Any aircraft owner who expects the experience to be one slam dunk after another can be certain of only one thing: disappointment. Nothing about owning an airplane is a sure thing, least of all maintenance decisions.
And topping the list of less-than-surefire things upon which to spend money is an engine overhaul. Its the single most expensive sooner-or-later decision any owner has to make and the outcome seems, at best, to be a shot in the dark.
We suspect that this leads more than one owner to wish for a brother-in-law in the engine business, someone who could cut through the smoke and mirrors of marketing claptrap and the shadowy claims and counter claims that don’t appear on the overhaul invoice.
With that in mind, we recently approached the principals in four top engine shops and asked them this simple question: If your brother-in-law came to you asking for a good steer on an engine overhaul, what would you tell him? Or put another way, if it were your engine being overhauled, what would you insist on making sure the shop did or did not provide with your new engine?
This concept drew some interesting reactions we can best characterize as beginning with a long pause, followed by a thoughtful silence and another question: Is this on the record?
Yes, we replied, it is. Time to come clean with the true inside stuff free of pot shots at the competition, marketing fluff and mealy-mouthed maybes.
Who Are These Guys?
We picked four shops, three on the east coast, one on the west coast. Our criteria? Our assessment of shop reputation. For many years, Aviation Consumer has conducted surveys of its readers asking them about engine overhauls. Weve never found our guys shy about roasting an engine shop that delivers a clunker or fails to perform on warranty support.
Right up front, every reputable shop in the business will tell you that they occasionally turn out a bad engine. Either the parts werent up to snuff, somebody screwed up during assembly, the installer goofed or all three. But if that engine came out of a good shop-at least one that meets our criteria for good-we rarely hear about it because the shop does the right thing with a no-questions warranty or, if the engine is out of warranty, a little help that the customer considers fair.
These four shops meet those criteria and then some: Teledyne Mattituck Services in Mattituck, New York; Penn Yan Aero in Penn Yan, New York; Zephyr Aircraft Engines in Zephyrhills, Florida and LyCon Aircraft Engines in Visalia, California.
Based on our surveys, weve heard nothing but positive comments on these shops and, as near as we can tell, not a single complaint. Were not naive enough to believe no one has ever had a beef with any of these overhaulers, but we stand by our observation that all are exceptionally good shops.
Penn Yan Aero
Along with Mattituck, Penn Yan Aero is one of a handful of shops whose history dates back to the 1940s. It was established in 1945 by William Middlebrook as a general repair facility which evolved into an engine shop during the 1960s. William-known as Eagle-handed the shop to his son Daryl. Today, the founders grandson, William Middlebrook, oversees the overhaul business.
In addition to overhauls, Penn Yan has established itself as a cylinder overhaul facility, a business that has diminished somewhat due to the decline in new cylinder prices. Still, Penn Yan is noted for its excellent cylinder work.
Not too surprisingly, before getting into the nitty gritty of what he would want in an overhaul, Bill Middlebrook mentioned what weve heard mentioned so many times before: warranty. Whats the shops warranty and whats its reputation for performing? The industry standard is six months and 240 hours, plus a pro-rate.
To me, that seems miniscule, Middlebrook told us. We went to two years and 500 hours. What we discovered was that when a customer with a two-year-old engine was calling with a problem, we were taking care of him. So why not publicize it?
Fair enough. But what about the overhaul itself? We asked Middlebrook for his short list of must-have requirements. At the top, says Middlebrook, is a new limits not a service limits overhaul, a requirement we heard stated over and over again. Were not sure how many shops still sell service limits overhauls in the current market, but were sure some do. Service limits overhauls were once the norm; they arent now.
Next, says Middlebrook, ask the shop to specify which parts will be replaced as new-both Lycoming and Continental have an approved list-and whether ADs and SB are complied with as part of the overhaul price. Surprisingly, AD compliance, whether requiring parts or not, is sometimes an upcharge on the invoice. Ask about it going into the deal, says Middlebrook.
When engine shopping, Middlebrook says he would get a written list of whats proposed in the way of parts and processes and at what prices. Some shops will have more detailed lists of this than others, but its often the only way to compare the real value of the overhaul, apart from warranty performance.
Some shops charge for repair on a crankcase, some don’t. You want to know that ahead of time because it can be the difference between a $12,000 invoice and a $20,000 invoice, he adds.
