I'm fishing for free suggestions here, at this point I'm looking at my next step as having a lawyer send out a collection letter of sorts, but I'm open to other ideas.
I bought a brand new motor a couple years ago, and it came with a "36 month parts and labor warranty" now the plane is in annual and the AD came up for the ECI cylinders (this is a Lycoming conversion). I contacted the manufacturer who is in Canada and got no response, so I mulled it over that evening. I had 110 hours on them, they hadn't cracked yet and the AD basically reads that I could run them out to 350 hours at which point they had to be retired. After some soul searching I decided that since even the manufacturer wanted them out of service (ECI came out with an MSB and will exchange them sans labor and shipping) I didn't really feel like trying to run them till they hit 350hrs or blew. It occurred to me that I could fly the plane to Canada and camp out on the engine builders doorstep, but that would cost me more than the labor required to replace the jugs and I really don't like the idea of flying somewhere else to have the plane taken apart. So I've had my mechanic pull the cylinders and they are probably sitting on the loading dock at ECI by now.
I did get through to the manufacturer and in response to my polite enquiries about the situation they responded that they didn't feel it was part of their warranty responsibility and that they certainly couldn't keep up with every little service bulletin that came out. The lady said they would think about trying to help me out and said they would get back to me via email. Of course they haven't gotten back to me, and it was pretty clear they weren't going to either.
The cost of making ANY warranty claim needs to be considered when making purchases which include warranty-promises. If you developed a balance-sheet comparing your incurred expenes replacing the cylinders on your own, versus hiring an attorney to fight the overhauler in Canada (the engine mfr'r is Lycoming, not your overhauler) and the additional costs of you personally taking several days and hotels/meals/travel to/from Canadian court (first an appearance, then a plea, then a court date, then the actual hearing, etc etc....then the mechanics of actual collection of the debt) can be wildly more expensive than paying labor to replace those cylinders.
Your opportunity to spread the word about the poor warranty-support of that overhauler is a great threat to their pocket-book and probably much more credible to them that you'll undertake that opportunity. You might polititely "hint" that your good-will towards them will be deeply affected by their response.
They also have an excellent argument that the cylinder-mfr's warranty supercedes their own, especially if you agreed and/or specified ECI cylinders in your original work order for the overhaul. After all, it's not that their installation-labor that caused the defective cylinders, and the cylinders haven't yet proved defective within the warranty-period, nor have you allowed them into the decision-making process to replace them. They could make a very convincing argument that you have acted unilaterally in violation of their warranty (which doubtless required their complicity in any solutions.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
Are you sure you read the AD right? I could be wrong ( don't have it in front of me ) but the way I read it was that if the cylinders did not crack in the first 350 hours then they were good to go to tbo. In other words if they were going to break they would do it in the first 350 hours.
Also didn't sound like they would blow the tops through the cowling but would develop cracks that would hold together and you might not even know it without a compression check. Not what you really want on short strips when you want all the power available.
Had a lycoming cylinder barrel break about half way up about 30 years ago, had about 1 1/2 inches of barrel steel holding the top half of the cylinder from going through the cowling when I got it on the ground. A "whole lot of shaking going on"
Jr.CubBuilder wrote:
I bought a brand new motor a couple years ago, and it came with a "36 month parts and labor warranty" now the plane is in annual and the AD came up for the ECI cylinders (this is a Lycoming conversion).
ECI AD.jpg
The way I read these AD's you could have run the cylinders until they are no longer serviceable; there was no need to pull them. The 350 hr. business only has to do with overhauled cylinders. What am I missing here?
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Last edited by n2582d on Wed Apr 29, 2009 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
About 2 years ago we replaced ECI cylinders because of an AD, and ECI paid us labor. This was a top on an IO520 in a Bonanza, but I think they paid $48 per hour and allowed for 30 hrs.
The owner of the aircraft did not want to deal with engine overhaul facility because of previous conflicts during the major, (and now they are out of business anyway) so they hired us to do the cylinder R&R. ECI paid the owner direct for the labor, owner paid us that amount.
Have you contacted ECI about labor allowance?
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The lady said they would think about trying to help me out and said they would get back to me via email. Of course they haven't gotten back to me, and it was pretty clear they weren't going to either.
