What does an engine rebuild cost?

[rdarby]

As I get closer to actually buying, or not, I am trying to understand the actual costs I will face.

 

My belief, and I'm asking if it's right, is that with a Rotax 912 100HP I will need to service every 100 hours, but also rebuild or replace every 2000.

 

So I'm factoring the cost of a new engine every 2000 hours into my calculations.

 

As I overdoing it, is it more like a major service then, or is a new engine what you end up with?

 

Thanks

 

Ryan

 

 

[sseeker]

I'm pretty sure the rule is 100hrs or every year whichever comes first... I know this is the case with GA.

 

 

[facthunter]

The Rotax has a periodic gearbox adjustment, ( every 400 hours I think) otherwise rubbers (carb. mount), Check for cracks, fuel lines replace periodically spark plugs and oil change and filter, Air cleaner element, particularly in a dusty environment Coolant change, and check things like exhaust for cracks, or mount springs missing, engine mount rubbers etc. There is not much to do on a Rotax engine. You can pretty much leave them alone if they are running properly The idle/balance for the carbs is a bit of a fiddle to get right. Might be worthwhile to do a compression check periodically ( annually?) or any time you suspect it is not right. The 100 hours /annual is a GA thing. and the commercial and private ops requirements are different and magnetos have a seperate requirement for inspection/service.

 

Log all work done on the engine/prop.

 

REBUILDING an engine is a significant issue. Read up definitions of Repair, Rebuild , Zero timed. etc The only real zero time engine is a brand new one. ALL components wear and fatigue. The fact that a part is not worn does not necessarily mean that is good for a rebuild. Some parts ar rejected based on time in service, and some others have a storage, or shelf life too. Beware of bogus parts. If you don't trust the source, don't use it. Non certified engines are less stringent with their requirements, and is a bit of a grey area and have some operational restrictions placed on them. eg may be from an auto wrecker with previous use unknown. All you can do there is crack testing etc and good practice in the assembly/ modification of the motor. There is a fair bit of information on the net if you look carefully..Nev

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

The gearbox inspection interval was increased in the last maintenance manual to 1000h for engines with the overload clutch and 600h for engines without the clutch (or run on avgas).

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[GDL]

Hi Ryan. The local Rotax distributor in Canada suggests that a Rotax 912 rebuild is generally about 50% of the new cost of the engine. A new 80hp is about $20,000can, 100hp about $22,000. They suggest that an engine be rebuilt about every 2000 hours (or every 10 years) but in Canada, in an ultralight, there are no absolute rules on time. Several engines in the area have gone 4000+ hours. I rebuilt mine at 1000 hours because I didn't know its early history. Really was no need.Core is good for 3600 hrs last time I looked.

 

As others in this thread have mentioned, the real cost is the ongoing maintenance. Synthetic oil should be changed every 100 hours, along with the oil filter and plugs, 50 hours if 100LL is used instead of Mogas. I find that plugs start to show signs of distress around 100 hrs. This is cheap insurance. Oil consumption typically is less than 0.5 liters per 100 hours.