On my EXP5000 (MFD), some of the bars for CHT are white. And I notice the power percentage is way off… What is this?
I made a mistake a few days ago and started the SR22 with mixture at cutoff and throttle at full (both in reverse positions). The engine started but backfired like crazy. I wasn’t sure what was going on for about 5-10 seconds, then realized my mistake.
CHT won’t change to green until 240f and above. Yellow at much higher temp then red…
Don’t go yellow or red…
LOL… I was so neverous that I hurt the engine with me reverse positioning the throttle and mixture on startup, I completely forget about the temperature range… LOL
Thank you so much for your response… I’ll sleep much better tonight !
Mark,
For the price of just one bottle of pretty fine wine, you can join the Type Club and get some very detailed training on the care and feeding of your engine, among other things, culled from 20 years’ worth of operational experience. We have weekend Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Programs, taught through the COPA University program, nationwide every year, as well as new, one-day Mini-CPPP’s as well.
Please consider joining COPA, where you’ll encounter over 5,300 other Cirrus owners and pilots.
Cordially,
Mark,
Have you done the Cirrus Embark training with a CSIP. All of the CHT’s will start white until reaching temperature, I was always trained to wait for all green on the ground before take off.
As has been mentioned join COPA as a full member, it’ll save you time, money and your life all for $65 a year.
Happy Flying!
Terry
Hello Terry,
Thanks for the response.
Yes, I did training with a CSIP shortly after purchasing the plane. I totally knew about the temperature colours, but completely forgot about them… I don’t flip to the engine page until the run-up (using the analog gauges until then), thus I’m not use to seeing white bars on a cold start.
Perhaps that I forgot about the colors is testament that I always fly them in the green. 
Yes, I’ll purchase the membership (I’ve put it on my Christmas list). FYI, in addition to all the great support here, there is an added bonus I found this year… It gets you better and cheaper parking options during Oshkosh week !
On the point of colours… I was taught “Rich of peek” (to be on the safe side). But now leaning towards “Lean of peek” because I find it more efficient and cylinder temperatures run cooler… And the reason I’m seeing white bars now.
Main reason I’m thinking more “Lean of peek” is that we all know the heat is a engine’s main enemy for longevity.
Attached is a graph I made (extract from POH) as a quick guideline when planning trips (on my iPad). Just wondering what others think? The F.Eff column is fuel efficiently (range) and compares best setting (100%) to worst (60%). Of course it’s hard to put a factor on time… For me, every minute is one I get to log, for others it’s never fast enough.
In my initial post, the graphic was me at 2500ft MSL (1800ft AGL). You can see I was around 14gph and the engine was running pretty cool (white bars!). The graph below would suggest around 16gph for being “Lean of peek”… So guess I was pretty lean.
Hi Mark,
Well another great thing about being a member on COPA is the wealth of knowledge and experience for the times things slip our minds.
You will find many discussions, including tables and graphs on LOP and ROP operation, there is a huge amount of expertise on these topics.
The consensus and evidence suggests that LOP operations prolongs operation, I operate my Cirrus SR20 LOP for that same reason. I keep my CHT’s around the 280-300dF mark at 65% power with 8.7gph, this keeps my temps in the green. Personally I wouldn’t want my cylinders in the white, amber or red, simple principle of green is good, so if you had cylinders in the white range would suggest you may have been a little too lean. That said, there are far more experts on this topic that I so you might want to bump up that Christmas Wish List to Thanksgiving or before ;-).
Terry
