Engine overhaul time - Lycoming IO-360-M1A

[Steve]

It does look like the probe is either welded or riveted (or both?) to the clamp.

PXL_20210727_005542444.jpg

It is not attached to the clamp in any way. Believe me, I stared at those things every day while the engine wasn't there. The issue your shop might have is the necessity to de-pin the connector to allow the wire to pass through the hole in the clamp.

[mhoran]

Yeah, I just spent a bit staring at it and figured that out. The heat shrink needs to come off and the pins and then it can be then fed through the hole. I suppose if the wait is indefinite (Premiere lists as out of stock, who knows what the situation is at Diamond HQ) I'll encourage him to take that route. But the other probe will still be erratic. Hoping for a miracle here...I really want to get in the air again before my next annual is due!

[mhoran]

After 24 weeks, my overhaul is finally complete. The test flight was performed yesterday and all went well. I'll be heading down to Augusta, GA on Sunday and plan to fly back home on Monday.

All in the grand total came out to just shy of $45k. This includes the overhaul itself ($32k), engine R&R ($2500), overhaul of oil cooler ($400) and prop governor ($1450), IRAN of prop ($1800), new fuel/oil hose kit ($1450), new engine mount isolator kit ($1700 from Diamond) and various extras like a replacement alternator belt, fine wire plugs, and replacement EGT probes ($740 for two!) I also had RSB40-094 performed during the R&R and a Tanis engine heater installed.

I'm awaiting photos of the finished product which I'll be sure to share here when I receive them. I'll also report back after my return flight as to my personal satisfaction with the work. Up to this point I've been very impressed with James' communication and commitment to completion of the overhaul in a timely fashion, despite numerous setbacks. I'm confident that James' dedication will be reflected in the work itself.

And of course a few new squawks were found during the test flight. Apparently I have a bent exhaust flange on the #1 exhaust riser, so I've reached out to Power Flow for a quote on a new one. James also reported that full forward trim was insufficient to keep level flight at 25"/2500 RPM. I've never experienced this myself, though the trim does slip at high speed, so hopefully this isn't a new issue.

[Cschobel]

I am at 2500 hours and all good. no engine problems. engine analysis every oil change.

[TAILspin38]

Hey Charlie, wow that is great. I have a 2006 with 1800hrs and have been trying to put in 130-150hrs a year. I hope to get the same hrs on my engine. Could you give a brief overview of what you've running, just out of curiosity? Thanks

[Cschobel]

I Have a 2005. 120 hours about average. hangered and used every month. about 200 hours per year for the first 5 or 6 years. I try to always preheat engine whenever outside temp is below 40f.

[mhoran]

It was a long day, but I'm finally home. I flew commercial into Augusta, GA on Sunday and spent the night at the Marriott downtown. I selected this location hoping to enjoy my time in the city, but was delayed in arriving due to, you guessed it, maintenance issues with the Envoy Air flight. By the time I got in everything was closed, so hotel food it was for dinner, breakfast and lunch (to go).

This morning got started at 6am. James from Watson Aero picked me up downtown and we made it over to Louisville airport by around 9am. We plugged in my new Tanis heater and waited for it to do its thing. I reviewed the thorough logs that James kept of all the work and when I was satisfied with what I saw, sent him the final payment.

The engine started up easier than ever and I taxied over for fuel. The heater didn't have quite enough time to do its thing, so after fueling I had to wait a bit for the oil temperature to reach 100 degrees. Then I took off and circled over the airport for a bit. Everything was running nice and smooth. Temps were running high, but that's to be expected with new cylinders. I had to run at about 12.5 GPH to keep CHTs under 400 degrees.

