Slick Mag Issue

[thomas1142]

My magnetos were rebuilt on 5-12-2016, and my mechanic now says they need to be rebuilt again. I have only put 150 hrs on them since that time, can they really go bad that fast. Also told the cost is around 1.2 AMUs to get both rebuilt, does this sound right?

[ArtVandelay]

No, they are supposed to last 500 hrs, and I’ve had mine done , for around $250 IIRC for both mags.

[Hank]

Cost depends on what's wrong inside the can. I paid almost $600 to have my Left mag rebuilt away from home, plus labor to R&R, shipping, etc.

It worked great for the 3.2 hour flight home, then promptly broke again. Two warranty trips back to the rebuilder and it's doing fine now.

[jetdriven]

I would ask mechanic to explain. There's no calendar or hourly requirement to overhaul these things. But they should be inspected every 500 hours. I have a pretty low opinion of slick mags. Working at a shop for five years we changed dozens of slick mags with low hours because of a litany of problems. But no Bendix mags  in that time frame. And the Bendix are cheaper too 

Edited November 3, 2017 by jetdriven

[Hank]

Make sure the labor to remove and reinstall is included in your quote. It is not insignficant . . . .

[thomas1142]

Has anyone gone the Electroair route?

[CaptRJM]

Can only replace 1 mag if you go the Electroair route because it relies on ships power to function.  E Mags have a product that can replace both mags because it is self powered. Unfortunately, experimental aircraft only at this point but they hope to have certified version available late 2018. 

[markejackson02]

On 11/3/2017 at 3:30 PM, thomas1142 said:

My magnetos were rebuilt on 5-12-2016, and my mechanic now says they need to be rebuilt again. I have only put 150 hrs on them since that time, can they really go bad that fast. Also told the cost is around 1.2 AMUs to get both rebuilt, does this sound right?

It doesn't sound fair, but I just had the same thing happen.  100 Hours on a rebuilt engine (over 2 years) and 1.3 AMU to overhaul the mags which started mis-firing.

[Andy95W]

Sell the Slicks, install the Electroair for the left mag to help any starting issues, install a Bendix right magneto.  Probably about $3-4K.

JMO, of course.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Andy95W said:

Sell the Slicks, install the Electroair for the left mag to help any starting issues, install a Bendix right magneto.  Probably about $3-4K.

JMO, of course.

Andy,

He would need the IO360A3B6 engine for that to work, but I do like the idea though.  

I just installed a SureFly on a customers RV4, he has yet to fly it, but it did run very well.

Clarence 

[Andy95W]

I figured since he had Slick magnetos, he would have to have the A3B6.

[bradp]

I personally despise my slick mags.  Hot start  problems and three overhauls of the same mag resulting in a rebuilt Franken-mag took me the greater part of a year to get right.  When I was having such issues with their new parts the answer from champion was to try to sell me a slick start.  

If given another opportunity to fix it I’d install a bendix 

[jetdriven]

At the next 500 hour interval you can switch from slick the Bendix and when it’s all said and done it’s not a whole lot of money here. I did I it. 

The cheapest way is to buy two Bendix mag cores off eBay and send those in to be overhauled exchanged at aeroparts and supply. Then sell your operable slick mags to some RV  guys because that’s the only ones they can use. Easier than that but a few more bucks is to buy new Bendix mags from Continental and they take slicks for cores.  Buy a new ignition harness and sell the slick harness to some RV guys.