Middlebrook says he would also ask about the shops policy on crankshafts and camshafts. Again, new limits only here, not service limits. Obviously, cranks are routinely reused but cams may or may not be. A reground cam isn’t out of the question but a new one may be more cost effective, especially in a Lycoming. Middlebrook tells us he would go either way, depending on condition.
Given the price of new cylinders, are fresh jugs an automatic no-brainer? Not necessarily, says Middlebrook. I think its engine specific. In something like a Navajo, Im going to recommend new cylinders because of the down time issue. Its a working airplane and if it needs a top overhaul, the down time is going to cost more than the difference between new and overhauled cylinders.
But for a less stressed engine, say Lycomings O-320 series, Middlebrook says an overhauled first-run cylinder may be the best value.
Other items on Middlebrooks checklist: A detailed listing of what warranty items are covered and what arent-are parts labor and shipping covered?; which accessory items are new and which arent; how is the engine tested and is that test data given to the customer?
Teledyne Mattituck
Most well-known independent overhaul shops purposefully keep their distance from and in fact compete with the two major factories. A recent exception to this rule is Teledyne Mattituck Services, another blueblood shop with roots extending back to the 1940s.
It was founded in 1946 by J. Parker Wickham and is today operated by the founders son, Jay Wickham. In 1999, the Wickham family sold the business to Teledyne Continental Motors and Teledyne-Mattituck Services operates as a division of the TCM factory in Mobile. Interestingly, that means it competes with both its parent organization and provides overhauls on engines from the other side of the tracks. Only in general aviation…
Mattituck has a reputation for working with customers beyond the confines of its stated warranty, a policy which has earned it almost fanatic loyalty and return business.
Jay Wickham told us the first question he would ask of a shop doing his brother-in-laws engine is this: what am I getting back?
The hardest thing for owners to understand when specing an overhaul is how important it is to know what you get back on your engine. Do you get your crankcase, your crank? What else?
Wickham reasons that any shop doing new limits overhauls-and most do-will follow Lycoming and Continental recommendations on new parts so, in that sense, overhauls may be broadly similar. But absent any specific understanding to the contrary, its quite possible that you could wind up with a replacement case or crank from the pool, depending on what cores the shop has around or what cores it would like to have.
If I had a good crank and case going into the shop and I know the history of it, Im comfortable with it. I want that stuff back and Ill ask about it, says Wickham.
But Wickham differs with Middlebrook on cylinder choices and hell steer his brother-in-law towards new ones. When an engine comes back to us, very seldom is it a problem with major rotating parts. Its usually cylinders, says Wickham.
My choice is going to be new cylinders. New is new. I don’t like cylinders with three sets of serial numbers and several runs. I just wouldnt mess with it.
But wait a minute, like Penn Yan, Mattituck overhauls and sells used cylinders. Yes, says Wickham, it does, because some customers prefer overhauled cylinders as a means of saving money. The shop would be remiss in not offering them. We will put on whatever the customer wants, Wickham says.
How about other new parts? We don’t put any engine together without a reground or new cam. And Id rather put in new than reground, says Wickham. From an engine builders point of view, if a cam fails, you have to have that engine out of the airplane and we want to avoid that. We cant control how you lean, how often you change the oil and whether you pre-heat, but we can control which major parts are new. Its cheap insurance.
Teledyne Mattituck offers the standard 6/240 warranty, with pro-rate. But everyone and his brother knows the real warranty is some hard-to-define period thats longer than that. Sometimes a lot longer. In fact, a TCM factory rebuild sold through Mattituck-it is, after all, a distributor-will enjoy the same informal extended warranty support that one of its field overhauled engines does. Wickham declines to say as much, but readers impressed with Mattituck are more forthcoming.
Which leads to the three things Wickham considers most important in selecting an overhaul: Proven reputation on warranty performance; a confirmed written list of new parts and confirmation of returned core parts and, last, an engine testing procedure with specific procedures outlined and test data provided to the customer.
Zephyr Engines
The Mattitucks and Penn Yans of the world make their bread and butter on hundreds of engines sold into the national markets but a handful of smaller shops do fewer engines and enjoy just as good a reputation with customer loyalty to match. Some ply the regional market, others local, regional and national. Zephyr Engines is one such shop, turning out a dozen engines a month.