“What is the cost of an engine overhaul?” Before jumping into that, break-in flights have been taking place. As quick summary, the first flight was 30 minutes turning laps just north of the airport. I stayed in KFUL’s airspace on the radio with tower just in case anything went awry. I was a little nervous when I pushed the throttle in, focused on anything not feeling or sounding right and any blips on the engine monitor, but all went well, and the flight was a success.
The second flight was more of the same, for a longer duration. Clocking in just under 2 hours I flew 275 miles, never more than 7 miles from the airport. I could have almost flown to my parents in AZ in that distance… It was boring, which is great! The only excitement came from working on steep turns at the end of each leg to stay inside the airspace and stay out of his final.
Post-flight inspections showed everything looking great so then the fun began. Two of the next flights were again about 2 hours each, but this time I put on my life preserver and flew up and down the California coastline, ripping along at full power 1,000’ over the ocean. You may question the wisdom of a break-in flight over water, but here is my reasoning. Around here, unless you are staying near an airport, there aren’t many options for putting the plane down. However, over the shore you have a great option to set it down gear up on the water, and the survivability rate of a water ditching is about 95%. Yes, the plane is a total loss, but that is why I have insurance. Also, after 2 ½ hours of flying without any issues it is time to start stretching the legs out.
In a nutshell, those are four of the first five flights. I have some great videos and pictures that I need to put together from them.
I see the same question asked frequently. “How much is an engine overhaul?” Friends always ask me where I’m flying and for the past month when I say “Nowhere, the plane is in for the engine to be replaced,” their next question is “How much does that cost?”
I have operated for the past 7 ½ years on the principle of not really keeping track of the cost of airplane ownership. Yes, I have a general idea, but I don’t compile the receipts. It is like the ostrich with its head in the sand, and I think it makes the whole experience more enjoyable. You are thinking, “Well that isn’t very financially responsible,” and I agree, it isn’t. It also isn’t financially responsible to own a plane, but I do it because I love flying.
So, against my better judgement, I’ll tell you what the overhaul cost, what I think I did right, and what I will do again in about 15 years if I keep flying at the current pace when I’m due for the next overhaul.
- Overhauled Engine $30,600
- Freight to/from $ 2,580
- Prop Overhaul $ 3,873
- Governor Overhaul $ 880
- Oil Cooler Overhaul $ 554
- Misc Parts $ 1,683
- Labor $ 7,345
- Total $47,515
This was for an O-360-A1D and take into account that I did not replace the oil cooler lines and the scat hoses. I had replaced those in the last few years, but if I hadn’t those would have been done with the overhaul and would have driven the cost up a little more. The overhaul would have been $2,400 less but I opted for factory new Lycoming cylinders. It was significantly less that the $40,401 that I was quoted for a Factory Rebuilt from Air Power and came as a result of Air Power pushing my 2023 order out to a delivery of January 2025 which I wrote about last month.
There is also the cash tied up in the core deposit which I should see back sometime in the next month after they process the return. While I will get that back, it is $16,400 that has been tied up since April.
What do I think I did right and would do again the same way?
Purchasing an overhauled engine to swap instead of sending mine out for overhaul is the way to go. It was 5 ½ weeks between my last flight on the old engine and first flight on the new engine. Contributing to that was the 4th of July holiday (they didn’t work the 5th either), one of his mechanics had a scheduled vacation and another missed a few days for some personal reasons. There was also a 1-week delay on the oil cooler courtesy of UPS. It should have taken a day for shipping to get it from Fullerton to La Verne, but it got lost along the way. Total time from when they started was 4 ½ weeks which in my book is pretty good. Down time would have been 3 weeks without the oil cooler shipping and staffing delays which would be exceptional.
The prop overhaul was done by Johnson Propellers up in Shafter, CA. They had done the reseal on my prop years back and do excellent work. They also run a truck to pick up and deliver, with the total time from pickup to delivery coming in under a week. Hopefully they are still around in 15 years.
I paid overnight shipping to get the governor to and from the overhaul shop in Seattle and I will do that again. It likely saved me around 5-6 days of time that would have been lost in shipping.
Scheduling the time in the shop in advance is a must, but this falls into the do it the same but different category. Due to work backup in the shop, they didn’t start on it for almost 4 weeks after the initial scheduled date. That’s the downside to using a great mechanic, they have a lot of work. I will get on the schedule in advance again, but I will also plan flights and continue flying until my mechanic says it’s “go time.”
Two things I would do differently
Assuming this oil cooler makes it the next 2,000+ hours I will probably just buy a new one instead of sending it for overhaul. It is currently 5 years and just over 600 hours old. The last one was replaced because although the front looked good, as you can see the fins on the backside were corroded.
The overhaul was $554, which was surprising when I paid $594 for it new 5 years ago, but that’s inflation… A new one now goes for $934 which at almost $400 more than an overhaul makes buying new sound like a silly decision. When the next overhaul comes along, it will be 20+ years and 2,600+ hours old and putting a new one in makes sense in my mind. In the grand scheme of airplane ownership, $400 is a drop in the bucket. I spent more than that in AvGas to visit my parents in Arizona this past weekend.
One last thing I'll do the same
I will not push too far past the 2,000 hours. I got 2,336 hours out of this engine, and it was still running well. I keep logs of every flight and among the things I track is oil consumption. It wasn’t using any more oil at 2,300 hours than it was at 1,400 hours when I got the plane. The compressions were excellent, all at 79-80/80 during last annual in February. I always cut all the oil filters looking for metal and never found any. Every other oil change I also checked the screen for metal and have never found any. By all counts it probably could have gone another couple hundred hours.
However, when I called the oil cooler shop they asked, “Did something happen to your engine?”
There’s a question you don’t want to hear.
“No, it was just getting up there in hours so I am replacing it,” I replied, and then added “Why?”
“Oh, we found a little metal in the cooler when we were flushing it out,” he said.
I don’t know what “a little” metal means and I suppose maybe it started making some after the last oil change during the past 41.8 hours. Maybe I would have seen it when I cut open that filter, but that went back to the overhaul shop with the engine. Either way, I feel good about the hours I got from that engine. If everything is running well on this engine at 2,000 hours I won’t stop flying, but I’ll start the search for the next one, and as soon as I locate its replacement I’ll get on the calendar with my mechanic.
