My 2019 SR20 lost 2 cylinders in the first 2 years. The first time they remanufactured it. Took about a week. The second time a new one came in. Took about 2 weeks. There are still supply chain issues, but if you’re at a good, Cirrus connected shop, I think you should be back up and flying in a week or two.
I’ve seen some trends and speculation in the forums and from mechanics about why the Lycoming seems to be going through cylinders more often than it should. I’m not a mechanic though, so I can’t personally speak much to that.
It has been over a month now. They sent the cylinder to Lycoming down in Mobile, we are waiting on parts. Actually waiting on an estimated time we will get a part and then they will send it back to us and then we can get our annual inspection complete. They told us it could be 11 months, now they are trying to get it sooner but we have no idea. It was a stuck valve.
Sorry, but this is NOT okay. I had a cylinder fail (on a 16 yo SR22) in June and it was overhauled in 4 days by a Munich company. They would have sent you an overhauled cylinder within a week, from Germany.
I would say that the warranty is a good reason to fix it quickly. It’s not about a “specific part” but it’s possible that the warranty does not allow an outside repair (or they will not pay for an outside repair).
It’s still a (bad) joke … If I were you I’d complain at every possible place I could find.
Just a general comment. Lycomings, prob any engine really will foul when run too rich. All my 4 and 6 cylinder Lycs I have owned/flown I lean aggressively from right after start on the ground, and then run a profile as lean as the POH and CHT’s allow. Only time I am full forward mixture is take off and initial climb and go around.
I agree with Alexis, 11 months (heck even 11 days) is a completely unacceptable timeline to repair a stuck valve, something is not right here.
Have you personally spoken to Cirrus Support? If no, then call them immediately and get them involved.
I know there are lingering parts shortages and some challenges still exist, but your experience is not normal.
IF this is a warranty issue, remember warranties don’t fix airplanes, only pay for repairs, and as they are not paying for the cumulative expenses and loss of use from being AOG, this would become a tertiary consideration for me.
What you are experiencing is “morning sickness” that is well know in the Lycoming engine world. It is when the engine is cold and the exhaust valve gets stuck due to carbon build up. It is also known that cylinder 4 on the SR20 with the IO390 has this problem. Cirrus blames it on us running it too rich during taxi and flying. The same happened to my new SR20 unfortunately during flight and was able to land. Cirrus did not cover it under warranty even though I do run it very lean during taxi. My exhaust valve was bent, cylinder came off and was overhauled. You can routinely have them honed out to remove the carbon build up before you get a valve stuck in flight and bend it. Hope this helps.
I had a “morning sickness” Lycoming O320 several years ago. It made me really conscious of correct mixture control.
Now with my new SR20 G6 I aggressively lean during taxi. I run LOP during cruise. On engine shutdown I also run up the RPM before shutdown per the POH. I hope it all helps future valve life!
we are now dealing with a stuck valve on our Continental powered SR20. the engine seems to have had the issue from day 1. brand new motor. anybody else have this and were you able to get Continental to warranty it?