Voltage Crucial for Cowl Flaps? Tire Balancing

[Ernie Martin]

Questions on two issues:

1. My front cowl flap motor takes twice as long as the rear. When I tried to show my A&P, it had failed. Wouldn't budge. Weird, it was working on the flight the prior day. So I started an engine (to see if 28V, rather than 24V, helped) and sure enough, it works like a charm -- slow but good. This seem right? Is it a signal that's about to die? Any other thoughts?

2. Recently had my main tires changed (didn't want to show up at Lucaya with bald jobbies). My A&P was gone, so someone else did it. He aligned the blue dot on each tire with the tube valve stem. Is that right? The blue dot is the lighter point of the tire, where the valve stem should go for balance reasons?

Thanks,
Ernie