I picked up my SR20 (SN1137)on April 10 at Cirrus. I love the airplane and the people at Cirrus were great for the 5 days I was there with my wife. The question I have is have any SR20 drivers had high cylinder head temperature problems during climb after takeoff? During climbout, CHT runs very close to yellow line and will continue into the yellow and red zone if I don’t get the nose down and increase the speed to 115-120 knots. This really decreases the rate of climb.
Is anyone else out there experencing the same problem? I wonder if the location of the landing light upsets the air flow to the cylinders on the left side? I live in Vermont and we don’t get really high air temps.
Steve
I recall this being discussed some time ago by several flyers. Try the archives. I don’t remember any resolution.
I picked up my SR20 (SN1137)on April 10 at Cirrus. I love the airplane and the people at Cirrus were great for the 5 days I was there with my wife. The question I have is have any SR20 drivers had high cylinder head temperature problems during climb after takeoff? During climbout, CHT runs very close to yellow line and will continue into the yellow and red zone if I don’t get the nose down and increase the speed to 115-120 knots. This really decreases the rate of climb.
Is anyone else out there experencing the same problem? I wonder if the location of the landing light upsets the air flow to the cylinders on the left side? I live in Vermont and we don’t get really high air temps.
Steve
Plan what you are going to do once you start the engine. Don’t sit around wondering what is next. Get airborne and keep the airspeed up. Airplanes that fly fast aren’t made to sit on the ground with the engine heating up. If you notice the air intake is much smaller than a C-172, C-177, PA-24, PA-28. Just like we have to get adjusted to the slow down, descent phase, we have to adjust the accent. Once you get used to how to properly do it, you will be impressed on how efficient it really is. Have a Great SR-20 Day.
Woor
I picked up my SR20 (SN1137)on April 10 at Cirrus. I love the airplane and the people at Cirrus were great for the 5 days I was there with my wife. The question I have is have any SR20 drivers had high cylinder head temperature problems during climb after takeoff? During climbout, CHT runs very close to yellow line and will continue into the yellow and red zone if I don’t get the nose down and increase the speed to 115-120 knots. This really decreases the rate of climb.
Is anyone else out there experencing the same problem? I wonder if the location of the landing light upsets the air flow to the cylinders on the left side? I live in Vermont and we don’t get really high air temps.
Steve
Steve,
I’ve always been told that it’s best to climb at full throttle since usually the engines are rigged so that full throttle gives a richer mixture to the engine, thus helping to cool it a little bit.
However, I’ve noticed that by just barely reducing the throttle on my plane, to maybe 2600 from 2700 RPM (in that first bit of travel the throttle setting is more noticeable on RPM than MP), I’m able to get the temps cooler while still getting pretty decent climb rate. I forget the specific rate I saw but it was better than accelerating to 120 kts, which like you point out, is another solution.
It makes me a little nervous since I’ve always heard to do the climb with full power for better cooling, but since I’m actually SEEING better cooling with less than full power, I assume it’s okay. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know before I do some damage! 
Steve
P.S. I’m not talking about takeoff roll or first 1000-2000 ft climb; I always do that at full power for safety (most altitude in shortest time). I’m talking about climb from about 2000 AGL to cruise altitude is where I back it off a little bit.
I picked up my SR20 (SN1137)on April 10 at Cirrus. I love the airplane and the people at Cirrus were great for the 5 days I was there with my wife. The question I have is have any SR20 drivers had high cylinder head temperature problems during climb after takeoff? During climbout, CHT runs very close to yellow line and will continue into the yellow and red zone if I don’t get the nose down and increase the speed to 115-120 knots. This really decreases the rate of climb.
Is anyone else out there experencing the same problem? I wonder if the location of the landing light upsets the air flow to the cylinders on the left side? I live in Vermont and we don’t get really high air temps.
Steve
Steve,
My experience - and practice - matches yours exactly.
Steve,
I’ve always been told that it’s best to climb at full throttle since usually the engines are rigged so that full throttle gives a richer mixture to the engine, thus helping to cool it a little bit.
However, I’ve noticed that by just barely reducing the throttle on my plane, to maybe 2600 from 2700 RPM (in that first bit of travel the throttle setting is more noticeable on RPM than MP), I’m able to get the temps cooler while still getting pretty decent climb rate. I forget the specific rate I saw but it was better than accelerating to 120 kts, which like you point out, is another solution.
It makes me a little nervous since I’ve always heard to do the climb with full power for better cooling, but since I’m actually SEEING better cooling with less than full power, I assume it’s okay. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know before I do some damage!
Steve
P.S. I’m not talking about takeoff roll or first 1000-2000 ft climb; I always do that at full power for safety (most altitude in shortest time). I’m talking about climb from about 2000 AGL to cruise altitude is where I back it off a little bit.