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We recently had what appeared to be a major oil leak in flight, evidenced by large clouds of white smoke. Engine immediately shut down and landed safely (Its in a motor glider so all designed to land power off - hence no drama). Despite the smoke all P&Ts remained in the green.

Visual inspection revealed no faults in the oil system, so attention turned to the turbo. 

We have removed the turbo oil sump, cleaned and replaced. Blown through the turbo oil scavenge lines. Checked the scavenge pump itself is apparently doing what it should. None of that revealed any problems.

We have ground tested the engine and also done a test flight, which included a max boost climb to about 3000ft agl.

No recurrence of the major leak, but after the test flight we could see that oil had leaked from the hose connecting the turbo to the air box.

The engine only has about 400 hours on it, but the aircraft is used as a glider tug so typical flight time is 10-15 mins which does mean its worked quite hard over those hours. Rotax make clear there are no serviceable parts in the turbo but does anybody have a bright idea as to something we have missed/overlooked?

 

 

  • Re: 914 turbo issues

    by » 3 years ago


    How long had the engine been running before the smoke condition was noticed?

    Prior to that flight, how long had it been since the engine last ran?


  • Re: 914 turbo issues

    by » 3 years ago


    I don’t have the log books in front of me, but it was the 5th or 6th flight of the day, from memory. And the prior to that day the aircraft might have been idle for a week. There is no smoke on start-up so I don’t think its a result of oil flooding the sump after shut-down, but happy to be advised otherwise


  • Re: 914 turbo issues

    by » 3 years ago


    There is an excellent video on this website that does a very good job of explaining the turbo and what can go wrong. I recommend that you watch that video and see if anything clicks.


  • Re: 914 turbo issues

    by » 3 years ago


    You’re right it is good, we looked at it before taking any of the actions outlines above.


  • Re: 914 turbo issues

    by » 3 years ago


    If you see oil leaking on the line to the airbox, might air be leaking from it too?  A relatively low pressure in that line might allow some oil to seep out of the center chamber of your turbo and head up into your airbox and intake.  Just brainstorming here.


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