Did the AD on their connecting rods come out yet?

The ECI AD is going to put a bind on a lot of owners. In the AD it said ECI might help owners with replacement....in other words, don't count on it.

I think we'll be hearing more about ECI in the future.

Let me tell you about my 15,000 dollar o-ring. Continental left out an .80 o-ring when they assembled my TSIO-520 in my 1981 C-T206. At 900 hours my prop governor started by-passing oil and I basically lost control of the prop. It would not come out of flat pitch until you had it dialed out 1/2 way and then it would drop suddenly to 2000 rpm. The culprit was the aforementioned o-ring of which there are two on either side of a barrel connector that goes between the case halves. The theory was it made it as long as it did due to assembly lube packed into the case halve. After many phone calls to Continental they basically said to pound sand. I talked to an attorney and he wrote a couple of threatening letters, same result. Attorney said we could likely win in court and expect to get back a percentage based on the life of the engine (1400 hour TBO) and he said it would likely cost 10k or more that must be paid up front and could likely be recovered assuming we win etc.

Long and the short, that .80 o-ring cost me 15K...

a64pilot wrote:Did the AD on their connecting rods come out yet?

Didn't know ECI manufactured connecting rods.
I've got over 800 hours on a set of ECI cylinders on my C-145, got a quick break-in & good service so far.
I think we should give ECI a chance to make it right with the owners of their AD'd cylinders before we start capping on them.
FWIW, I just got a recall notice of sorts for the Toyota pickup I bought new back in 1989. It offers to replace a potentially faulty steering rod at the local dealership, a 4 hour job-- at no cost to me. Good show! Why can't aviation mfr's be like that?

Eric

zero.one.victor wrote: FWIW, I just got a recall notice of sorts for the Toyota pickup I bought new back in 1989. It offers to replace a potentially faulty steering rod at the local dealership, a 4 hour job-- at no cost to me. Good show! Why can't aviation mfr's be like that?

They probably would if they weren't fighting to stay above water. A company like Toyota has grown to be the #1 auto manufacturer in the world thru sales that resulted from their reputation for reliability, they are floating on a cloud of cash 3 miles deep and can afford to service a few older models to insure you'll come back to buy the latest one. They are usually quick to recall the models with documented problems once the number of affected vehicles reaches a certain point. I think if aviation manufacturers did this as flippantly, they'd soon be in the red and possibly invite litigation, since the consequences of failure are so much greater than with an auto. [/end BS spew]