herronpvf(at)sbcglobal.ne
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 Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:02 pm Post subject: ECI pushrod tube clip failures |
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I just completed the first annual condition inspection on my -7A (has it really been a year since I shoved that throttle home the first time?) and got couple of rude surprises. First, all 4 of my ECI cylinders are subject to the recall and will have to be removed and replaced. Good news is: they all passed inspection, ECI will repair/replace them free (except for my labor) and with only 80 hours on the mill I can put that off till next winter.
Now for the second item. I’d had a couple of annoying oil leaks at the bases of the pushrod tubes. My mechanic showed me how to repair these, and with a good set of compression numbers on the jugs and a handful of new seals I set off to the hangar to fix the leaks. When I pulled the first rocker cover off, I spotted a piece of metal out place at the bottom of the rocker housing. It didn’t take long to figure out where it came from. If you’re not familiar, just above the rocker arm assemblies on a Lycoming is a thin metal clip with two “ears” that hold the pushrod tubes in. On my engine (TMX-360), 5 out of the 8 ears had fractured; two had fallen off, the other three separated as soon as the hold-down nut was removed. Aside from the resulting oil leaks, one of the loose pieces had intermittently wedged between the rocker cover and one of the valve retainers. There was a nice little “cowl bump” hammered out from the inside at my #2 exhaust valve! This finally explained the intermittent (maybe once or twice per flight hour) stumble I’d been getting – the loose piece was sometimes holding the valve partially open.
I called both Mattituck (who I’m no longer upset with for oil leaks on a brand new engine – not their fault) and ECI. The ECI guy rather off-handedly remarked “oh, yeah, we had a batch of those clips that were badly heat-treated and became hydrogen-embrittled. They break sometimes”. Oh, really? So do airplanes that have to land places other than airports when their engines quit, sometimes. Thanks for letting me know. I found nothing about it on the ECI S/B list.
Anyway, enough rant. Bottom line: it only takes a few minutes to check this, all you have to do is pull the rocker cover and the little nut holding the pushrod tube clip. I’ve replaced mine with Lycoming parts, they were only a few dollars and a few minutes each.
Al Herron
N401MT
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