afterburner

My Feedback: (18)

I was flying my Aeroworks Extra 260 today and went into a hover about 75' up when the engine quit. I Built up enough airspeed to level it out but had to put it down in a bean field. The gear took most of the damage but the rest of the fuse and wings are fine. While taking the plane apart I noticed a long red aluminum bolt laying in the fuse and realized it was one of the two bolts that mount the carburetor to the engine. It looks to have snapped off. I believe this is why I had the deadstick. Has anyone else had a problem with these bolts? Thanks.

Marty

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

i had one come loose but i noticed it in time when it did not start in a few flips.

KeithLuneau

Loosing one of the two bolts on the carb can surely kill it, as it'll start sucking air under the carb on that side.

bjor

I was out at our field a couple of weeks ago and a flying mate dead sticked his DA 85 as well. He landed without any incident. We had all sorts of problems trying to get it started again. On closer inspection - i.e - taking the cowl off, we found that all of the head bolts had loosened and 2 bolts had fallen completly out, allowing the head to rattle. Somebody made a comment that we should have checked, but It could really never be expected that we should need to remove all of the head bolts and retighten them with loctite. This was the end of a string of issues with his near new DA85 and he finished up paying the difference for a new DA100. I must say that DA were quite good in their dealings and always offered a repair / replacement under warranty. He's happier now - the DA100 is running sweet.

RCAddiction

My Feedback: (87)

I sent my nearly new DA-85 in for the latest updates before it goes into my AW Extra. One of the updates they performed was to replace the anodized red carb bolts with hardened steel ones. The original red bolts were returned in a poly bag. I've seen several reports of those bolts loosening, presumably due to too much thermal expansion of the aluminum bolts, causing an air leak into the carb and a dead-stick, like you had.

afterburner

My Feedback: (18)

Thanks Lee,
I wish I knew about that. Could have saved me hours of work and what will probably add up to a few hundred bucks in parts[]. I'm tempted to say that DA could have notified users of this potential problem but I'll probably be flamed for it.

Marty

crazyjoseph

My Feedback: (3)

My buddies 85 did the same thing they deffinatly know the alum bolts are braking. DA is a great company but they arent perfect.

Flyfast1

My Feedback: (1)

I am going to check my carb and see if I have the red bolts. If my carb has the red bolts will DA just ship me a new set without me sending the engine in?

-Ed B.

crazyjoseph

My Feedback: (3)

Yes they will just give them a call. I would ask them what to use on the threads and what to torqe the bolts to