Many owners use Marvel Mystery Oil (which is not FAA-approved) or Lenckite AVBlend (which is) to prevent stuck valves. If the O-200 has a vice, other than the stupid sprag clutch starter adapter (which fails unpredictably and costs $800 to replace), it’s valve sticking. (Also, when you use Superior’s Millennium cylinders, you get to reset your timing to 28, which is good for a few extra horsepower). O-200-A: This venerable 100-hp four-banger (an outgrowth of the C-85 and C-90) is very much worthy of the 1,800-hr factory TBO, and probably deserves a 2,000-hr TBO when using new Millennium cylinders. Herewith, an admittedly subjective appraisal of the “TBO-worthiness” of the 30-or-so most popular engines flying today (with a look, also, at the TBO potential of some of aviation’s most memorable “orphan” engines). Every engine family is different.Īnd engine families, like human ones, definitely have their outcasts. Others have languished in the dim back-rooms of history, only to keep their original low TBO numbers (600 hours, for some helicopter engines). Some engines have been blessed with extraordinarily generous TBO’s by engineering-blind marketing savants (Continental’s Malibu engine, with its ridiculously optimistic 2,000-hour TBO, comes to mind). Most owners are confident that their planes’ engines will “go the distance.” And many factors enter into the equation.īut the plain truth of the matter is some engines are more likely to go to TBO than others, because engine designers have (in some cases) stacked the cards either in favor of, or against, particular engines by virtue of critical design choices involving things like piston or valve metallurgy, compression ratio, rpm, turbo system layout, intercooling vs. Will your engine make it to TBO (the manufacturer’s recommended Time Between Overhauls)? Every plane owner has wondered about this from time to time.
![ata chapter exhaust system cessna 182 ata chapter exhaust system cessna 182](https://s1.manualzz.com/store/data/048484601_1-d2e36a48e21544ddbb28c1810119d1b8.png)
EDITOR: After reading this article, auto conversions may be back on the powerplant selection list?