What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Spring break

egp8111

Active Member
Patron
My o-320 B3B broke both the inner and outer #1 intake valve springs today. It does not run well in this condition and I do not recommend it for the serenity of you flight. Fortunately the closest airport had a great couple of guys in the maintenance shop who found the problem and had the broken springs replaced in under two hours.





Skip RV-4 #1904
NC
 
Yea. That's scary. How many hours since they were new? Has the head ever been really hot or suspect of shock cooling?

How long did it take to get n the ground once it started acting up?

If that head is the same age as the rest, I might be convinced to change out the others for new ones.
 
Thanks for sharing, would love to know the experience. Was it in flight or on run up? What did you hear, feel etc. Love to gain from your experience.

thanks!
Cyrus
 
The rest of the story

I was flying along at about 3500FT. (2500agl) at 2450 rpm when it let go. Immediate power drop and a lot of vibration (insert foul language here) I quickly went through the standard sick engine drill, mixture rich, fuel pump on, switched tanks, checked mags etc.... nothing doing no change. The closest airport was about 7miles off to my left, I headed that way and made a quick call on the UNICOM freq. about my problem requesting priority. The FBO responded with no know traffic. Engine was still make some power about 1800 rpm but the way it was shaking I was expecting parts to start coming through the cowl any second.
Made the airport no problem, flew a tight base, final, landed and rolled up in front the maintenance shop. They were standing out front wondering what all the banging was about!!
Great couple of guys, dropped what they were doing immediately started trying to sort out my problems. (a good mechanic can't resist tearing into a sick engine)
#1 definitely cooler than the rest so that gave us a good clue where to start. Getting ready to pull the jug, but when we valve cover came off close inspection revealed the spring problem. They had replacement springs in stock and in short order had them installed, compression checked all cylinders and inspected the engine. I ran it up and it was all good. I took off, circled the airport a time or two to make sure things were OK and flew home.

I feel very lucky this happened when and where it did. It would have been a pretty sketchy situation had the springs broken just after take off. I was also fortunate to land at an airport with such a accommodating maintenance shop.
The only real downside is that I'd just installed my new interior from DJ at Cleveland Tools. I think I might have bitten a hole in the seat!!!!
Skip
 
AGL

Hey Skip,

Glad she didn't throw a keeper and suck that valve in the cylinder. Lynn and Nathan are good people, you definitely had that issue in the right place.
 
Back
Top