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Just came back from renewal


Anticept

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Latest news:

Major changes to manuals coming. Torques will no longer be in the IPC, instead it will be kept in MM consistent with the rest of aviation. Everything will be english.

NGK has discontinued supplying aviation, blaming customers going to auto parts stores instead of ordering from aviation suppliers. They say they were taking the liability without the premium. The replacement plug is similar to a massive electrode aviation plug. Price unknown. This will replace the plug boots as well. Recommended life limit remains unchanged.

Rotax's 6 cylinder V configuration experiment has been shelved. They had a working prototype but suppliers backed out due to liability.

A new float is released. It has 3 dots. Some floats continue to sink or flake, but is extremely rare with 2 dot and 0 dot floats.

For those who might want to do your own overhauls: overhaul kits are now, or will soon be, available. You're buying a factory made bottom (preassembled case and internals) and you do the inspection and dimentioning of everything that attaches to the bottom, such as pistons, cylinders, gearbox, housing, etc. Data plates are stamped, and the old core is returned for credit. It's still really expensive to do this, so we, in the field, don't expect this to be popular.

Cylinder head torque procedures will change. Same method, but at the end, bolts are released and retorqued one at a time. Factory believes it has more consistent sealing.

Finally: 150 NM is called out for the shaft nut on the ignition housing. It was originally 120NM. While the factory has not budged on this, numerous reports in the field show this is destroying the bearing on used housings and reducing clearance to the free wheeling gear to 0. Brand new housings do not experience this issue until after first installation and removal. It is strongly recommended to use 120NM and many distributors are ignoring the new torque because of this issue.

That's the big points that I can remember.

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Hi Corey,

 

Look like this was a Rotax update school for you? Much of this info isn't very new.  Glad you went because it can make a difference. Rotax usually only makes manual change once a year so it's important to stay current.

 

Latest news:

Major changes to manuals coming. Torques will no longer be in the IPC, instead it will be kept in MM consistent with the rest of aviation. Everything will be english.

 

This was the latest Rotax Service letter not very long ago.

NGK has discontinued supplying aviation, blaming customers going to auto parts stores instead of ordering from aviation suppliers. They say they were taking the liability without the premium. The replacement plug is similar to a massive electrode aviation plug. Price unknown. This will replace the plug boots as well. Recommended life limit remains unchanged.

 

NGK has been saying this for a decade or more and is printed on their box with a slash through an airplane. Rotax a couple of years ago said the same about NGK supplying them and are looking to swap to Bosh. You will always be able to buy NGK plugs from a supplier for your plane just not from Rotax. When will the other change occure is not known yet.

Rotax's 6 cylinder V configuration experiment has been shelved. They had a working prototype but suppliers backed out due to liability.

 

The 912iS engine was also shelved and 6 master distributors bailed Rotax out to help complete tat project. It was during the economic  slowdown. I don't see the 6 cyl. coming back anytime soon.

A new float is released. It has 3 dots. Some floats continue to sink or flake, but is extremely rare with 2 dot and 0 dot floats.

 

This was a Rotax bulletin. The only difference to the old verses new floats was an additional liquid pressure test. It does look like some of the 2 dots passed, but later failed in use. Bing doesn't make these and are made by someone else. I'm sure that is being addressed in some form.

For those who might want to do your own overhauls: overhaul kits are now, or will soon be, available. You're buying a factory made bottom (preassembled case and internals) and you do the inspection and dimentioning of everything that attaches to the bottom, such as pistons, cylinders, gearbox, housing, etc. Data plates are stamped, and the old core is returned for credit. It's still really expensive to do this, so we, in the field, don't expect this to be popular.

 

If you had an experimental this overhaul could always have been done by someone other than a service center. The problem has always been the expense of the tools to accomplish this taks. It runs in the thousands of dollars. Since many A&P's rarely go to Rotax school that includes Heavy Maint. this may not be a very wise option.

Cylinder head torque procedures will change. Same method, but at the end, bolts are released and retorqued one at a time. Factory believes it has more consistent sealing.

 

This change in torque values and procedures has been taught in Rotax schools for at least the last 2+ years.

