Jabiru 2200 change history?

·         Oliver

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Hello,

I am pretty seriously interested in an Kitfox 4, with a Jabiru 2200 engine:

Model: 2200A
Serial No: 22A 2723

Frankly, I was personally warned to stay away from Jabiru engines, some of the information I found on the internment wasn't encouraging either.
However, some pilots still seem to be very happy with their Jabiru engines, apparently, some issues were also addressed over the years.

I understand that the four big issues with the 2200 engines were insufficient lubrication of the upper valve train, through bolt failure, flywheel bolt failure and cylinder head overheating.

The Service Bulletins i found on Jabirus website address all of the issues and appear to solve them, except of the overheating of the cylinder head.

I am now wondering, if the service bulletins really fix the problems or if it would be advisable to, for example, replace the through bolt immediately, even if the engine is not use in a training environment?

According to the parts book, the above engine should be equipped with a second generation cylinder head with improved cooling fins. In later versions of the engine, the cooling rips in the cylinder head have however been further improved.
Can the engine above already be considered thermally safe or should a look for a plane with a latter model engine?

Finally, I was wondering if there is something like a change history available, which shows what was changed at what serial number?

Oliver

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·         Doug Smith

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Hi Oliver,

The Service Bulletins are put together based on hard data, which has shown that engines which aren't in a flight training environment are much less likely to have the issues you've mentioned. A great deal of care goes into generating the serial number ranges and other applicability limits in them to ensure that we're catching everything we need to without subjecting operators to more restriction and cost than necessary.

In the serial number you're looking at, an engine which has all bulletins up to date is a good start, but to be honest, as a buyer you're better served to look carefully at how the aircraft has been used and maintained. That's not earth shaking news of course, but an aeroplane, like any machine, is made or broken by how it's operated and maintained. If the owner uses phrases like "I like to pop the cowls off and have a look over things before long flights", "I climb out a little faster to keep the temperatures down" and "Joe Bloggs does my maintenance, he did the Jabiru engine training course a while back, looks after about 20 and hasn't had any major issues" then you're in good shape. The owner will also be the best source regarding the cooling of the engine installation of the aircraft you're looking at: they should be able to tell you if it ever tends to run hot. It's a good idea to ask a mechanic you trust to look over both the engine itself and the engine maintenance logbook.

Pre-empting maintenance requirements is a personal choice: if doing things before they're due makes you feel better, safer or more confident then that's enough reason to do it 🙂

Major changes are serialised in the back of the engine overhaul manual.

Regards,
Doug.

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·         Oliver

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Hello Doug,

Thank you very much for your detailed response, I really appreciate it.

I have yet to see the logbooks, but I doubt that much maintenance had been done on the engine, besides of the standard things like compression checks and oil changes, as the plane flew first in 2011 and has only 150 hours on it.
The original builder put around half of the hours on it, before he passed away. His hangar buddy bought it and flew it since then, he is also the seller. I would be very surprised if either of them had any Jabiru specific maintenance training.

The original builder was an aircraft engineer and build two other planes before. He also put a CHT gauge for all 4 cylinders in the plane. I therefore assume that he knew what he did, there is however no way to tell for sure. When I fly with the current owner, I will carefully watch how he operates the engine and ask some additional questions.

I am in the US, where flight training is not permitted in experimentals, so this is not a concern.

I don’t know anybody with personal Jabiru experience, not to speak of a certified mechanic (all the stories I was told were from a buddy’s buddy who…).
Other than checking the logbooks for regular maintenance and inspecting the engine for oil leaks and broken bolts – is there anything else we can do when we inspect the engine? Assuming one of the previous owners overheated the cylinder heads: Is there a way to check if this was the case, like increased oil consumption or acoustic anomalies? Would an increased risk of a catastrophic failure result from this or ‘only’ accelerated wear with clear indications, so that the engine could be repaired in time?

Our airport is entirely embedded in an urban environment, with no places to put the plane down in case of an engine failure - whatever airplane we purchase, a super reliable engine is therefore an absolute must.

Oliver

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·         Doug Smith

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Putting CHT gauges on each head is a good sign, as is the fact that he wasn't a first time builder...

At those hours the engine should be pretty clean, so you're going to be looking for more subtle clues, not flashing neon signs. Check things like the security of the exhaust system (particularly the screws attaching it to the heads). Give the induction system a good look, checking that the screws into the head are tight and the black sealant on the manifold hasn't cracked/crumbled.

A slightly more intrusive check would be to pop the rocker cover off cylinder #3. The inside of that cavity should be a honey colour - darker indicating that it's been hotter. If it's black in there then chances are its been running hot. Ask if the bottom-most head bolt normally moves when the torque is checked (a little movement - a few degrees rotation - is ok but ideally not more).

Do you know what sort of prop and fuel the aircraft is using? If its mogas you want to see what steps have been taken to make sure its fresh. Wooden 2 bladed props are preferred, ideally erring sligtly on the low pitch side for the airframe.

Apart from that it's a matter of keeping eyes and ears open while talking to them and running/flying it: they're normally a smooth, quiet engine.

Good luck!
D.

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·         Oliver

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Hello Dough,

Thank you very much again for your advice. Very helpful.

Oliver