Warranty Rotax 912 UL

VWPower

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I was wondering about the Rotax 912 Warranty. I was flying my American Ranger 1 last Wednesday going from Anahuac to Winnie, Texas. I was the PIC with a passenger flying along Interstate 10 when I sustained a massive engine failure. I made a emergency landing in a cow pasture next to the highway with no damage to the aircraft or personnel injuries. After the smoke cleared I made a quick check of the engine. I notice a hold in the top of the crank case about three inches in diameter. Oil was all over the engine.

The engine has 90.2 hours and was installed about 19 months ago. If you have any information or experience in the area I would like to hear about it. I'm not sure of what to expect when I contact Rotax tomorrow.

Thanks Danny
 
Glad you made it to the ground safely. First type of failure I have heard of on a Rotax 912. Did the engine have any mods on it? Wouldn’t Abid be able to help you on this with the AR-1?

Check under the rotors for any damage from engine pieces coming off while flying. Same with prop, but suspect the prop stopped when this failed?
 
No the engine did not have any mods. I wasn't for sure that Abid would have any information, but I will check with him.

I didn't check the rotors, but did check the prop and there was no damage. We finally got the AR-1 back to the hanger 6 hours after we went down. Man what a day that was.

Thanks
 
OH MY ...in Lockwood Rotax Service & maintenance classes (...2 days of invaluable information on care & understanding the rotax9 series engines ----I did 3x to learn & keep updated in the first 8 years of my rotax ownership) ....this was a Classic warning of proper procedures in the set-up & proper maintenance of oil-system! They had an old engine case ...just the same with a hole in top of case ...sounds similar to your description! ( It has been too long for me to authoritavely comment). BUT IF I RECALL CORRECTLY ...I have a feeling that the pesky OIL SYSTEM PURGE MUST be done correctly ...AND hydraulic valve lifters verified HARD (&oil-filled) ...before operation ....First new engine set-up. AND after any occasion when the oil system has BEEN OPENED (beyond simple oil change) and air MUST be purged out!
IF NOT ... the Valve will wear badly & FAIL & rod punch hole in case! Failure has happened between 10-100 hours of operation! WE WERE STRONGLY WARNED during the courses ...NOT to be LAZY when doing this purge & verify lifters are hard!

I'm betting this is your problem .... IF all oil service procedures & initial SET-UP is properly recorded in your engine logbook ...you MAY have a warranty case with rotax!!

The oil-system PURGE service bulletin is in the paperwork with ALL new rotax engines!

Sorry to hear of your engine failure ...SO glad you are so adept at emergency landings!
 
New to the 912ULS I have reviewed the Rotax courses at Lockwood, and done a number of flights with 912 owners.

It has been very evident to me that the burping/oil purging is an absolute must, otherwise damage may well occur.

In all other aspects, all reports that I have are that it is a very reliable engine.
 
I don't believe burping per se prevents damage, unless it shows you to be actually low on oil after you do it, of course.

I took both the Rotax service and maintenance courses at Lockwood, in person, and their expert said that the only reason to burp the engine is to get an accurate measurement of the amount of oil you actually have.
If you check the dipstick first, and the oil is in the flat area, his advice was "you can skip the burp and go fly."

I agree that if you get air into the oil system, you have to do a purge. If in doubt you can test if there is air in the tappets by taking off the valve cover(s) and pressing down on the rod end of the rocker firmly, say by leaning into it with the handle end of a hammer (this is what Chris means by "verify lifters are hard"). If there is almost any movement, it needs purging. (PS see link, below).

I would definitely like to hear about what caused the problem with this particular engine, when it's discovered.

PS https://legacy.rotaxowner.com/si_tb_info/serviceinfo/si-912-018r2.pdf
 
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Thanks. I had thought it was, so helped clear that misconception.

This 'soap boxing' was instructive, but hadn't answered that particular question.


This one however did.

 
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Ya, burping just pushes any oil that is pooled in the crankcase into the oil tank.
Purging pushes/pulls oil out of the oil tank and through the entire oil system.
 
