"He has a piston with a smiley face on it that's not very happy"

"He has a piston with a smiley face on it that's not very happy"

From Ask the A&Ps by AOPA

January 1, 2026 · 43 min

About this episode

The episode discusses various engine issues and maintenance decisions faced by aircraft owners.

Old engines, rusty airplanes, and a strange valve incident are the puzzlers for Mike, Paul, and Colleen this episode. Send your questions to podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to get on the show. Join the world's largest aviation community at aopa.org/join Full episode notes below: John has a Beech Musketeer who had an unusual situation with his valve. The valve seat separated from the cylinder barrel and dropped down, striking the piston crown. He's wondering if he did anything to cause this, despite never exceeding 425 degrees CHT. The hosts agree that it was probably a manufacturing error, even though the cylinder had a few hundred hours on it. Mike said the only way this can happen is with a manufacturing problem or a high heat event. Larry has an early SR22 with 3,300 hours on the engine. It's not in need of an overhaul now, but Larry has read those early SR22 cases are more robust, and he's wondering when the time comes if he should overhaul or do a factory reman. The hosts aren't aware of any particular issues that make cases from that generation better, but they do offer some sound advice on the reman versus overhaul question. Mike said that if the engine has been treating…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mike, Paul, Colleen

Topics covered

  • engine issues
  • airplane maintenance
  • valve problems
  • overhaul vs reman
  • aviation community

Keywords

  • piston
  • valve seat
  • engine overhaul
  • factory reman
  • aviation

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Beech Musketeer, SR22

More episodes of Ask the A&Ps

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Ask the A&Ps podcast page.