| Ive got an IO-360 from Performance Engines delivered in April 2001. It has a little over 500 hrs on it now. I purchased the plane from the builder who did most of the maintenance himself, with most powerplant maintenance being done by his local A&P. There haven't been any problems with the engine. At my first annual inspection the mechanic noted the use of ny-lock nuts forward of the firewall and a nut or two that was not torqued to spec; after 10 yrs of use that's not surprising. I had an intake pipe crack that had to be replaced. After placing an order with Performance, it took nearly a month for them to acknowledge that they had no record of the order. It took another 3 weeks for them to admit that the pipe was a standard Cessna part and I could order it myself with the correct part number.
So I've had bad customer service from them but I cant complain about the engine.
Is there anyone who can bear witness to a bad 360 from Performance? All of the horror stories relate to 6 cylinders. After 500 hrs I'm not concerned enough to consider an overhaul, but I'd like to know if I should be.
On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 1:17 PM, Mark Davis <marksdavis@cox.net> wrote:
As one of those who have previously posted on problems with my Performance Engine Lyc. IO-540, I offer what I'm able to on FAA involvement on the matter. My contact with the FAA has asked that I not give any details since, while I was not told that what they said was "off the record", they are in what seems to be a bit of a legal bind (surprise) on subject - my interpretation. They apparently have a not insignificant amount of hard documentation on the problems with these engines, including my own, but are unable to take action since all of our engines are "experimental". I was told that since Performance Engines, at least at the time of my contact (several years ago now) held a Repair Station certificate, they could act on any problems noted with a certificated engine but they could take no action regarding experimental engines since there are no real legal standards for what that means - again my interpretation. To be honest, I was impressed with the apparent sincere regret expressed during my contact that their hands were tied and the recognition of the potential safety problems involved. Unfortunately, I suspect that Paul's suggestion of submitting SDRs on problems would probably fail for the same reason.
My last post on the problem was about 2 years ago before overhauling my engine at 98 hours. I would be willing to share the problems, pictures, required fixes, etc. from the tear down/overhaul with anyone interested. Suffice to say that I was very glad that we did tear it down because a number of things we found can only be described as scarry. The engine is now back in operation with about 150 hours total on it and is one that I now have some real confidence in. Like many others on the list, I strongly recommend that anyone with a Performance Engine that has not been overhauled since receipt do so ASAP.
Mark Davis
Legacy N422MD
San Diego, CA
--
For archives and unsub http://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html
|