Run out engines?

[JasonCT]

OK in my quest for the perfect little time builder/first plane, I came across this C150 that has a TTAF/Engine 1875 on an 1800TBO engine.

The plane has been cared for! not a trainer, and the best thing of all the price is very attractive.

Would you all consider something like this?

Realisticly how far can a Run Out engine go?

Thanks for your help,
~Jay

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

The best kind! Now you can do whatever YOU want ahead of the shiny vertical wall....(actually I'm not so sure a new O-200 is available anymore). But you can have it overhauled by whoever you want, the way you want. Otherwise, you have a big question mark behind the prop on your new purchase, like most buyers do. Just make sure the offered price reflects it because you are going to pony up 5 digits soon after purchase. Although who knows you might get a couple hundred more hours (although some would recommend you don't try).

 

[Skip Miller]

OK in my quest for the perfect little time builder/first plane, I came across this C150 that has a TTAF/Engine 1875 on an 1800TBO engine.

The plane has been cared for! not a trainer, and the best thing of all the price is very attractive.

Would you all consider something like this?

Realisticly how far can a Run Out engine go?

Thanks for your help,
~Jay

Realistically, no one can say. Some people can get hundreds of hours on a runout, some can get maybe 1. It is luck... you don't know how the engine has been treated in the past. You are making a bet with that engine.

Don't make the bet financially. The plane should be priced as a runout You need to be able to afford to overhaul or replace the engine and still have no more money in the plane than you would have spent had you bought a non-runout. Since you say the price is good I will assume this may be the case.

I would certainly consider something like you are looking at if the price is right. Remember that the failure mode of an engine is rarely sudden silence. The engine will tell you when it is failing. You will see it in the oil filter, the oil consumption, the compressions, etc. etc. Having a mechanic very familiar with that engine is probably more important when nursing a runout than it is with a low time engine.

It is funny how this works. If an owner puts in a first class avionics stack and then sells the plane, he will get a small fraction of his avionics investment back. The market does not reward sellers who dress up the panel with goodies. Engines, however, are different. The seller will come very close to recouping all of the cost of replacing/overhauling a runout engine.

-Skip

 

[Richard]

Skip, as a pilot do you really believe in luck? WRT to Jay's question I think it would go something like this:

To better determine how many hours the engine has left there would have to be a meaningful dialog with he who flew the plane. The subject would be engine management. For the dialog to be meaningful requires that both parties already possess an understanding of how various operating practices can extend or shorten engine life, knowledge of those various methods (to be able to discern the truth from BS), and a bunch of other stuff....

If one or both parties are ignorant of the subject it is best left to another person to have that conversation. In that case, the buyer may be so inclined to hire an A&P/IA to act as his agent. Deputy inspector is another term for that.

 

[jshawley]

Just a thought, but perhaps the best way to see how a seller treats his plane is to put him in the left seat, let him start cold, go fly to a $100.00 hamburger joint and back, and watch him all the way. Not guaranteed, but perhaps some indicators may come out...

That's how I have bought a coupla cars, but...

Happy flying,

Jim

 

[AirBaker]

Realistically, no one can say. Some people can get hundreds of hours on a runout, some can get maybe 1. It is luck... you don't know how the engine has been treated in the past. You are making a bet with that engine.

Along those lines. TBO is a pretty fictional number. I know some mechanics that will give you another 10% or so past TBO until they stop putting their names on the annual.

It's how comfortable YOU are with it...

 

[Skip Miller]

Skip, as a pilot do you really believe in luck?

Yes, I do. Regardless of your due diligence on the old engine, you don't know how it was treated. It may or may not last for a long time. Call it a gamble if you like.

WRT to Jay's question I think it would go something like this:

I like your suggestion. The more information on how it has been treated the better.

I am definitely in favor of doing the best due diligence on an engine, run out or not, to get the best idea of what shape it is in. But there is still an unknown element. A brand new engine can go TU on the first flight, too.

-Skip

 

[gismo]

Along those lines. TBO is a pretty fictional number. I know some mechanics that will give you another 10% or so past TBO until they stop putting their names on the annual.

It's how comfortable YOU are with it...

I took my most recent engine to 1800 hrs (1400 TBO) without any problems. Of course this was an engine I knew pretty well and have operated it since it had about 200 hrs. It was also topped at around 900 hrs (good old Continental cylinders strike again).

 

[AirBaker]

Of course this was an engine I knew pretty well and have operated it since it had about 200 hrs.

I think that is key...

If it's a 150, with ~1800 hours, I'm guessing this wasn't used by a flight school for much training. If it's had a single owner, its probably in decent shape and wouldn't have been abused to much. Of course, that could be a logical leap too.

 

[Keith Lane]

Ask Tom Downey what a realistic price to do a field overhaul on an O-200 is.
I believe he does more than one of those a year. You could do a lot worse than to crate it up and send it to Whidbey. I think he's even got relatives in Texas somewhere.
OTOH, it may last another couple of hundred of hours. How many years of flying is that for you?
I bought my 172 with 1400 SHOH on an O-320-E2D, and have put 300 more on it since then. I cross my fingers every year at annual, too. But then I'd do that if it 400 hours on it too.