Once satisfied with performance over the airport, I set off on my first leg of a two leg journey back to my home base in Linden, NJ. All was well, for about 45 minutes. Then I got an alert on my PFD: magnetometer fail. I was flying IFR though it was VMC. I asked ATC for permission to cycle my avionics (I wasn't sure what needed to be cycled, so I wanted to flip the master, requiring permission for lost comms.) The magnetometer stayed down. I wasn't going to make the flight all the way back to Linden without a heading indicator, so I canceled IFR and asked to divert to KRUQ -- home of SouthTec. I figured if anyone could help me, Glenn and his team could. The diversion was only another hour or so of flight and required shifting course Northward.

I arrived to KRUQ around lunch time. The team had just taken off but they were hopeful they could come up with a solution for me after lunch. Sure enough, when they got back, Dick Filbey came up with a plan. (Funny enough, Dick was the guy who ferried N269RB back with me from Florida when I purchased it back in 2014.) They were able to find a compatible GMU 44 from one of the WAAS DA-42s they are overhauling to loan me while we wait for a replacement from Garmin. Note: this seems a bit silly -- shouldn't all the G1000 components swappable? Well, no. If you upgrade a GMU, it cannot be downgraded. So we couldn't use a GMU from a non-WAAS plane as it would then be incompatible with the donor plane.

Fortunately the loaner GMU 44 worked great. I was back up in the air around 2:30 and got back to Linden around 9pm. The engine ran incredibly well during my return flight, and it even seems that I got a bit of a speed boost. My TAS was pretty consistently around 150 knots. Usually I see closer to 140 or slightly less. I do have a bit of tweaking to do -- as seen in another thread on the board, the governor seems to need to be adjusted as I'm not hitting 2700 RPM. I also think I need another dynamic prop balance, since the prop was repaired but only statically balanced (so the previous dynamic balance may be throwing things off.)

For those following along with this thread over the last year, you may recall that I had hoped to get many more hours out of the engine. However, an annual inspection last year uncovered some metal filings in the oil filter. Here you'll see the camshaft, which is completely shot. Two lobes are quite visibly damaged, with chunks of metal missing. The edges of the lobes are also chipped. This happened despite using Camguard and appropriate multi-weight oil for the climate. However, being parked on the ramp, we did not have an engine heater. I had one installed with the overhaul, and we have come up with a solar powered contraption to provide power to heat up the engine in the winter. Hopefully we get many more years out of this overhauled engine.

p.s. this was also the first time I got to test out the LEMO adapter featured on this forum and it worked great! Love not having to carry extra batteries, and that the headset starts right up with the master switch!

[waynemcc999]

p.s. this was also the first time I got to test out the LEMO adapter featured on this forum and it worked great! Love not having to carry extra batteries, and that the headset starts right up with the master switch!

Matt, first and foremost, kudos on getting your engine and aircraft back! Also glad you are enjoying the LEMO adapter.
Wayne

[Steve]

Matt:

Congrats on getting your aircraft back home! One thing you didn't mention is how you managed break-in on your newly overhauled motor. When I got my rebuild from Lycoming, I was told by my A&P/IA to strictly adhere to the break-in instructions that Lycoming packs with each engine they send out. He also told me to carefully document that I did this along with times, oil consumption, CHTs in the engine log. Apparently Lycoming has attempted to deny warranty claims on engines if proper break-in was not documented. Lycoming actually ran my engine in a test cell for over an hour before shipping it, and my break-in was relatively rapid, and easy. I never had any problems with CHTs, and virtually no oil consumption during break-in.

I know your engine was done by a private shop, but I think it would still be a good idea to document your break-in...

Steve

[mhoran]

Good point Steve. The G1000 makes this logging very easy. I also log oil consumption by hand, though there has been none over the 6.5qt that was added at OH.

The overhaul shop ran the engine on their test cell and then performed an hour break in flight. So it was mostly broken by the time I got it. Then I followed the Lycoming instructions for my flight home today. I flew no higher than 5000 (well, 5500 when I canceled IFR) feet and alternated between 65 and 75% power throughout the flight. This is not an exact science since there are no performance numbers for the Power Flow exhaust, but I certainly never dropped below 65% power, which is the recommendation.