ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

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Feilzer
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ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by Feilzer »

Recently, had a left engine ECU A and B Fail and a subsequent engine cut off.
The ECU,s could not be reset and the engine could not be restarted.
After declaring an emergency, the plane fortunately landed safely in Reims, France.
However, other then indicated on the ‘continental engines’ website, no service center on the field.
So, my Dutch maintenance company will go there to work on the engine.
Over the years we had more ECU fails and in all cases these were caused by over sensative sensors and could simply be reset, and never caused an engine to stop.
In the Operating Manuel it does not mention that pulling the circuit breakers of the ECU could remedy and reset the ECU,s but I read that other DA42 flyers with similar problems successfully used that method to reset the ECU in flight.
Would anyone have some advice with respect to ‘pulling the circuit breaker’ in flight as an alternative or additionel way to reset an ECU ?
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AndrewM
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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by AndrewM »

Joop, just curious, did you try pulling the circuit breaker on this specific flight, and that did not re-set it?
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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by Feilzer »

Andrew,
I did not pull the circuit breakers and only followed the checklist, as I was not aware of that possibility.
I just noted that option while reading ECU posts on this forum.
Kindest regards,
Joop
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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by Soareyes »

Interested in the answer to this.

During transition training three weeks ago the instructor pointed to the ECU circuit breakers and said, "Never, NEVER, reset these breakers!"
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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by CFIDave »

Soareyes wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:11 pmDuring transition training three weeks ago the instructor pointed to the ECU circuit breakers and said, "Never, NEVER, reset these breakers!"
If your engine has completely failed and you've already tried the reset/voter switch, IMHO there's not much to lose by trying this (one time only) to "reboot" the ECUs.
Also you have Austro AE300 engines in a -VI, whereas the OP appears to have Continental CD-135 engines with different ECUs and switches.
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Steve
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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by Steve »

CFIDave wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:51 pm
Soareyes wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:11 pmDuring transition training three weeks ago the instructor pointed to the ECU circuit breakers and said, "Never, NEVER, reset these breakers!"
If your engine has completely failed and you've already tried the reset/voter switch, IMHO there's not much to lose by trying this (one time only) to "reboot" the ECUs.
I was going to ask why you wouldn't try this. I can understand the admonition not to reset breakers that have tripped in flight (more than once), but in this case you are merely turning off the power and turning it back on for an inoperative device that failed to reset on its own, in an attempt to get a failed engine back on line. I wouldn't get distracted by this, and forget to fly the airplane, but many have said that an engine failure in the DA42 is "no big deal"...

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Re: ECU A/B fail and engine cut off

Post by Feilzer »

The fuel pumps were sent to continental for further analyses.
The high pressure pump was damaged internally.
This caused the fuel pressure to drop to zero and the engine to stop.
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