The pilot reported that, after departure and while in the traffic pattern at the airport in Lock Haven, Pa., the Taylor J-2 was operating normally but that the engine suddenly lost partial power.
Due to the low altitude at the time of the power loss, he decided to land between several houses in a clearing. During the forced landing, the airplane hit trees.
Examination of the engine revealed that the exhaust valve on the No. 1 cylinder remained in the “open” position and would not move when the engine was rotated by hand.
Further examination revealed that the exhaust valve was stuck in the valve guide.
Although automotive fuel was approved for use in this engine, 100LL aviation fuel was used for the accident flight.
According to manufacturer guidance, continued operation with automotive fuel can lead to sticking. However, it could not be determined if automotive fuel had been used during previous flights and resulted in the valve sticking or if the use of the 100LL fuel resulted in the valve sticking.
An entry in the engine maintenance records revealed that the valve guides and stems were to be lubricated every five hours and cleaned every 10 hours, however no entry was found in the records indicating that the valve guides and stems had been lubricated since the airplane’s most recent inspection about 15 flight hours before the accident.
Due to the exhaust valve being stuck, the exhaust valve head separated from its stem during the initial climb, which subsequently resulted in the failure of the exhaust valve’s associated cylinder components and the partial loss of engine power.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the owner’s failure to clean and lubricate the engine valve guides and stems, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power during the initial climb due to an exhaust valve failure.
NTSB Identification: ERA14LA308
This June 2014 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
In many many cases, the valve guilds are made of aluminum bronze mat’l. and do not require oil from the rocker arms to lube the valve guilds and this coupled with 100LL fuel can accumulate the build up of lead between the valve guild and the valve stem, taking up what little clearance there is between the two. Some aircraft engines use steel valve guilds and thus they require oil being squirted through the rocker arm via the push rods. Steel being that it requires oil for lube sometimes works better than aluminum bronze valve guilds, cause it always has oil between the valve and the guild. Even it there is lead build up at the valve stem the oil will not allow it to carbon up and cause tightness between the valve and the guild. I prefer steel guilds for this reason over aluminum bronze. Just my opinion..
Good headline……………….. accurate and it helped the reader understand the situation…. as to what the PIC needed to do..
CJ, nOW what is the answer. If too much lead in 100ll
causes valve sticking and mogas with no lead.
what was the problem.
At all cost “KEEP IT ORIGINAL” even to forsake safety issues. Those old antique aircraft/engines and unwitting pilots cause most of these kinds of problems. Just Top overhaul the engine with more modern components designed for updated fuels. Yes, the engine was probably certified for drip gasoline 63/73 octane and no lead, but get real people.