4/30/2007 Made a short flight to Jackson, OH. When started the engine at Jackson, the starter made some grinding noise. The first time propeller did not turn. Tried again and engine started. Today (5/1/2007), the same thing happened again. Need to investigate as what is wrong.

Talk to Skytech and the service rep told me to do diagnostic measurement to detect what was wrong. There is a document on their website showing how to do it. Unfortunately, it has to be done in the failure mode. I just can not generate the failure mode to do it. The service rep said that their starter either works or die. The measurement is done when it died. Well, my problem is intermittent. He suggest that it might be the battery is too weak.

5/29/2007. It still takes a few tries to get engine started. Now I suspect the problem is the battery (batteries). I ordered a new Odyssey PC680 from Van's. I will give it a try after I have received it. However, I can not figure out why the batteries became weak so quick. My charging voltage seems to be normal (14.2-3 volts). Later on, it is proven that battery is good. I am still on the old battery.

6/13/2007. So far most of the time it takes at least two tries to have engine start. Recently on VAF forum several people talked negatively about Skytech starter. It probably influenced my thinking. Today I thought about the starting problem and concluded that it might be my engine start technique. Last Fall when I started flying, I never used electric fuel pump. Engine started right away. Over the Winter, I began to turn the electric fuel pump on and prime the engine. Again, engine started without any problem. My problem really began when the weather turn warm again. Unfortunately, this time I kept my Winter technique. Now I see that the problem is pretty much engine flooding, instead of starter/battery. Today I started engine without electric fuel pump neither pumping the throttle. Engine started after a few turns on the first try. Hope I have the problem solved.

7/10/2007 (scroll down and see water in fuel section). My starting problem is compounded by the water in gascolator/fuel sump. After emptying water, I no longer have starting problem. I continue to learn from the problems I encountered.

1/19/2008. Today I had my airplane parked outside for 5 hours in low 20s. I asked line person at KLOU to plug in my preheater for me. When I came to the airport, the oil door is open and a 11 kts wind is blowing directly into my air inlet. When turn the power on, I noticed a 50 degree oil temperature. I tried to start the engine many times and it did not try to start at all. Finally, I decided to plug the air inlet with towels and plug in the preheater again for 30 minutes. Tried again for another 5 times and finally the engine got started. I did prime the engine before trying to start it. Well, I still have not figured out how to handle my engine in cold. By the way, it is carb engine and should be easy to start.