- Joined
- Mar 24, 2012
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
My Archer was in for its annual inspection & the gascolator was found to have its cover "damaged" requiring replacement as an airworthiness item. The gascolator came with the plane when purchased in 2006. There has been no accident/incident involving the lower cowl on the pilot's side since I've owned it, so no obvious reason for the cover to be damaged. I did have the engine pulled, remanufactured & replaced two years ago. The engine was pulled & replaced in the same shop doing the annual inspection. In fact, this same shop has done the annual inspection for the prior 8 years & never before found this issue. They purchased a "Steve's" gascolator (the maintenance mgr. said this was to save me some expense) but without getting my advance approval installed the gascolator which required a new hole for the quick-drain (new one longer than old) and repair to the lower cowling fiberglass requiring several hours of expensive tech time. Is the "Steve's" gascolator an improvement worth the effort? Or am I being taken by this shop? Was the damage likely from their removal/reinstall of the engine or is it likely just normal wear & tear?
