I remember the first time an EIS (engine information system, commonly known as an engine monitor) saved my bacon. I was in a Cessna 210 I’d flown for many years by that time and we were high over Varadero, Cuba. I looked over at the JPI engine monitor, a retrofit on this L-model, and noticed the LED bar representing the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) for the number two cylinder was bouncing around.
Now, that EGT probe is located in the exhaust pipe somewhere four to six inches down from the cylinder head, measuring the temperature of the exhaust gases on a continuous basis as they exit through the exhaust port. That temperature, when compared with the exhaust flowing out of the other cylinders, tells me a lot about what is going on inside the engine. And what it was telling me right then was that cylinder number two was being erratic about how much power it was putting out.
