Recently, I received an email from Jim Janaitus, owner of a Cessna 182. He told me the story of lapping an exhaust valve on his engine because the valve showed signs of burning even though the compression was still in the high 60’s. Take a look at the appearance of the valve before lapping:

The area from about 12:00 to about 3:00 is the bad area, indicating the valve is not seating well in that area.

Jim lapped the valve and installed a new rotator. I was super happy when he said, “It went better than I imagined.”

Here’s a follow up photo of the same valve about 12 flight hours later:

Isn’t the improvement remarkable?!

It’s not perfect, but it’s MUCH BETTER than before, and Jim has an excellent plan to monitor the condition of this valve every 20 hours or so.

Well done Jim!

Be sure to listen to the audio for this week’s podcast to hear this story, along with some other weird electrical issues I’ve been sorting out on a Bonanza and on a Cessna 210.

Have a great week!

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