Finally: 150 NM is called out for the shaft nut on the ignition housing. It was originally 120NM. While the factory has not budged on this, numerous reports in the field show this is destroying the bearing on used housings and reducing clearance to the free wheeling gear to 0. Brand new housings do not experience this issue, but once it has been put on an engine, it is strongly recommended to use 120NM and many distributors are ignoring the new torque because of this issue.

 

This change in torque values and procedures has been taught in Rotax schools for at least the last  2+ years, maybe 4 years.

That's the big points that I can remember.

 

Most of this has been in Rotax schools for at least 2 years and this is why it is important for people that are going to work on a Rotax to go to their school.

 

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Yes it was an update. Couple items here persisted since initial, but I'm more worried about getting the news out.

 

I did not realize that renewals were for the entire series of engines. I now hold training for 914 and 912iS as well. Since pretty much all but one person were renewing heavy, Eric put us on the differences with a 912iS on the last day and did the carbs separately with the new heavy rating.

 

2 years is still too short of a renewal period (nothing said in class isn't already taken from bulletins and letters) though. I would prefer 3-4. If rotax is concerned about getting updated info to people, it would be easy enough to make an online computer course that has to be taken between renewals as part of maintaining the iRMT. Taking a week away from operations to do these renewals hurts a lot.

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Corey and Roger, thanks.  Due to the dire warnings about sinking floats, I bought a set of floats 2 years ago and they still set on the shelf.  No problems, so far, with my floats from the factory on my 2006 CTSW.  The unused new set is the 2 dots.  Now, I'm not sure if these are the right ones to use if I need to replace my current ones?  

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Oh right! I did ask about that!

 

The new bowls will have blind holes to fix the serverity of the problem. Existing pins should be checked for play by ligltly moving them. NO play is allowed. If it occurs, coat the bottom with loctite 243, 263, or comparable and lightly tap the pin back in. It is a taper fit.

 

Plug the bottom with a drop of expoxy when you have confirmed there is no movement.

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Is there a good place to purchase carb parts like bowl gaskets, etc., that has good prices? What is the newest bowl gasket material we should look for when buying?

 

I order mine from Leading Edge Airfoils.

At the class they said there is a change in material coming for bowl gaskets. He said it will be a black plastic/rubber type material.

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Oh right! I did ask about that!

 

The new bowls will have blind holes to fix the serverity of the problem. Existing pins should be checked for play by ligltly moving them. NO play is allowed. If it occurs, coat the bottom with loctite 243, 263, or comparable and lightly tap the pin back in. It is a taper fit.

 

Plug the bottom with a drop of expoxy when you have confirmed there is no movement.

 

Are the new bowls available as replacements?  That might be a bit of money I'd be willing to spend.

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There are thousands of these carb bowls out on the market. float guide pin failures are very rare. Don't make this a mount. Just because you read a couple of people that had the problem doesn't make it wide spread.  

 

p.s.

Just because you put JB Weld on the bottom hole won't keep it from leaking. That's just a feel good measure. If you block that hole the carb will overflow and come out the throat on the air cleaner side or wherever it can find an out.

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Roger, did you think that one through :P? If a pin comes out but it's plugged, the other float will keep the valve closed. It won't overflow... at least not until the plug gets dislodged.

 

I don't think one float has enough buoyancy to keep the valve closed. If it did the float sinking problem would not cause an issue with a rough running engine like they do.

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p.s.

Just because you put JB Weld on the bottom hole won't keep it from leaking. That's just a feel good measure. If you block that hole the carb will overflow and come out the throat on the air cleaner side or wherever it can find an out.

 

I don't understand.  If the pin is still in the hole but leaking, the carb bowl is not going to overflow...why would it?  The floats are still maintaining the fuel level in the bowl, just as if the pin was in place normally.  That might be the case if both the pins came out and both floats were just rattling around in there, but to my knowledge that scenario has never happened.  even in one came completely out, the other float would maintain the level.  

 

In the scenario I personally experienced, the epoxy on the bottom of the bowl would have kept gas from dumping all over my running engine.

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