ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

i have noticed after 2 years flying the same engine-277, it feels like part of you meaning when something is not right you know it. Anyway I took off this morning and climbed out to 800 ft -everything looked good. After about 5 min. I noticed a small single miss then everything was good but I went into a guarded state of mind and stayed around the runway. 30 sec. Later I got several more so I started to make a final approach and after reaching the end of runway the missing got to a point where the engine lost power and I landed. After pulling my max 2000 ft. back to the hanger I began to analyze what happened. I checked the plug- good but no fire, after a closer look I discovered that one of the bolts that secured the coil and also the ground wire was missing and the other 3 were loose.
These engines vibrate at a rate that is sometimes not noticeable but will shake things loose. My advice - use locktite on every bolt... Please. It might keep you from being outstanding in you field. Another note, a year ago I didn't make it back to the runway because a wire at the lighting coil vibrated off. I resoldered it and applied silicone to secure it and the others under the flywheel.

Monte

This is something Monte, thanks for the heads up..I wished I could open my engine that far to secure as you do but
since I am new to this engine and don't have Rotax special tools..is this doable?
Thanks,
Phil

Phil the bolts that need attention are external such as the coil, brackets mounted to the engine, etc. no special tools needed. The mag wires are under the flywheel and require a puller. Overall check the engine hardware on a regular basis and locktite them. Use the blue formula so you can remove them later.

Monte

Thanks for passing along this tip Monte.  One more thing to be aware of.

Paul Fiebich