Argh! Navion broke

Yup, nice crankcase vent there.

Damn. Seems odd to me that the center cylinder would seize, but I suppose a spun rod bearing can be wherever the oil didn't get to.

Didn't you say you had a bent valve? That looks more like a thrown rod. I'm confused.
 
Will be interesting if they can determine the chain of events. Connecting rode nut left loose, piston seized, or hydrolocked from excessive oil blow by. Was that one of the new cylinders or old one?
 
It was sitting on the #6 cylinder fins when I first opened the cowl. They probably knocked it off while they were moving it.
 
Dang. Reminds me of the old racer's excuse: "Reason for the DNF? Electrical failure...a rod came through the block and took out the alternator."

Hope she's back together again soon!!
 
flyingron said:
A friend of mine who was watching them unload the Navion in my hangar sent me this picture:

14525167_10207309209679519_3814666025990414932_o.jpg
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A little JB Weld and it'll be good as new.
 
It will not be airworthy unless they replace the rod and after filling the hole in the case with J B Weld it must be painted the correct color to match the rest of the case. Anything less is completely unaceptable.
 
What happened with the windowed block is more than likely related to the prior issue he had with the broken valve head a few Hobbs hours earlier. How one led to the other would be an interesting autopsy, but since a new engine is in order, it may not matter - unless fuel or spark was the root cause of both failures (detonation?) and if those systems are used on the new engine.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
A few folks have said I know a thing or two about engines.

In my professional opinion, damm thing's broke.
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Glad you cleared that up. Trained professional technical term I suppose? :)
 
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Probably too early to ask, and maybe too personal with the finances, but what's the current plan Ron? How long do the investigators need to look at stuff, etc? Mostly asking out of curiosity.
 
Still waiting for my mechanic to call me back. Don't know what the FAA is doing. They sent me an email wanting the information on the engine overhaul (it's never been overhauled). I suspect the engine is toast and I'll have to work with my mechanic on fixing that. The rest of the airframe damage my mechanic will send an estimate to the insurance company and hopefully they'll pay it.
 
flyingron said:
Still waiting for my mechanic to call me back. Don't know what the FAA is doing. They sent me an email wanting the information on the engine overhaul (it's never been overhauled). I suspect the engine is toast and I'll have to work with my mechanic on fixing that. The rest of the airframe damage my mechanic will send an estimate to the insurance company and hopefully they'll pay it.
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Ron thanks again for sharing this story and keeping us updated. Most of us haven't gone through something like that so excuse me if I pick your brain on a few things:

-How has the FAA been with you? You hear so many stories about them being pretty difficult to deal with after a incident. I've never dealt with them so I'm curious how your experience has been soo far. Of course, if you want to wait until their investigation is complete and don't want to comment yet I totally understand.

-You mention your engine has never been overhauled. How much time/hours since new? Have you just counted on a good conditional inspection before? Why have you or anyone never had it overhauled? Reading your posts over the years I know you are very knowledgeable in maintenance topics and I'm interested in your though process.
 
The FAA has been fine with me. They had me scan and email the aircraft/engine long books and give them a brief explanation as to what happened. They're supposed to be meeting the mechanic tomorrow to look at the engine.

The engine has never been overhauled because it has only about 900 hours since factory new (it's about 12 years old and spent the first two of those sitting preserved while it waited to go on my aircraft).

I had just picked up the airplane after annual. Nothing unusual was found in the annual. Kevin actually got some heat from the FAA that he didn't cut the filter or change the oil, but it had just been done when the cylinder was changed. Our best guess at this point is that the case wasn't tightened properly after the cylinder was replaced causing the bearing to sping and then catastrophic failure. We'll see when the FAA gets to it. I also want to see what my JPI logs say.
 
flyingron said:
Our best guess at this point is that the case wasn't tightened properly after the cylinder was replaced causing the bearing to sping and then catastrophic failure.
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If this is the case might it be covered by the mechanic's insurance? That'd be a good result.
 
flyingron said:
The FAA has been fine with me. They had me scan and email the aircraft/engine long books and give them a brief explanation as to what happened. They're supposed to be meeting the mechanic tomorrow to look at the engine.

