Originally Posted by
mach2
Well, I ran into some trouble with my trusty DLE20. It seized up on me. Not a hard fix, but I'm trying to figure out where the FOD came from that caused the issue. I found some tiny pieces that looked like they may be from a small "E" clip. I can't figure out where it came from. I don't know of anywhere in the engine or the carb that uses a flat E clip. Anyone think of where it could be from?
I had put in a Bowman ring about ten flights ago, but I don't see having dropped it somehow when I put the ring in. I don't think it would have rattled around in there that long before causing an issue. It was running like a champ.
It definitely isn't one of the clips that holds the wrist pin in. Those are both where they should be. It could have just sucked it in through the carb somehow, but I don't know where it would have come from. There isn't anything like that anywhere else in the plane. Maybe got blown up off the runway and into the cowl? Not likely, but possible.
Any ideas are appreciated.
I had something like that with a crrc 26 a few yrs ago. I was running it on the ground when it stopped suddenly. after that it could not be turned over past just before TDC. I opened it up and found a cylindrical fragment about 2mm long. I could not figure out where it had come from. I put the engine back together and it started and seemed normal.After about 2hrs of running the engine stopped in flight and was seized again. I opened it up and found the small end bearing had disintegrated ruining the cylinder. There were many small cylindrical fragments this time. The mystery of the first seizure was solved. It was a roller pin fragment from the small end bearing which had started to fail.