New muffler cracked after 5 hours

S

Samuel Seidel

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Sam
The joys of owning an aircraft. There are cracks around all four exhaust pipe inlets.

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What engine? Looks as if the cracks are all at the heat affected zone transition. Assuming there was no contact of the exhaust system with the airframe when the engine rocked in its mounts, it should be a warranty item, no?
 
Looks to me like those cracks started where the metal was stretched into the flare for the pipe connection, not at the welds. The wrong metal, or the wrong technique, can result in work-hardening that causes early cracking.

Is it an OEM or aftermarket muffler? Aftermarket might not know the right technique. Maybe the OEM gets that area red and soft before pressing in the flare, avoiding the stresses that cause work-hardening. Or maybe they sourced the metal from manufacturers that cheat on the alloy.
 
That's frightening. Could have had a very bad outcome if you had waited a few more hours before you checked them. With all four cracked there is something seriously sub-standard here. Was this a field-fabricated muffler for your home built?
 
This muffler is an official part from Evektor. We asked them to send us everything needed to install a new exhaust system as the existing system was a DIY job. They told us we needed the muffler, four downpipes and four clamps.

However, it appears that there is additional hardware that we were not made aware of at time of order. See attached photo.

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Should still be under warranty, right?
 
The Rotax muffler uses ball joints at each connection to the muffler.
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Samuel Seidel said:
This muffler is an official part from Evektor. We asked them to send us everything needed to install a new exhaust system as the existing system was a DIY job. They told us we needed the muffler, four downpipes and four clamps.

However, it appears that there is additional hardware that we were not made aware of at time of order. See attached photo.

View attachment 98201
Click to expand...

That'll do it.
 
hindsight2020 said:
In this hobby? LOL This ain't the automotive market bruh. ;)
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Oh I know. Champion gave 12 Months / 500 hrs, or 24 months from manufacture date on a new Slick mag and harnesses, so figured it was worth a shot… :dunno:
 
So, for clarification, the OP ordered new parts, incorrectly installed them (didn't use support hardware) and now the muffler is cracked from not having the correct hardware installed.

Am I missing something here?
 
Doc Holliday said:
So, for clarification, the OP ordered new parts, incorrectly installed them (didn't use support hardware) and now the muffler is cracked from not having the correct hardware installed.

Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

He asked for all the parts for a new install. But it's still probably on him for not understanding which parts where needed in the first place and understanding that the parts needed to be there. That's part of the due diligence. Easy mistake to make.
 
PaulS said:
He asked for all the parts for a new install. But it's still probably on him for not understanding which parts where needed in the first place and understanding that the parts needed to be there. That's part of the due diligence. Easy mistake to make.
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So I don’t believe blame can be placed entirely on one party. I had an A/P work with me on installing the exhaust. The rotax exhaust systems and generally most exhaust systems are only supported by the tubes coming from the engine.

The manuals we have are lacking. The only place we have that shows those brackets is on a page in the spare parts catalog. And unfortunately spread a section away from the muffler and exhaust pipes.

We specifically told Evektor that we didn’t have a stock exhaust and sent them pictures. We even talked to two other people with Evektor’s and it was unfortunately missed.
 
Samuel Seidel said:
So I don’t believe blame can be placed entirely on one party. I had an A/P work with me on installing the exhaust. The rotax exhaust systems and generally most exhaust systems are only supported by the tubes coming from the engine.

The manuals we have are lacking. The only place we have that shows those brackets is on a page in the spare parts catalog. And unfortunately spread a section away from the muffler and exhaust pipes.

We specifically told Evektor that we didn’t have a stock exhaust and sent them pictures. We even talked to two other people with Evektor’s and it was unfortunately missed.
Click to expand...

Hopefully the muffler manufacturer will help you out.
 
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