Post deleted - issues were addressed and resolved by the new Western Skyways management team

Thanks for the heads up!

Kurt

Wow, things must have changed.

I had my O540 overhauled and new Millennium jugs put on at the same time.

That was about 1,000 hours ago and have had good results with the engine. Had a couple of teething problems but that was a Bendix issue and Skyways was right on top of getting a new Mag fedexed over night to solve the issue.

Post deleted - issues were addressed and resolved by the new Western Skyways management team

I had the exact same issue. A couple of hot cylinders. When they changed my cylinders, I elected to go with the overhauled cylinders. I followed their break in guide for the cylinders and when I had an issue, it was my fault before I was even able to explain the problem. I had another shop look at them and was also told they cylinders were not illegal but run out cylinders. My local mechanic thought once we found this out, they would get me better cylinders because they would not want to hurt their reputation. Not the case. I ended up also getting 6 new cylinders from another shop. I used them specifically because I was trying to stay with a reputable engine shop after I had read about some of the nightmares people go through with their engines. This was definitely an expensive lesson. I got one set of good cylinders for the price of 2. I think something has changed for the worse with this shop from the reviews I have read before.

I had a bad experience there 4 years ago also. Will not do business with them again. Engine was very late. Never was satisfied. They even gypped me on my core charge return.

That sucks bad! Hoping it works out for you in the end . I had a good experience with Signature engines with my overhauled io550 that showed up with a forklift puncture right through the side of it.and a smashed cylinder . Refused the shipment and sent it back . They did another overhaul with no hassles . Couple hundred hrs into it now and all seems well . Shit happens and when a shop steps up and takes care of their product it goes a long way .even if it wasn’t their fault When they don’t it’s such a pain in the ass and makes you wonder how they can stay in business . There is sooo much hanging on our engines .

I think they sucked 25 years ago. They build engines in my old back yard. Avoided them like plague.

hi
Just curious. Why would anyone put rebuilt cylinders back on a completely rebuilt engine ? Is it cheap ? I wouldnt even consider it. thanks

mtslapshot wrote:hi
Just curious. Why would anyone put rebuilt cylinders back on a completely rebuilt engine ? Is it cheap ? I wouldnt even consider it. thanks

Amen!

MTV

My 470 is getting to be pretty high time, so I'm mulling over options for when the time comes for an overhaul.
It is a factory reman from 1993, I verified with TCM that brand new cylinders were installed at that time.
Given the AD's which have been issued on new cylinders, and other issues with same,
(good example is the condemning of 520 cylinders which bit a lot of my friends in the ass),
I've been wondering if it might not be better to have my first run cylinders overhauled.
Plus I believe that the cost of overhauling existing cylinders vs buying new is about half--
so I'm estimating approximately $4500 or so savings.

hotrod180 wrote:My 470 is getting to be pretty high time, so I'm mulling over options for when the time comes for an overhaul.
It is a factory reman from 1993, I verified with TCM that brand new cylinders were installed at that time.
Given the AD's which have been issued on new cylinders, and other issues with same,
(good example is the condemning of 520 cylinders which bit a lot of my friends in the ass),
I've been wondering if it might not be better to have my first run cylinders overhauled.
Plus I believe that the cost of overhauling existing cylinders vs buying new is about half--
so I'm estimating approximately $4500 or so savings.

I was just typing out a spiel about how I agreed with the idea of overhauling first run cylinders when I got a call from the shop my cylinders are at. All of them are first run cylinders and 5 of them are cracked. Maybe paying double for new is actually cheaper...

hotrod180 wrote:My 470 is getting to be pretty high time, so I'm mulling over options for when the time comes for an overhaul.
It is a factory reman from 1993, I verified with TCM that brand new cylinders were installed at that time.
Given the AD's which have been issued on new cylinders, and other issues with same,
(good example is the condemning of 520 cylinders which bit a lot of my friends in the ass),
I've been wondering if it might not be better to have my first run cylinders overhauled.
Plus I believe that the cost of overhauling existing cylinders vs buying new is about half--
so I'm estimating approximately $4500 or so savings.

Is the shop you use going to be willing to guarantee you will get YOUR first run cylinders back after overhaul? Most overhaul shops take your core and provide an overhauled cylinder in return. I imagine there are shops out there who will overhaul your cylinders.

The outfit I worked for had a lot of cylinder problems in our fleet of 185s. It was rare for an engine to go to tbo without at least three or four cylinder replacements/overhauls.

Finally, our Chief of Maintenance decreed that we would henceforth install only new cylinders. Almost all the cylinder problems went away. The problem with buying overhauled cylinders is, depending on the shop, the cylinder you get back may have many thousands of hours, therefore a LOT of heat cycles on it...

Me, I like the concept of new cylinders, send in the old ones and let someone else get them overhauled.

MTV

mtv wrote:Is the shop you use going to be willing to guarantee you will get YOUR first run cylinders back after overhaul? Most overhaul shops take your core and provide an overhauled cylinder in return. I imagine there are shops out there who will overhaul your cylinders.

The outfit I worked for had a lot of cylinder problems in our fleet of 185s. It was rare for an engine to go to tbo without at least three or four cylinder replacements/overhauls.

Finally, our Chief of Maintenance decreed that we would henceforth install only new cylinders. Almost all the cylinder problems went away. The problem with buying overhauled cylinders is, depending on the shop, the cylinder you get back may have many thousands of hours, therefore a LOT of heat cycles on it...

Me, I like the concept of new cylinders, send in the old ones and let someone else get them overhauled.

MTV

I believe cylinder heads will reach their fatigue life at about 4000 hrs, so definitely only overhaul first run cylinders. MTV brings up a good point about getting your old cylinders back.

I'd get firm quotes on new vs overhauled cylinders, too. I believe the difference is no longer double. Probably money well spent considering how much we spend on an engine overhaul.

Ross