Maintenance comparison: Rotax vs Jabiru vs O-200
Moderator: drseti
-
Chuckhhill
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:15 pm
- Location: Concord, CA
Maintenance comparison: Rotax vs Jabiru vs O-200
Anyone have a feel for how the maintenance requrements and costs of these engines compare?
Chuck
the big three.
1. Jabiru: I started with a 2200 80hp in 1998 and installed it in a Kitfox before any firewall forward packages were available. Started with their stock cylinder covers. No good. Made my own baffle system and the engine cooled very well after that. No oil cooler was installed. Used 100W aeroshell after breakin. Ran too cold most of the time
Those original engines had aluminum rods. Now with the 2200A they are steel and the RPM, carb size was upped to get 85 hp. Also larger cylinder fins
Next installation was 2200A 85 hp on the X air's. 15 W 50 oil. These had a pressure cowl and the stock enlarged cylinder baffles from Jabiru worked ok. Oil cooler was now needed. Taped it up during winter. The proper propeller was elusive. After trying four I sold the airplane. The GT italian wood was smoothest, quietest and pulled well. It was not in the proper RPM band and had too much pitch but I liked it when not on floats. true 85 hp thrust is doubtful. I don't think it would pull the cub as good as a 65 continental or the 912 rotax. Prop is too small spinning too fast. Warp drive props had the wrong geometric pitch twist for the jabiru to pull good .
Jabiru needs to paint their engines. They look great when new but get really nasty corrosion after a while. I had to change cylinder base o rings, valve cover o rings, fuel pump gaskets, Voltage regulator, spark plugs, oil pressure sender, modify heads to accept CHT thermocouples, carb diaphram replacement, carb metering problems, airbox trouble. Total I flew them around 150 hours.
Good information came from the Jabiru Pacific tech rep. Factory and importer were not as good a help. Be careful what type of prop you try with direct drive engines. cannot hand prop
Rotax: Installed one on a Aventura flying boat. 80 hp, Installed another in a Kitfox IV. Flew one a while on a CTSW and one flight in a Kappa. The engine is very complicated for the rated HP but also very light. Why couldn't it have a built in sump and not the oil lines, oil tank, etc. Why not go all liquid cooling instead of the air cooled heads? Total time I flew them was around 50 hours.
Lessons i learned was READ THE DIRECTIONS. First installation a manual was not available and I almost burned it up with the oil tank lines reversed. Caught problem in time. Make sure you use the correct oil line material also. Mil 6000 and H6000 are not the same tubing. 6000 will collapse under suction. Use the recommended oil, follow all procedures to the letter and give it time to warm up and you should be happy. The KAPPA engine mount seemed the best with firewall mounted dampers. Be careful what prop is installed. The gearboxes have a limit to the rotating mass. Try not to idle a long time, cruise proper RPM. Pre oil after oil changes, Burp properly. cannot hand prop. Lots of service letters, bulletins, instructions to comprehend. Night flight? How will all the little seals, cables, linkages, hoses hold up after a while?
Continental. I grew up on these. Give it almost any type of oil or fuel and run the tar out of it with students pulling the throttle to idle from takoff power on downwind and it will run to TBO with no oil filter installed. 50 hour changes with no filter will still make TBO when operated in a fleet environment. I use 100w aeroshell and 87 octane auto. It burns a little more fuel than the Rotax at high cruise. Very simple construction, can be hand propped if needed, carb is fooproof. Main things to watch is rigging of the pull type starter cable switch if installed, mag timing check during inspections, Just buy new cylinders during engine overhaul. CHT, who cares. most installations don't have a guage. It will take care of itself if properly baffled. Oil temp, same thing. when real cold tape over the inlets. No oil cooler needed, Only one line to the oil pressure guage. Check slick mag points and distributor block every 500 hours for wear. Inspect Bendix impluse coupling every 500 hours, Takes 4.5 hours to change a cylinder if needed. Can use a metal prop for training and rental where some rain might be encountered. Exhaust systems need to be kept in good shape. Leaking flanges can erode the cylinder heads. Keep the valve guides in good shape also. A little Avblend helps. no fuel pump required on high wing, actual aeroquip lines and fittings. Drain on carb bowl. Parts are everywhere.
Fly all weather, day or night. All conditions.
