TXFlyGuy
Well-Known Member
As Ross posed this question, it has prompted me to do a separate thread on the subject.
This is involved, so stick with me on this...
When I purchased my avionics package and had it professionally installed, the Garmin Engine Monitor package was bought. This included all of the engine sensors (coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, etc.) that were compatible with the G3X Touch.
The engine was installed at Titan Aircraft. I thought everything was great.
In 2020 during our first engine runs and taxi tests, we had a big surprise. The coolant temp registered 175, however we experienced a major boil over of the coolant system. It was so hot you could hear the water boiling inside the block. This happened several times. Finally we learned that Titan did not install the Garmin sensors that I had provided them with. Instead they used off the shelf generic sensors. These sent faulty data, and the engine monitor was showing incorrect numbers on everything.
It turns out that the engine exceeded 275+ several times. OK...it still ran fine. Even sent the engine back to Hutter for a cam swap and a full dyno run. No problems detected. But, we did see some scoring of at least one cylinder wall, mostly likely caused by overheating.
In 2023 and 2024, the plane flew from NW Ohio to KCHS. Then on to KSAV. And finally made the 720 mile journey to KMEZ for a paint job. There were no issues noted, other than the engine turning over slowly during starting when it was hot.
Went to get the plane from the paint shop after it was finished (sat there for 3 months) and the engine would not fire. In fact, it would barely turn over. We tried everything...new batteries, new starter, new spark plugs. Nothing helped.
Finally I took some pictures of the cylinders. They are scored. Some worse than others. But here is the deal breaker...did a dynamic compression test. An LS3 will hold 150 psi all day long. My cylinders were holding 45, 20, 0, 75, etc., psi.
Next we did the standard leak down test, pumping in 80 psi. The best we could get was 20. Rings and or pistons are trashed.
To recap, it flew perfectly for 50 hours. Flew perfectly all the way to Mena for paint. It sits for 90 days, and then will not start. And the engine has no compression at all.
An FAA Certified Repair Facility is installing a new LS3 engine right now. We will bring the old one home next week and do a tear down, and have a look to see what the heck happened.
We suspect the extreme high temps softened the rings, and expanded the pistons doing major damage to the cylinders. This is not a fault of the engine.
An electric water pump has also been installed along with a radiator cooling fan. Plus we installed much larger coolant lines than what Titan had originally installed. Cooling is not only an issue for the LS3, but many T-51's with Honda engines also have over heating issues.
It took almost 50 hours for the problem to manifest itself.
This is involved, so stick with me on this...
When I purchased my avionics package and had it professionally installed, the Garmin Engine Monitor package was bought. This included all of the engine sensors (coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, etc.) that were compatible with the G3X Touch.
The engine was installed at Titan Aircraft. I thought everything was great.
In 2020 during our first engine runs and taxi tests, we had a big surprise. The coolant temp registered 175, however we experienced a major boil over of the coolant system. It was so hot you could hear the water boiling inside the block. This happened several times. Finally we learned that Titan did not install the Garmin sensors that I had provided them with. Instead they used off the shelf generic sensors. These sent faulty data, and the engine monitor was showing incorrect numbers on everything.
It turns out that the engine exceeded 275+ several times. OK...it still ran fine. Even sent the engine back to Hutter for a cam swap and a full dyno run. No problems detected. But, we did see some scoring of at least one cylinder wall, mostly likely caused by overheating.
In 2023 and 2024, the plane flew from NW Ohio to KCHS. Then on to KSAV. And finally made the 720 mile journey to KMEZ for a paint job. There were no issues noted, other than the engine turning over slowly during starting when it was hot.
Went to get the plane from the paint shop after it was finished (sat there for 3 months) and the engine would not fire. In fact, it would barely turn over. We tried everything...new batteries, new starter, new spark plugs. Nothing helped.
Finally I took some pictures of the cylinders. They are scored. Some worse than others. But here is the deal breaker...did a dynamic compression test. An LS3 will hold 150 psi all day long. My cylinders were holding 45, 20, 0, 75, etc., psi.
Next we did the standard leak down test, pumping in 80 psi. The best we could get was 20. Rings and or pistons are trashed.
To recap, it flew perfectly for 50 hours. Flew perfectly all the way to Mena for paint. It sits for 90 days, and then will not start. And the engine has no compression at all.
An FAA Certified Repair Facility is installing a new LS3 engine right now. We will bring the old one home next week and do a tear down, and have a look to see what the heck happened.
We suspect the extreme high temps softened the rings, and expanded the pistons doing major damage to the cylinders. This is not a fault of the engine.
An electric water pump has also been installed along with a radiator cooling fan. Plus we installed much larger coolant lines than what Titan had originally installed. Cooling is not only an issue for the LS3, but many T-51's with Honda engines also have over heating issues.
It took almost 50 hours for the problem to manifest itself.
