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When an airplane engine is making a small amount of ferrous metal, but the evidence is not totally conclusive, the decision to tear it apart, or not, can be gut-wrenching.

Such was the case for the O-540 engine in a turbo Cessna 182RG I’ve been working on at Classic Aviation LLC.

But after the owners decided to have it torn apart, and I got to see the evidence, I’m convinced they made the right decision.

Take a look at the two worst lifters:

And the corresponding cam lobe for those two lifters:

Here’s a side view of the worn cam lobe:

Now compare to one of the other cam lobes that was NOT worn down:

After seeing the condition of the camshaft and the lifters, I was very pleased with the decision of the airplane’s owners to have the engine torn down and repaired.

This engine was mid-time, and all the cylinders were running fine with good compressions, so it made sense to do this repair as opposed to a full overhaul.

In this episode, we also discussed some squawks from a Cirrus SR22T. I’ve got some photos and even a video for some of these.

Alternator #1 needed to be removed due to brush wear, and the oil seal was leaking… check out the brushes that came out in pieces:

We also had to send the engine driven fuel pump for overhaul… watch a startling video of a BAD fuel leak:

We sent the fuel pump to Mike’s Aircraft Fuel Metering in Tulsa, Oklahoma for overhaul… they do excellent work on fuel system components.

Happy New Year everyone! May God bless you in 2022!

The post “195 – Is it Time to Tear That Engine Apart?” appeared first at AirplaneOwnerMaintenance.com