Don't cut down a metal prop for homebuilt use.
Where's lycoming in all this. They need a little LSA engine. They had a O-145 at one time. Even a geared version.
1. Jabiru: I started with a 2200 80hp in 1998 and installed it in a Kitfox before any firewall forward packages were available. Started with their stock cylinder covers. No good. Made my own baffle system and the engine cooled very well after that. No oil cooler was installed. Used 100W aeroshell after breakin. Ran too cold most of the time
Those original engines had aluminum rods. Now with the 2200A they are steel and the RPM, carb size was upped to get 85 hp. Also larger cylinder fins
Next installation was 2200A 85 hp on the X air's. 15 W 50 oil. These had a pressure cowl and the stock enlarged cylinder baffles from Jabiru worked ok. Oil cooler was now needed. Taped it up during winter. The proper propeller was elusive. After trying four I sold the airplane. The GT italian wood was smoothest, quietest and pulled well. It was not in the proper RPM band and had too much pitch but I liked it when not on floats. true 85 hp thrust is doubtful. I don't think it would pull the cub as good as a 65 continental or the 912 rotax. Prop is too small spinning too fast. Warp drive props had the wrong geometric pitch twist for the jabiru to pull good .
Jabiru needs to paint their engines. They look great when new but get really nasty corrosion after a while. I had to change cylinder base o rings, valve cover o rings, fuel pump gaskets, Voltage regulator, spark plugs, oil pressure sender, modify heads to accept CHT thermocouples, carb diaphram replacement, carb metering problems, airbox trouble. Total I flew them around 150 hours.
Good information came from the Jabiru Pacific tech rep. Factory and importer were not as good a help. Be careful what type of prop you try with direct drive engines. cannot hand prop
Rotax: Installed one on a Aventura flying boat. 80 hp, Installed another in a Kitfox IV. Flew one a while on a CTSW and one flight in a Kappa. The engine is very complicated for the rated HP but also very light. Why couldn't it have a built in sump and not the oil lines, oil tank, etc. Why not go all liquid cooling instead of the air cooled heads? Total time I flew them was around 50 hours.
Lessons i learned was READ THE DIRECTIONS. First installation a manual was not available and I almost burned it up with the oil tank lines reversed. Caught problem in time. Make sure you use the correct oil line material also. Mil 6000 and H6000 are not the same tubing. 6000 will collapse under suction. Use the recommended oil, follow all procedures to the letter and give it time to warm up and you should be happy. The KAPPA engine mount seemed the best with firewall mounted dampers. Be careful what prop is installed. The gearboxes have a limit to the rotating mass. Try not to idle a long time, cruise proper RPM. Pre oil after oil changes, Burp properly. cannot hand prop. Lots of service letters, bulletins, instructions to comprehend. Night flight? How will all the little seals, cables, linkages, hoses hold up after a while?
Continental. I grew up on these. Give it almost any type of oil or fuel and run the tar out of it with students pulling the throttle to idle from takoff power on downwind and it will run to TBO with no oil filter installed. 50 hour changes with no filter will still make TBO when operated in a fleet environment. I use 100w aeroshell and 87 octane auto. It burns a little more fuel than the Rotax at high cruise. Very simple construction, can be hand propped if needed, carb is fooproof. Main things to watch is rigging of the pull type starter cable switch if installed, mag timing check during inspections, Just buy new cylinders during engine overhaul. CHT, who cares. most installations don't have a guage. It will take care of itself if properly baffled. Oil temp, same thing. when real cold tape over the inlets. No oil cooler needed, Only one line to the oil pressure guage. Check slick mag points and distributor block every 500 hours for wear. Inspect Bendix impluse coupling every 500 hours, Takes 4.5 hours to change a cylinder if needed. Can use a metal prop for training and rental where some rain might be encountered. Exhaust systems need to be kept in good shape. Leaking flanges can erode the cylinder heads. Keep the valve guides in good shape also. A little Avblend helps. no fuel pump required on high wing, actual aeroquip lines and fittings. Drain on carb bowl. Parts are everywhere.
Fly all weather, day or night. All conditions.
Don't cut down a metal prop for homebuilt use.
Where's lycoming in all this. They need a little LSA engine. They had a O-145 at one time. Even a geared version.
-
Chuckhhill
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:15 pm
- Location: Concord, CA