run it too rich for the density altitude.

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  5. Flying Instructor on May 25, 2015

    thanks

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  6. Nibake on May 27, 2015

    Mitchell covered some of the possible carb issues. Also for continental fuel injected engines, fuel pressure is critical to fuel metering, so improper fuel pressure could cause rich flame-out. One particular mistake that has led to several accidents is that in certain Cessnas (206, 210 I know for sure) the boost pump set up is slightly confusing. When mechanics have improperly set up the circuity, turning the boost pump on can cause excessively rich mixture at low power settings. I know of one flight school last year that had this happen. Fortunately the instructor was familiar enough with the 206 that he brought the mixture back after the engine died on final, just after power reduction. After leaning the mixture the engine came back to life.

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