This is where I had my 3rd engine out in July 2011 but the other
two was not in trikes but many years ago. Wes and Marsha came to my
rescue to help me get the trike back to the airport.
Jan... sorry to hear that :-( ... I'm glad you found a good place
to set it down + proves you can manage the emergency. What happened
to the engine? Why did it quit?
The engine had more than 300 hours on and up to then ran very nice
and smooth, never a burp. That day I was flying at about 800 feet
when with no warning the engine lost power and died a slow death.
While I was loosing power I checked the instruments and there was
no warning or red lines, all indicators showed normal at that
moment. After opening the engine we found one of the main bearings
seized and the one piston had over heated. The seizure was so
severe that the crank hit a hole in the bottom of the block. The
conclusion was that I had been running the engine to lean. I had
the wrong main jets in the carbs. I am still not sure if that was
the real cause or just my unlucky at that hours because my EGT's
and water temps was within the specs all the time I flew those
hours. Since then I have a new block with new crank and pistons and
the correct main jets. I am running my EGT's a bit lower and I am
not flying 85 mph anymore...hahaha
I thought you had a fairly new 912 aircraft Jan. 300 hrs :-( that's
not much time at all ... if it was running too lean wouldn't it
make sense for the temps to be high? ... well ... I hope never
happen again and your engine provides 1000's of hours of safe
flying!
my mistake there Jan... looks like you fly a Delta Jet with 582.
But not sure... if so, it also pretty aircraft thought .. and still
nice landing gear there for the rough terrain. haha ... I got you
already upgraded to a Revo w/912S :-)
Sorry we are taking the whole front page with this engine
talk..:>) Tony, the thing that still puzzles me is the fact that
I have been running my temps correct to my knowledge. Water always
in the 160's F and EGT's at 1150 F. As I have said; there was no
warning. The lesson I have learned from this is that the gauges are
only there to tell you, you have tuned the engine correct but when
something goes wrong the gauges will be too late to warn you
something is wrong. As Abid will say, “two stokes will stop any
time with no warning, get a 912” ...yea, if only I could afford
one..:>)
I had a 582 do exactly the same thing, hire is what I concluded
after analyzing the 582 vrs 503. what I think happens to 582´s is
that the rotary valve is to blame hire, when the valve closes it
closes one of the inlet or carb intake, in that instance there is
no gas/oil in that part of the crank and bearings. With the 503´s
the piston makes as a valve but their is always gas/oil in the
crank due to the design of the intake.
Jan... here is what Rotax print in the 2-stroke engine
manual:
4.2) Safety Information
WARNING: This engine, by its design, is subject to sudden
stoppage……
Sorry Jan ... did not mean to. I have been reading the manual for
the 447 because needed to check on something, and got to that
sentence that never saw before! I guess I never really read that
manual before. Why they worded like that? I have no clue ...
perhaps translation issue.!?
Indeed John, I just did not find that same exact wording "by its
design" in the 4-stroke manual, or perhaps I missed it and is in
there as well somewhere. TC
16 Comments
4.2) Safety Information
WARNING: This engine, by its design, is subject to sudden stoppage……
:-(
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