Am I the only one who missed the July 2004 Critical Service Bulletin on the TSIO-550??? I was surfing the Continental site Friday when I happened to check out the service bulletin area and there it was.....CSB04-6. If you have a TSIO-550 manufactured or rebuilt between 04/28/1998 and 09/11/2003 this CSB applies to you. It seems that some pistons were "position stamped" above the piston ring bore which has caused some problems. The CSB is written in typical nebulous speak in its description which is vague at best. However, the main issue seems to be engines running hot (excessive heat as they put it). I would estimate that 200 engines are involved (there are serial numbers). The CSB requires a borescope check of the engines "within 25 hours or at the next 100 hour or annual inspection". And, then at each 100 hours thereafter until the pistons are changed out for whatever reason. They are looking for "excessive heat indications or cracking" in a specific area on the piston.

I was never notified, so much for being registered with Continental as the engine owner. If you are affected, PLEASE send me an email off list so I can keep track of how many of us there are. As far as I am concerned it is unacceptable that we should have to live with a 100 check to determine if our pistons are cracked! The link to download the PDF is listed below.

Ed Rosiak
Super ES

http://www.tcmlink.com/serviceBulletins/index.html