At annual they tell me I'm making metal 1750 hrs.

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After replacing a cracked cylinder in 2021, almost 200 hrs. later I'm making metal in the engine at annual. The mechanic told me it's aluminum with a slight amount of iron (not much). To me it looks like about 3x what I'm used to seeing in the filter each year. There is about 1770 hrs. on the engine. The oil has 22 hours on it and the filter has 60 hours (I replace the oil at about 25 hr intervals but leave the filter alone until each annual). My mechanic won't pass the engine without some off-site repair. The engine is a factory rebuilt from the 90s. He suspected a piston problem but there's no proof of that. He did a borescope and sees no scuffing whatsoever on the cylinder walls. They are perfectly smooth. Compressions were good. His next step is to send the engine out to any one of about 6 rebuilders that they use, the closest being Columbia in PA but I guess that will be determined by backlogs, etc.

I sent an oil and filter piece sample off to Blackstone. Maybe they can tell me more before we rip it out. I don't want to be spending good money after bad so this could be replacement engine time, but I do need to stay cool until we have all the information.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

I suspected the cylinder that was replaced but it broke in very well with no trouble since install. The oil sample report from just 25 hours ago was as good as could be expected with no indications of upcoming failures.

 

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