Vent: That shift at MCO last Tuesday was brutal

Had a 737 come in with a bleed leak at gate 34, turned out to be a cracked precooler valve. Took me and my partner 6 hours to swap it out in the Florida heat, sweat was dripping into my safety glasses the whole time. The part was backordered but we found one at a shop in Tampa and had it couriered over. Has anyone else dealt with those precooler valves seizing up after 5,000 cycles?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugos4610d ago

Funny thing about those precooler valves, the 5,000 cycle thing is real but I've seen them seize up way earlier if the bird sits in the sun for a few days. The aluminum housing expands slower than the steel core in direct heat, so it binds up tighter than a drum. We ended up having to put a torch on ours just to break it loose after the part arrived. Did you check the torque sequence on the new install? Some guys overtighten the lower bolts and it puts a bind on the valve stem before it even cycles once.

riverh4910d ago

Six hours sounds like a vacation from actually working a real job in the heat.

logan_mitchell10d ago

and honestly that's kind of the point i guess. like yeah six hours in a hangar with a/c is better than six hours on the tarmac in july but have you ever tried to torque a precooler valve when you're sweating so bad your grip slips every three seconds? i had a buddy who worked on helos down in texas and he said the metal would get so hot you'd have to wait til sunset just to touch the bird without gloves. six hours sounds cushy til you're the one pulling the night shift on a valve that's been baking all day.