Bathman wrote:I haven't got any experience of the 915 but I have plenty of experience of the 912.
I'm also not sure comparing the O-320 (160hp in most versions) to the 915 at 140 is really fair.
I've put over 5200 hours on my 912. Its never had a sticking valve, a cylinder off in fact the engine itself has never had any work done to it whatsoever. I know people go on about the high part prices well frankly it doesn't matter as none of the high priced parts have ever failed.
What I have had to replace is consumables and I would include carb rubbers in that. I’ve also had sinking floats , the last time being about 200 hours ago so I got both carbs overhauled and that still worked out cheaper than what previously paid for an overhauled carb for an O-200.
Oil is cheap, spark plugs are cheap and the 600 hour gearbox overhaul is also cheap also. Although I’ve been told my gearbox wont overhaul again. So at 5600 hours I’m simply going to pull the engine and replace it with a second hand engine with about 1000 hours on it.
AVGAS isn’t a major problem you just have to change the oil every 50 hours and the spark plugs every 200 hours. The oil is dirt cheap semi-synthetic and the plugs are only a few dollars each so I just replace them. And as already mentioned when run on AVGAS the sump needs all the lead cleaning out. In fact my airframe and engine is cleared for 10% ethanol which certainly makes things easier.
My experience with conti and lycoming is not very good. In fact my last 6 engines have failed to make TBO. Two of them were factory rebuilds as well. I think they are just junk
In the 915 the fuel consumption is bound to be less than an O320 and I know people keep going on about specific fuel consumption being the same. But in practice its not going to be the Rotax with all its sensors is adjusting the mixture far more accurately than any pilot can with a mixture lever.
The Rotax 915 might have some teething problems but once they get sorted out it will corner the market just like the 912 has for LSA. Anyone for a O-200D? No thanks
My experience also, though only 2700 hours. It's like every Toyota I've ever owned, it just runs! Let's not forget the almost total lack of oil consumption also, we are not adding qts. every few hours
