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It Finally Happened to ME!

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andynfultz(at)bellsouth.n
Guest

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:12 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

[quote]   NOT    excited to report a catastrophic engine failure on take off.  This past    Saturday I was departing my home field from rwy 36 and at about 450 AGL my    engine started to vibrate violently and then the prop came to an abrupt halt    just after I pushed the nose over and pulled the power (MAYBE two seconds from    first indication of a problem till the prop stopped).  I felt that I had    enough altitude to execute a 180 (more like a quick wing-over) and landed    safely on 18.  Lots of ground up metal in the oil pan ,but no blood or    anything in cockpit.  My guardian angel was riding with me.  Really    got my attention.  This was the first flight after a Thursday,    1.3 hr Xcountry at night.   The engine was a Stratus EA-81 and there    were no warning signs that I was aware of.  The engine was running fine,    with all temps and oil pressure normal, then it wasn't running at all.     

    

     I have removed the engine from the airframe    and pulled the oil pan which is holding a double handful of ground up    metal bits and there's a hole in the top of the case.  Also found about a    half of a handful of bits in the muffler.  Not sure at this time    what caused it to come apart, but I'll continue to try to find out what    happened.  May never know for sure as many pieces as it seems to be    in.  Yall be careful and know what you and you bird are capable    of.

    

   Andy    F.

   AVID    C/Mark IV Extended Speedwing

[b]

andynfultz(at)bellsouth.n
Guest

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:23 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

In my  haste to hit the send button I failed to tell you guys that the engine is a  STRAUTS EA-81 with 287 hours on it.

  

 Andy  F.



 [quote]   --

d3dw(at)sbcglobal.net
Guest

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:25 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Sure sorry to hear about the engine, Andy, but so pleased you are okay. Several of us had valve guides chewed up a number of years ago, but nothing like "two handfuls of bits". Are you using EGTs. Sometimes egt can be very high on takeoff, though the heads do not show it yet on a cold day.  don

   From: Andy Fultz <andynfultz(at)bellsouth.net>

To: stratus-list(at)matronics.com

Sent: Mon, November 19, 2012 9:24:05 PM

Subject: RE: It Finally Happened to ME!

    In my haste to hit the send button I failed to tell you guys that the engine is a STRAUTS EA-81 with 287 hours on it.

 Andy F.

 [quote] --

andynfultz(at)bellsouth.n
Guest

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:33 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

No  Don.  No EGT's.  Water temp, oil temp, oil pressure and volt  meter is all I've got for engine instrumentation.

  

 Andy F.  

 [quote]   --

larrycmcfarland(at)gmail.
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 7:13 am Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Hi Andy,

Sorry to hear of your engine problems, but it would be very useful to other Subaru users to know if you had the valve guides redone, or were they dependent upon just circlips to secure the valve guides. 

Ron at Ram Performance redid my valve guides and I’ve not heard of anyone with his modification having trouble.  Lots of failures with just circlips though.  Check your pistons to determine if the tops

were broken or fractured markedly.  This is a most likely scenario for that engine.

If you return to using the Subaru, I’d recommend  you get the valve guide work done, before flying it and add EGTs for each side.  It’s a good barometer of your engine performance.

 

Larry McFarland  601HDS Stratus EA81 

flying a Piper Cherokee now.

  

 

 

From: owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of Andy Fultz

Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 9:23 PM

To: stratus-list(at)matronics.com

Subject: RE: It Finally Happened to ME!

 

In my haste to hit the send button I failed to tell you guys that the engine is a STRAUTS EA-81 with 287 hours on it.



 



Andy F.



[quote]

--

andynfultz(at)bellsouth.n
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:04 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Hey  Larry,

  

    It was just a stock STRATUS conversion.  I knew of a few instances of valve  guide problems, but did not realize that there were so many till mine failed and  I started really looking.  I spoke with Ron Carr today and was very  impressed with what he had to say.  I am headed to the airport now to take  the head off and have a look inside, but from what I could see with a scope  looking through the spark plug hole, there's not enough of the piston left tell  what happened.  Is your RAM modified engine still in use?  How many  hours?

  

 Andy  F.

 [quote]   --

tshankland(at)sbcglobal.n
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:08 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

I have a question for Stratus users, what is your  water temperature. I am concerned that several people have had one or more  instances of valve guide failure while most do not. I too have a Stratus EA81  with over 200 hours on it and my water runs at 190 degrees F, on long summer  climb outs it can get to 200 degrees. I did not like the cooling system design  supplied by Zenith and spent a year designing my own. Since this failure is not  endemic in cars my question is are many running at higher water temperature   contributiong to this problem.

