Crack in the exhaust pipe

[Bavafa]

Today I took the cowl off for an oil change and other maintenance where I discovered a thin but good size (about 1/3 the pipe) crack in my number one exhaust about 4-5 inch from the header. Recently, about 5-6 tac hours ago, I have seen that my #2 EGT peaks up before my #1 which was the other way around before. The temp difference has not been much 10-15F at most but my #1 cylinder consistently peaked second which was not the norm for my setup (it was always the hottest before). I was suspecting other issues, maybe a bit of clogged injector or the gasket in my intake or the prob iteself but now I am wondering if the crack has been the source of this change.

Today for warming up the engine before the oil change, I went for a short flight and during my mag check, I leaned much more to see if the EGTs misbehave, they did not though #1 was still lagging behind (again compared to norm).

On the exhaust pipe issue, I called Larry Vetterman to see if they sell only the part that is cracked instead of taking it to a welder and he informed me that there has been a recall on this type of exhaust (for IO-360-M1B) and he had me to send it in to repair it (for free) great service, great person.

[Flying Scotsman]

Originally Posted by Bavafa

On the exhaust pipe issue, I called Larry Vetterman to see if they sell only the part that is cracked instead of taking it to a welder and he informed me that there has been a recall on this type of exhaust (for IO-360-M1B) and he had me to send it in to repair it (for free) great service, great person.

Can you provide more info? Which type of exhaust (cross-over? 4-pipe? etc.), when manufactured, etc.?

I see no info on Vetterman's site about any "recall", and I'm *this close* to final assembly at the airport...much as it would kill me to have to pull this whole thing off and send it in, if necessary, I'll do it (I also have an IO-360-M1B).

Still wish there were a better way to get info like this than word-of-mouth on these things...but any info you can provide is appreciated.

[Bavafa]

Originally Posted by Flying Scotsman

Can you provide more info? Which type of exhaust (cross-over? 4-pipe? etc.), when manufactured, etc.?

I see no info on Vetterman's site about any "recall", and I'm *this close* to final assembly at the airport...much as it would kill me to have to pull this whole thing off and send it in, if necessary, I'll do it (I also have an IO-360-M1B).

Still wish there were a better way to get info like this than word-of-mouth on these things...but any info you can provide is appreciated.

It is a crossover exhaust which I purchased thru Vans. Vetterman told me that they had got almost all of them back and taken care of, there maybe one or two left out there which mine was one of them, I suppose.

There is no AD or SB for this.

[johnfurey]

I must be one of the one or two. I purchsed mine several years ago and have 150hrs. I wish I had seen this before I did an oil change and general inspection last week but very grateful for the info. I will also contact Veterman.

[Flying Scotsman]

John, if you can post what info you get, it'd be appreciated. I'll try to contact Vetterman, as well. Would be nice to know what manufacturing dates for the pipes are involved, etc. (would be even nicer if it was, you know, published by the manufacturer...particularly for such a major component with its inherent safety aspects).

This is where I think the E-AB suppliers could really stand to step up their game. When an issue arises, even a small mom-and-pop business should have their customer lists and associated orders, and they should attempt to contact affected customers and/or put the info on their websites. Even if we're amateurs building experimental planes, it's ridiculous to have to continually search forums for word-of-mouth information about possible (and possibly life-threatening) failures of every...single...component of the aircraft.

This is what computers are *for*, after all...keep a database of your customers and what they bought, and notify them of a serious defect which requires action on their part. I imagine the liability in the event that someone's, say, exhaust failed, started a fire and resulted in a fatality would be devastating for a small company.

Too many of our suppliers seem to be doing a "fire and forget" approach to their products, and that's not right.

End of rant

Steve

[johnfurey]

I sent Larry an email Saturday night and received a reply Sunday morning. After his explanation I was sure my exhaust was fine but I sent him a picture just to be sure. I received an immediate reply that I was good to go. I have had 3 Vetterman systems in the past 20 years and could not be happier with his product or service. We in the experimental world enjoy products, prices and support that the certified owners could never dream of.

[Flying Scotsman]

And what prompted you to email him? Had this thread not come up, as a result of someone experiencing a failure, would you have contacted him?

Look, I like the product and am very impressed with the quality of the product and the original delivery, and I'm not picking on Larry or any other vendor in particular. I'm only saying that, in essentially *every* case of a "recall" or "service bulletin" or whatever you want to call, I can't recall a case of a *vendor* contacting their customers to let them know (granted, my experiences are somewhat limited to what I've procured). Instead, it's haphazard, random and entirely dependent upon the customer happening to read the right thread in the right forum on the right webpage at the right time to find out about some potential problem.

This is 2012...computers are dirt cheap, and it's within anyone's reach to generate simple customer database, so that if one of their products needs "fixing" they let their customers know about it.

Yes, experimental stuff is cheap compared to certified stuff. Want to keep it that way? Then don't let a potential "issue" slip through, cause a fatal crash or two and get sued. If we're not *all* careful and working together on ways to improve safety, eventually the FAA and the personal-injury lawyers will get involved, and I don't think we want that, do we?

I, for one, don't want to spend every night for the rest of my life looking through user forums to find out if something on my plane needs to be fixed before it becomes a safety hazard. There IS some responsibility on the part of suppliers to provide such information, in my opinion, and to date, I see almost none of that happening.

We surely don't need a system like the FAA's AD/SB database and mandatory compliance, etc., but I submit that we need *something* better than just relying on threads in forums that say "I found a problem and when I called XXX, he said 'oh, yeah, there's a recall on those..."

[mburch]

Originally Posted by johnfurey

I sent Larry an email Saturday night and received a reply Sunday morning. After his explanation I was sure my exhaust was fine but I sent him a picture just to be sure. I received an immediate reply that I was good to go.

John,

Can you share any information about what to look for with these exhausts? i.e., how can we tell if we have one of the "bad" ones by looking at it? As an owner of an IO-360-M1B and a Vetterman crossover exhaust that's a few years old I'm now wondering which group I'm in and what to do about it.

thanks,
mcb

[johnfurey]

This is from Larry Vetterman: , Look at the #1 pipe and see if there is a slip joint with the links and bolt just below the cylinder . if your system has this setup then call me for getting the mod done. If your system has the change there will not be any slip joint in the #1 pipe. Larry

[mburch]

Originally Posted by johnfurey

This is from Larry Vetterman: , Look at the #1 pipe and see if there is a slip joint with the links and bolt just below the cylinder . if your system has this setup then call me for getting the mod done. If your system has the change there will not be any slip joint in the #1 pipe. Larry

Thanks John... it looks like I'll be calling Larry later today.



mcb