Another company describes their difficulties with engine cylinders. “This crack runs from the spark plug base to the exhaust valve. To date from the first of this year for this company we have had 10 cracked cylinders in 1800 hours of flying. This company operates Cessna 400 series aircraft. It is recommended any aircraft owner operating with ECI cylinders installed on their engines perform a compression check each 50 hours. It is further recommended during the compression check a soap solution be applied to the outer portion of the cylinder in the fin area to check for cracks. It has been the experience of this shop to find a cylinder with good compression and still have a crack in the cylinder fin area.”

(This submission dates back to the first of May — how many more cylinder failures have they suffered since? This cylinder’s provided part number: AEC520-TI.)

Part Total Time: 1,063.0 hours.