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It is important to use the current Rotax oil filters, which should not allow much oil to drain backward toward the tank under gravity (depending on what height your pump is relative to cooler and tank). Older and (especially) non-Rotax filters may allow this, which is not a good thing.
 
Hi Tyger and all,
Please describe your Rotax 912 and 914 turbo starting procedures? I prefer to burp to ensure I have adequate oil. Do you spin the engine with mags off and then proceed to start? Some gyro ignition switches do not facilitate spinning the engine to get good lubrication prior to turning on the mags. Where I can't spin the engine prior to mags turned on, I usually hand spin the propeller to lube the engine after burping, prior to starting up.
 
I was wondering about the Rotax 912 Warranty. I was flying my American Ranger 1 last Wednesday going from Anahuac to Winnie, Texas. I was the PIC with a passenger flying along Interstate 10 when I sustained a massive engine failure. I made a emergency landing in a cow pasture next to the highway with no damage to the aircraft or personnel injuries. After the smoke cleared I made a quick check of the engine. I notice a hold in the top of the crank case about three inches in diameter. Oil was all over the engine.

The engine has 90.2 hours and was installed about 19 months ago. If you have any information or experience in the area I would like to hear about it. I'm not sure of what to expect when I contact Rotax tomorrow.

Thanks Danny

Danny
Did you have a 2nd new engine out in a 2nd 912ULS engine on your gyroplane? Rotax warranty is 18 months or 150 hours whichever comes first.
I am not sure but something does not add up that your first 912 failed and then Rotax gave you a second 912 and it failed in less than 100 hours.
I am sure Rotax will cover it if it is their fault but this isn't likely. You will need the engine checked out by a Rotax certified tech or service station. Technically it is out of warranty but more than likely given the low hours Rotax will cover it unless it is a fault of the installation or oil starvation or bad maintenance. Their tech will determine that.
Burping the engine is "very different" and purging the oil circuit. Burping is to gauge how much oil quantity you have. Without burping the oil level you see on dip stick is inaccurate. It is a pre-flight item. Purging the oil circuit is an installation and opening the oil circuit issue. You want all the air out of the tappets otherwise valves will fail and then things attached to them can get stuck and then I guess this could happen what happened to you. But I do not really know if the oil circuit was purged or not purged in your case. It depends on who installed the engine and if they were trained and knew to purge it and check the purge was done correctly.
 
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Danny
Did you have a 2nd new engine out in a 2nd 912ULS engine on your gyroplane? Rotax warranty is 18 months or 150 hours whichever comes first.
I am not sure but something does not add up that your first 912 failed and then Rotax gave you a second 912 and it failed in less than 100 hours.
I am sure Rotax will cover it if it is their fault but this isn't likely. You will need the engine checked out by a Rotax certified tech or service station. Technically it is out of warranty but more than likely given the low hours Rotax will cover it unless it is a fault of the installation or oil starvation or bad maintenance. Their tech will determine that.
Burping the engine is "very different" and purging the oil circuit. Burping is to gauge how much oil quantity you have. Without burping the oil level you see on dip stick is inaccurate. It is a pre-flight item. Purging the oil circuit is an installation and opening the oil circuit issue. You want all the air out of the tappets otherwise valves will fail and then things attached to them can get stuck and then I guess this could happen what happened to you. But I do not really know if the oil circuit was purged or not purged in your case. It depends on who installed the engine and if they were trained and knew to purge it and check the purge was done correctly.
Abid.


Yes this was the second engine on my gyroplane. The first one came with the AR-1when Mike and I purchased it. It had 392 hours on it when It suffered a valve drop in number two cylinder. I took it to the Rotax service center in San Antonio, Texas. After the inspection and negotiation Rotax agreed to pay 80 per cent for a new engine. This is the second engine and was installed as a club project. There was four club members working on the installation and each one was cross checking the purging process. As it happen Tony was installing his Rotax 915 on his AR-1 at the same time. We were doing the oil purging process on each machine and we were cross checking each step on each machine as we completed them.

Danny
 
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