Maintenance question DA42

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sunmiguel

Maintenance question DA42

Post by sunmiguel »

Hello,

Coming from a TB20, I am in the market for a good IFR traveler with cruise speeds of min 140kt. Even though I never considered a twin due to the high fuel and maintenance cost, the DA42 and the Tecnam P2006T seem two economical options that have opened up to me.

My purchase budget is max 300k so I would only be able to afford an older DA42 with a centurion engine. What kind of scares and disappoints me is reading up on the list of mainenance items on the list of an CD135 I am quite shocked... $15000.- for a 600 hour inspection, alternator, gear box, high press pump? And then 300 hours later, it's the timing chain... my old Audi A6 ran 200000km without a timing chain replacement, thats an engine run time of min. 3000 hours.

I know, we cannot compare apples and pears, but I am a huge supporter of the RCM maintenance approach (reliability centered maintenance) and since all the items in a 600h or 900h inspection, I would not consider a safety critical component in a Twin like the DA42, my question is: Is it mandatory for private use to comply with these requirements?

Maybe they are safety critical? But I just read in another post, when the engine quits in the DA42, you should not attempt to turn it on but safely land...whats safety critical on a timing chain or a gear box then?

I am open to be taught something I didnt understand, but I would appreciate an answer, if it is indeed mandatory.

Thanks a lot!

Michael
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reinhardj
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Re: Maintenance question DA42

Post by reinhardj »

sunmiguel wrote:Hello,

Coming from a TB20, I am in the market for a good IFR traveler with cruise speeds of min 140kt. Even though I never considered a twin due to the high fuel and maintenance cost, the DA42 and the Tecnam P2006T seem two economical options that have opened up to me.

My purchase budget is max 300k so I would only be able to afford an older DA42 with a centurion engine. What kind of scares and disappoints me is reading up on the list of mainenance items on the list of an CD135 I am quite shocked... $15000.- for a 600 hour inspection, alternator, gear box, high press pump? And then 300 hours later, it's the timing chain... my old Audi A6 ran 200000km without a timing chain replacement, thats an engine run time of min. 3000 hours.

I know, we cannot compare apples and pears, but I am a huge supporter of the RCM maintenance approach (reliability centered maintenance) and since all the items in a 600h or 900h inspection, I would not consider a safety critical component in a Twin like the DA42, my question is: Is it mandatory for private use to comply with these requirements?

Maybe they are safety critical? But I just read in another post, when the engine quits in the DA42, you should not attempt to turn it on but safely land...whats safety critical on a timing chain or a gear box then?

I am open to be taught something I didnt understand, but I would appreciate an answer, if it is indeed mandatory.

Thanks a lot!

Michael
There are airworthiness limitations on parts of the CD-135/CD-155 engines. These limitations vary widely with the versions on these parts. For newer engines (since 1.December 2015) these limitations have been reduced signifficantly. I recomend to have a look at the Technify manual OM-02-02, latest version is 4.9.
For the latest version of the engines the following limitations apply:
Every 300h:
No replacement of components required
Every 600h:
Replace alternator,
Replace high pressure pump,
Replace rail pressure control valve,
Inspect dual mass flywheel
Every 1200h:
Replace V-ribbed belt
Replace proportional pressure reducing valve
Inspect gearbox (only valid for certain versions, otherwise 600h, old engines with clutch still have 300h)
Every 1200 operating hours or every 24 months,whichever occurs first
Exchange coolant
Every 12 months
Replace excitation battery of the alternator
Every 60 months
Replace all fuel, oil and cooling lines
So the limitations (and the cost) have been reduced signifficantly over the years and versions.
The timing chain is lot listed under the parts with airworthiness limitations and the inspection interval for the gearbox varies with the engine and gearbox version.
The recommended TBO/TBR for the latest engines is 2100h.
Reinhard
DA40D, S/N D4.338
G1000, GDU 12.03, WAAS, GTX 345, SVT, Safetaxi, PilotPak
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