Sorry I didn't make to Bill Eslick's for the Rotorfest, I missed by
about one hour. About 30 miles north of San Angelo TX the RPM suddenly
dropped and I could not restore it with any of my emergency
procedures. GPS told me nearest airport was Robert Lee about 15 miles
away. I headed there and landed without incident.
Turning the prop by hand shows almost zero compression in one rotor,
indicating bad/broken apex seals, quite similar to my engine-out
experience 2 1/2 years ago which caused a forced landing near the
Grand Canyon. This time the vibration was not quite as bad, and the
RPM dropped to around 4300 which was still not enough to maintain
altitude. I called my friend with a Glasair and he cam got me and took
me home. I
will have to find some time to build another motor and drive 12 hours
back there and swap motors. Or I might drive there, remove the wings
and
trailer it back, have not decided yet.
My good friend/mentor/flight instructor is trying to talk me into
going
back to a Lycosaurus, and I have to think of some good reasons not to.
Until I get the motor back and torn apart, I wont know what caused the
failure, but I will post anything that I find.
Regards
Chuck Dunlap
RV-6 13B 535 hours
Chuck. Sorry to hear about your engine ''failure''. Since you mention
possible bad/broken apex seals, may I ask if you use oil in fuel in
that engine?. Yvon.
Yes, I am using Wal-Mart 2stroke outboard oil.
One detail I left out of my first post was I stayed overnight at
Pecos, TX and when I got back in the AM someone had filled the fuel
tanks overnight. I added the oil after the tanks were full, I usually
add oil gradually during fueling, so the oil may not have been a bit
lean for the 1 1/2 hours flown since Pecos. I would not have thought
it would be all that critical in the short term - I believe George
Graham flew quite a few hours with NO oil without a problem.
Chuck
This may have absolutely nothing to do with it but what brand of apex
seals were in that engine Chuck? I am just curious.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
I had installed the 2 piece apex seals from Mazdatrix. I don't think
Tracy's unbreakable seals were available at that time or I would have
used his.
Chuck
Thanks Chuck I think Mazdatrix sells only the Mazda seals.
I am seeing some strange things these days and I am trying to track it
down.
The three piece have been known to roll out of the apex seal slots
and that was a possible scenario.
You have been one of the high hours guys with the rotary as you have been
consistently at Sun & Fun and OSH. We would hate to lose you.
Believe me the Lycosaurus guys have had their problems too. I have had
two air cooled engines quit on me. One in a Mooney when the boost pump
vanes broke up and jammed the high pressure pump. Another time a 172 I
was flying the float sank in the float bowl. Both were successful forced
landings at near by airports. I have landed on a two lane road however.
I had the alternator fail on a night flight. Also the vac pump failed on
a night flight losing the gyros. If you fly long enough you will have
some sort of problem. Now as far as maintainence is concerned I typical had
to spend one to three thousand a year at annuals. Leaking exhaust valves is a
common problem. One rebuilt engine for $17,000 at 1500 hours. Two AD's before I
ever got it installed. The experimental guys here at SZP are always working
on their aircraft engines. It is all just part of flying.
Hang in there.
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
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