FAA SDR Review - Austro

Discussions specific to Austro engines

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VickersPilot
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FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by VickersPilot »

Reviewing the SDR's applicable to Austro Equipped Diamonds since 2019:

33 Relevant SDRs found

Highlights:
- 10 of 33 (30%) - relate to Waste Gate Controller / weak diaphragm / control rod
- 7 of 33 (21%) - fuel tank, interconnect hose

I suspect respective MSB's for the fuel hose resolved that issue. Given how the Waste Gate issues stand out, does anyone know the recent design history here and if the latest revision of the MSB's have resolved the Waste Gate issue permanently? In particular, the SDRs suggest the waste gate controllers last only 100-300hrs before requiring replacement due to leaking diaphragms which aren't mentioned in the MSBs.

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(CAN) AIRCRAFT HAD JUST COMPLETED A 200 HR INSPECTION AND ENGINE GROUND RUNS WERE BEING CARRIED OUT. BOTH ENGINES WERE STARTED AND WERE OPERATING NORMALLY , WAITING TO WARM UP SO ECU AND PROP FEATHERING TESTS COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED. AS BOTH ENGINE THROTTLES WERE ADVANCED SLIGHTLY FURTHER , TO AID IN ENGINE WARM UP , IT WAS NOTICED THAT THE #2 ENGINE WAS NOT RESPONDING TO THROTTLE MOVEMENT AND THAT THE RPM WAS DECREASING , AND SUBSEQUENTLY , THE PROPELLER WENT INTO FEATHERED POSITION AND THE ENGINE WENT INTO A SUB IDLE RPM OF APPROX 450 RPM AND STARTED TO EMIT BLACK SMOKE AND NO POWER DEVELOPED. ENGINE WAS UNRESPONSIVE TO THROTTLE MOVEMENT. THE ENGINE WAS SHUT DOWN AND A RESTART ATTEMPTED BUT TO NO AVAIL. VARIOUS TROUBLESHOOTING WAS CARRIED OUT , IN CONJUNCTION WITH AUSTRO ENGINE, WHICH EVENTUALLY LED TO REPLACEMENT OF THE TURBO CHARGER WASTE GATE CONTROLLER ACTUATOR. SUBSEQUENT GROUND RUNS WERE ALL ACCOMPLISHED AS NORMAL AFTER REPLACEMENT OF THIS AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS RELEASED BACK TO SERVICE.. THERE HAS BEEN SEVERAL PROBLEMS WITH THIS ACTUATOR OVER THE YEARS AND THIS ACTUATOR WAS TO THE LATEST STANDARD AND IN COMPLIANCE WITH AD 2017-0250, AD 2018-0125 AND AUSTRO MSB-E4-022 BUT STILL FAILED AFTER ONLY 268 HRS ON WING. THE FAILURE WAS RAISED AS AN INCIDENT IN THE COMPANY SMS SYSTEM. (TC# 20190610016)
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WASTEGATE ACTUATOR FAILS CAUSING ECU OVERBOOST FAIL CODES. WHEN THE ACTUATOR IS PRESSURE TESTED IT IS FOUND TO LEAK AIR DUE TO A LEAKING DIAPHRAGM. ACROSS A FLEET OF NINE DA40NGS AND DA42NGS ABOUT 25 OF THESE ACTUATORS HAVE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS. THEY ONLY SEEM TO LAST 100-300HRS ROUGHLY.
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Jroseund
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by Jroseund »

That's disheartening! Thanks for bringing this to the groups attention David. Wonder if CFIDave would have any thoughts on this.
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by VickersPilot »

You know Jonathan, I'm an optimist...the other way to look at this is that once Austro fix the Waste Gate issue (perhaps already?), and assuming the new EECU software solves some of the historical Prop Governor issues, there isn't all that much else wrong with the engines according to the SDR.

In the past month, we've some design improvements brought to our engines:
Modification of pressure valve hose - inline pressure dampener
Oil pump replacement - sand->investment cast
Installation of new sensors - new generation of oil & fuel pressure sensors

In summary, our engines are getting better unlike Conti/Lyco which still have the same issues, 60 years on...
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by jast »

We had intermittent ECU failures with our DA40NG after 500hrs which eventually got traced down to the waste gate controller. Luckily there was no power loss, just the error message.

It’s about time to replace the >100 moving parts of our noisy engines with two ball bearings, some transistors and some clever chemical setup (lets go electric!) ;-)
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by Boatguy »

My plane had the wastegate controller fail. A subsequent MSB, adopted at my last annual, inserted a "restrictor" into the air feed to the waste gate controller. I believe the idea is to dampen the shock on the wastegate controller diaphragm to reduce the failures.
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by VickersPilot »

Russ, hopefully the inline damper / restrictor will help. It does seem apparent that the diaphragm has a fatigue life, no doubt not helped by being located adjacent to the hot turbocharger. Perhaps I will classify it as an LLP and just replace it at 300hr intervals to avoid AOG situations. Anyone know what replacement diaphragms cost?
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by Boatguy »

Did you install the restrictor? The MSB covers all Austro engines and is supposed to be installed within the next 100hrs. Attached.

I suppose you could also carry a diaphragm spare. I think it has the usual 10x markup over the original $20 Mercedes part.

MSBE4029r0 wastegate restrictor.pdf
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by mbitran »

Sorry to ask a silly question. I bought a 2020 DA40 NG. We already have two MSB's - one for the oil pump and another for the engine safety ropes. I'm hoping to have these taken care of in a few weeks.

This is the first airplane I have owned and I'm still learning the ropes. Does anyone know how to figure out which SMB's were already performed on your aircraft at the factory during production (i.e., which design changes were already incorporated into your engine)? My engine logs show a series of MSB's but they do not correspond to the Diamond MSB #s. Should I be trying to compare the MSB list in my engine log to an Austro list?

I'd like to see what changes were already incorporated with regards to the waste gate controller, and other items.

Thank you
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Re: FAA SDR Review - Austro

Post by mbitran »

Ah, I found the Austro MSB's available here: https://austroengine.at/en/sbs-und-part ... -bulletins. The factory had performed all MSBs on my engine through MSB-E4-026
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