 

Tim Shankland

 [quote]   ---

d3dw(at)sbcglobal.net
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:00 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Tim, my temps are running close to what yours are, and sometimes up to about 210. I have my egt limit set at 1450, and I usually run around 1350 to 1380 in cruise on egt. However, I feel very confident in the heads Ram built for me, with the new guides, larger ss valves, etc. What mods did you make to your cooling?

 I used to take off with full power, but have decided that is just a waste and unnecessary unless on a very short strip...so I am more gentle now. My guide failures were on cold days taking off at full power. It seems to me the temp differential between the steel and aluminum was a problem. but that is no problem with the Ram valve job.  don



 

   From: Tim <tshankland(at)sbcglobal.net>

To: stratus-list(at)matronics.com

Sent: Tue, November 20, 2012 6:09:50 PM

Subject: Re: It Finally Happened to ME!



   I have a question for Stratus users, what is your water temperature. I am concerned that several people have had one or more instances of valve guide failure while most do not. I too have a Stratus EA81 with over 200 hours on it and my water runs at 190 degrees F, on long summer climb outs it can get to 200 degrees. I did not like the cooling system design supplied by Zenith and spent a year designing my own. Since this failure is not endemic in cars my question is are many running at higher water temperature  contributiong to this problem.

 

Tim Shankland

 [quote] ---

larrycmcfarland(at)gmail.
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:36 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Tim, 

My water temperature was usually between 187 and 200.  The difference being winter to summer.

EGTs were most often 1350 to 1400 with excursions to 1450 on early efforts to get control of the correct mixture.

Cars don’t see the high rpms and cooling necessary for those rpms normally, but good cooling and mixtures can 

keep a Subaru running without problems.

Larry McFarland

 

From: owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of Tim

Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:08 PM

To: stratus-list(at)matronics.com

Subject: Re: It Finally Happened to ME!

 

I have a question for Stratus users, what is your water temperature. I am concerned that several people have had one or more instances of valve guide failure while most do not. I too have a Stratus EA81 with over 200 hours on it and my water runs at 190 degrees F, on long summer climb outs it can get to 200 degrees. I did not like the cooling system design supplied by Zenith and spent a year designing my own. Since this failure is not endemic in cars my question is are many running at higher water temperature  contributiong to this problem.

Tim Shankland

[quote]

---

larrycmcfarland(at)gmail.
Guest

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:46 pm Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Tim,

My 601HDS Ram modified Subaru is still running at Minneapolis MN, Crystal Airport.  I flew it for 200 hours over 7 years and expect it will for a long time.

Ron has the best fix and solution to valve guides in an EA81.  Very reliable.  When the heads get overly warm, the standard valve guides slip right into the piston and 

really can make a mess of things.  The EGTs are a best last ditch solution to monitoring engine health, i.e., mixture.

You should be able to easily tell if the valve guides were out of position during examination of the heads. They won’t go back in place once they touch pistons.

Would like to know what you find out though.

 

Larry McFarland

 

 

 

From: owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-stratus-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of Andy Fultz

Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 5:04 PM

To: stratus-list(at)matronics.com

Subject: RE: It Finally Happened to ME!

 

Hey Larry,



 



  It was just a stock STRATUS conversion.  I knew of a few instances of valve guide problems, but did not realize that there were so many till mine failed and I started really looking.  I spoke with Ron Carr today and was very impressed with what he had to say.  I am headed to the airport now to take the head off and have a look inside, but from what I could see with a scope looking through the spark plug hole, there's not enough of the piston left tell what happened.  Is your RAM modified engine still in use?  How many hours?



 



Andy F.

[quote]

--

tshankland(at)sbcglobal.n
Guest

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:54 am Post subject: It Finally Happened to ME!

Don,

 I did not like the under the fuselage placement in  that both engine heat and exaust flow through the radiator. I mounted two heater  cores to the sides of the engine and a third smaller core on the firewall to be  used for cabin heat. When the cabin heat is not in use heat from this one flows  overboard contributing the the cooling. In the attached picture you can clearly  see the left side and part of the right. Air entering the hole under the  prop is directed by partitions in the cowling to flow across the oil pan.  There are two more cooling holes on either side of the prop, part of one has a  duct to the cabin heater and part of the other a ram tube that directs air  over the oil filter.

 Tim

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