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All I wanted was an oil change...


Amelia

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So bright and early this morning, I flew ithe Beast around the patch a couple of times to warm the oil, taxied over to the maintenance hangar, uncowled it. Drained the oil. Dear mechanic cut the filter apart, and ... oops. Apparently all bright and sparkly is not a good look this year in oil filters. Lots of metal, both ferrous and nonferrous. None six months ago. So, after some worrisome discussion about reman engines and children’s’ undeserved inheritance and 10-week turnaround time for an IO550G, the thought occurred to him to check the lifters on this 1600- hour motor. Maybe they will prove to be the culprit. The crankshaft looked ok to him. There was glittery crud on the two lifters he checked. More will be learned tomorrow with all the others examined plus borescope and so forth. Blow-softening here:Tell the old bat she will be looking at a >$50K bill and Mooney down all summer, and she will be tickled with her $5K expense... she very much hopes. Thoughts welcome!

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Tough news for even a young bat..?

The good news...

all the parts are accessible without splitting the case open....

The real good news...

Covid-19 is quickly getting smaller in the rear view mirror...

Flying in earnest begins again...

 

PP Hopeful thinking only... 

Get some pics and let’s discuss...

Best regards,

-a-

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You know, you really only had to change the filter every other oil change.... (ducks for cover).

On a serious note, I’m sorry to hear about your predicament and hope for the best outcome. Sounds like you are taking a very thoughtful and well reasoned approach to this. I am also familiar with IO-550G overhaul prices and hope to put it off as long as is safe.

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:lol: I talked to the mechanic, who said he pulled two more lifters. “They were garbage,” he noted, apparently satisfied that they were the cause of all the metal in the oil filter. It seems that is a common Continental issue. “You should be good for another five years,” he promised. So having written a check for shiny things to replace corroded things, I sit back and wait for miracles to be worked. 
whew!!!

thanks, all, for the kind wishes!

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Just now, Amelia said:

:lol: I talked to the mechanic, who said he pulled two more lifters. “They were garbage,” he noted, apparently satisfied that they were the cause of all the metal in the oil filter. It seems that is a common Continental issue. “You should be good for another five years,” he promised. So having written a check for shiny things to replace corroded things, I sit back and wait for miracles to be worked. 
whew!!!

thanks, all, for the kind wishes!

When it comes to shiny things that follow the cam lobes....

recent discussions include the use of DHC coatings for the cam followers...   (diamond hard coating?)

The DHC often gets mentioned as a way to avoid this situation, and not have it wear off...

Not sure if we have any examples of that with the IO550 around here...

Best regards,

-a-

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OK, the coating you are looking for is called DLC, or diamond-like-carbon. Lycoming already offers this coating on their non-roller tappets, and it stops tappet spalling dead cold in its tracks. CMI, I don't think they do it yet but Ly-Con was working on an STC for the Continental tappets.

I am amazed the knowledge of this process has not spread more widely among the GA community. Ly-Con says this problem is completely solved. They have a set of Lycoming DLC tappets now on their third TBO cycle in a traffic watch airplane and they still pass new limits criteria.

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1 hour ago, testwest said:

Lycoming already offers this coating on their non-roller tappets, and it stops tappet spalling dead cold in its tracks. CMI, I don't think they do it yet but Ly-Con was working on an STC for the Continental tappets.

Do new lycoming lifters now come this way? Or is it something your engine builder needs to do beyond the normal?

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AFAIK all new Lycoming non-roller tappets come this way. See here https://www.lycoming.com/parts/tappets

Lycoming spent a fortune developing the roller tappets and wants you to buy them, but roller tappets are 100% replace at overhaul. DLC tappets came later for the older engines, but they are so good it would knock down the market for the rollers. So Lycoming upgrades factory overhauled engines automatically to rollers, and really does not push the DLC at all. The layout of the web page above is testament to that, even with the DLC tappet pictured at the bottom of the page, there is still a roller pictured next to it. 
 

Having said that, the rollers do cut down rotational losses in these engines significantly, so much so that the cam grind had to be made a little “lazier” to make sure the engine did not make more than its rated power to a reasonable statistical probability.

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21 minutes ago, hypertech said:

Same happened to me but we didn't catch it before the garbage lifters scored the cam.  Consider yourself lucky and to have dodged the bullet.  I ended up with an overhaul.

That’s what I was expecting to hear, sometimes when steel pieces circulate through the engine, they imbed themselves in the softer bearings, and I’m really surprised to hear that a tappet can be eaten up badly and leave the cam unharmed. I guess the filter caught it all?

Good to hear it worked out, Christmas came early this year.

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9 hours ago, hypertech said:

Same happened to me but we didn't catch it before the garbage lifters scored the cam.  Consider yourself lucky and to have dodged the bullet.  I ended up with an overhaul.

Wow.. that sucks.

I am glad for you guys sharing this stories, I have learned a lot from your experiences.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now, if only the parts had been shipped next-day air as requested, I would be enjoying myself in the Keys, with a long anticipated - and paid- mini vacation. Well, we win some, we lose some. My highly esteemed mechanic will be ordering parts from a different supplier from now on, I gather. >:-( 

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