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912 runs rough

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sldpileit(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:19 am Post subject: 912 runs rough

First I want to thank all of you who have responded over the last few months regarding my rough running 912. I tried almost every possible fix and nothing worked. I was still short 500 rpm and very slow to take off. My europa would also back fire and miss whenever a load was put on the engine. I finally transported my plane from Xenia Ohio to East Troy WI and had a certified rotax   mechanic troubleshoot the problem for me. What he found was shocking. Two of the cylinders had low compression. One of which reading 43/80psi, and the other just barely 70/80. He thin removed the head expecting to find a cracked ring, but instead found a corroded exhaust seat. The corrosion was so bad that the valve was leaking thus the low compression. This engine was purchased and remained crated and stored in a climate controlled building at Flightcrafters in Florida until put on the aircraft in the fall of 2006. The bottom line is the fact that I was trying to fly my europa on three cylinders. Lakewood aviation had my jumping through all these hoops and rebuilding my carbs to the tune of $180. Buying a pneumatic carb sync kit $160. They even had me completely remove my gas tank system out of the equation by having my wife hold a 5 gal can of fuel beside the plane while I did a full engine run. Here is the real rub! I'm still waiting to hear from rotax on what they plan to do about my new $15000 engine that is corroded inside. I'm hoping that they will realize that they need to do the right thing and replace a very defective engine. Years ago I worked as a manager at a seafood steak house and very quickly realized that a customer who gets a bad meal will tell everyone he meets for years about the bad meal he got at your restaurant. I hope Rotax does not make that mistake.  I was very impressed when the USAF started flying predators with rotax engines, and I would hope that Rotax would want to keep their good standing in the experimental aircraft field. Any thoughts that any of you may have on this dilemma would be greatly appreciated.

    

   MSGT SCOTT L. DINGMAN RRT, USAF RET

    

    [quote][b]

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kheindl(at)msn.com
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject: 912 runs rough

Hi Scott,



This sounds extremely upsetting and it is the first time that I have heard  

of such a problem. It is very unlikely to be a manufacturing problem, but 

one of incorrect long-term storage. Some more detective work would be 

required like: exactly who did you buy it from, and when was it 

manufactured. The factory would know this from the serial number. If it was 

purchased from an appointed Rotax dealer, then I think he would be liable. 

If he blames it on the factory, then it is up to him to claim a replacement 

from them. In the meantime he should honour the guarantee to you. In any 

case, it looks like a long wait, because of long lead times at the moment on 

new engines.

I am puzzled by the corrosion. According to the maintenance manual, the 

engine has internal corrosion proofing, to avoid just such problems from 

occurring.



Hope you get it sorted, without having to resort to legal action.



Karl



 	  Quote: 	
		        First I want to thank all of you who have responded over the last few 

months regarding my rough running 912. I tried almost every possible fix 

and nothing worked. I was still short 500 rpm and very slow to take off. My 

europa would also back fire and miss whenever a load was put on the engine. 

I finally transported my plane from Xenia Ohio to East Troy WI and had a 

certified rotax mechanic troubleshoot the problem for me. What he found was 

shocking. Two of the cylinders had low compression. One of which reading 

43/80psi, and the other just barely 70/80. He thin removed the head 

expecting to find a cracked ring, but instead found a corroded exhaust 

seat. The corrosion was so bad that the valve was leaking thus the low 

compression. This engine was purchased and remained crated and stored in a 

climate controlled building at Flightcrafters in Florida until put on the 

aircraft in the fall of 2006. The bottom line is the fact that I was trying 

to fly my europa on three cylinde

  rs. Lakewood aviation had my jumping through all these hoops and 

rebuilding my carbs to the tune of $180. Buying a pneumatic carb sync kit 

$160. They even had me completely remove my gas tank system out of the 

equation by having my wife hold a 5 gal can of fuel beside the plane while 

I did a full engine run. Here is the real rub! I'm still waiting to hear 

from rotax on what they plan to do about my new $15000 engine that is 

corroded inside. I'm hoping that they will realize that they need to do the 

right thing and replace a very defective engine. Years ago I worked as a 

manager at a seafood steak house and very quickly realized that a customer 

who gets a bad meal will tell everyone he meets for years about the bad 

meal he got at your restaurant. I hope Rotax does not make that mistake.  I 

was very impressed when the USAF started flying predators with rotax 

engines, and I would hope that Rotax would want to keep their good standing 

in the experimental aircraft field. Any thou

  ghts that any of you may have on this dilemma would be greatly 

appreciated.



MSGT SCOTT L. DINGMAN RRT, USAF RET

________________________________________________________________________


	


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:03 pm Post subject: 912 runs rough

Hello Scott



"found a corroded exhaust seat"



I read your post with interest.



First off you speak of corrosion and corroded exhaust seat.



Is it perhaps "Erosion" as in burning it up in use?



How is the ignition timing? Retarded or whacked?

See:

http://www.greenskyadventures.com/engineservice/TechTips/912Ignition/912IgnDiagrahm.htm



You are absolute sure only proper fuel got into plane?

No jet fuel or some with way too much alcohol or a wise guy pouring in

some model aeroplane fuel with lots of alcohol and nitro?



Is the carburetor too lean? 



Are you running float bowl vents to static pressure air, not to an area of

lower pressure like somewhere in the cowl that is low pressure? The carb

float bowl vent lines are perfect, no leaks or kinks?



The diaphragms in the carbs are in perfect shape?



Did you try running 100LL and taking a look at the color of the spark

plugs? 



You are running the proper heat range spark plugs?



Back to timing, are the proper plug wires are attached to the proper

plugs?



Is it a air leak somewhere like a O ring not installed or ripped carb

boot, disconnected hose causing a air leak?



If all checks out OK, is it possible that someone switched your new

cylinders for junk somewhere/somehow along the line?



Let us know what you find.



Ron P.

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