The engine has never been overhauled because it has only about 900 hours since factory new (it's about 12 years old and spent the first two of those sitting preserved while it waited to go on my aircraft).

I had just picked up the airplane after annual. Nothing unusual was found in the annual. Kevin actually got some heat from the FAA that he didn't cut the filter or change the oil, but it had just been done when the cylinder was changed. Our best guess at this point is that the case wasn't tightened properly after the cylinder was replaced causing the bearing to sping and then catastrophic failure. We'll see when the FAA gets to it. I also want to see what my JPI logs say.
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I'm not familiar with your exact engine but usually the case doesn't have to be split to change a cylinder. Did you replace the rod and bearing at the same time?
 
Grum.Man said:
I'm not familiar with your exact engine but usually the case doesn't have to be split to change a cylinder. Did you replace the rod and bearing at the same time?
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There are through bolts that hold the case together that also are used to hold the cylinders to the case. If the through bolts aren't properly torqued and/or retorqued after a cylinder R&R it can potentially cause a spun bearing.
 
or....the bearing can move while the bolts are loose in the process of the cylinder install....if the prop is moved. :eek:
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
or....the bearing can move while the bolts are loose in the process of the cylinder install....if the prop is moved. :eek:
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I've heard that before, but I'd think you'd feel the crank getting tight after you started torqueing the case if that happened.
 
mondtster said:
I've heard that before, but I'd think you'd feel the crank getting tight after you started torqueing the case if that happened.
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not necessarily.....oil ports get covered with the bearing rotating or clocking. IIRC the bearings are round so I'm not thinking clocking the bearing would be felt in tightness in the crank.
 
mondtster said:
There are through bolts that hold the case together that also are used to hold the cylinders to the case. If the through bolts aren't properly torqued and/or retorqued after a cylinder R&R it can potentially cause a spun bearing.
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I know that, just got hung up on the term "split" which usually means it was split apart.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
not necessarily.....oil ports get covered. IIRC the bearings are round so I'm not thinking clocking the bearing would be felt in tightness in the crank.
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They have location tangs on them. I still would think that you would feel it when it went back together with the bearings slightly turned, unless you just physically can't when pulling a prop through due to the leverage afforded there. I've never had it happen to me yet, knock on wood (and I've got cylinders off an engine at the moment).
 
The NTSB is sending the engine down to Continental in Mobile. Will have to see what they say.

The prop is going out for overhaul. Just got a call from the restoration shop I'm going to use, but I'm on the road right now so I've not had a chance to call them.
 
UPDATE:

Well my shop out in Nebraska that is going to rebuild the plane got a big box with the engine released by the NTSB. He said it looks like someone threw a couple of hand grenades inside the case. No word on cause yet.
 
flyingron said:
UPDATE:

Well my shop out in Nebraska that is going to rebuild the plane got a big box with the engine released by the NTSB. He said it looks like someone threw a couple of hand grenades inside the case. No word on cause yet.
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That's no way to preheat. :D
 
Mechanic also indicates some of the accessories weren't returned. I wonder if insurance covers theft by the NTSB.
 
Looks like we've found all the pieces. Most of them had been removed by the guy who helped crate the engine to send it to the NTSB and were sitting in my hangar at CJR. The plane is all mounted to the flatbed trailer and Monday I start trailering it out to be restored.

After much decision making, the plan is to put a new IO-550 on the thing. Not changing the engine model avoids any paperwork problem (I have an STC for the configuration). I'm going with an EI MVP-50 to replace all the Beechcraft instruments (and my somewhat wonky fuel gauges). For those who didn't remember, my engine came out of a 2003 A36 Bonanza which went from the factory direct to Tradewinds aviation to have a turboprop conversion. We'd have not done things (like having 24V instruments on a 12V system) except that the engine was already set up for them. It will end up being cheaper/faster to get a more standard 14V setup with the MVP-50. I'd been looking at the EI fuel gauges for a while. All this is already STC'd for the Navion as primary. Of course, I have to figure out what to do with my EDM-830 that sits below the #2 VOR head.
 
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