In this article, we’ll take a look at key differences between field and factory overhauls and define rebuilt engines. But fair warning: its not exactly a level playing field. Not all field overhauls are the same, so you need to ask the shop a lot of detailed questions to compare one shop against another. And the advice that applied five years ago still applies: Dealing with a known shop with a national reputation remains the best way to have a satisfactory overhaul experience.

We can only scratch the surface of this subject in this article-this topic warrants an entire book. In general, we tilt toward only factory or FAA-certified repair station overhauls. This means the facility has met FAA standards to operate under Part 145, a more tightly regulated and focused maintenance environment than a typical multi-purpose FBO. Part 145 shops must have a training program, a quality-control program and do much more to meet higher FAA Part 145 certification standards.

In our opinion, anything less is shifting the burden to you, the customer, to evaluate every aspect of a non-Part 145 shop to see if it meets quality and technical standards for performing overhauls as we’ll as a Part 145 shop does. But the catch-and there always is a catch-is that any shop can be every bit as good as a Part 145 entity but not be certified under Part 145. If you judge a shop by known, reliable reputation, the 145 cert may be less important to you. There is an FAA advisory circular listing every Part 145 repair station as we’ll as certified specialties (AC 140-7S). Its on the Web with search functions at http://av-info.faa.gov/repairstation.asp

These three terms are the source of constant confusion. The word “remanufactured” isn’t even an FAA-recognized maintenance term. And different terms can make for thousands of dollars of price difference in your overhaul. The word remanufactured sounds more “thorough” so you see it used more than “rebuilt”