Reasons for engine failiure?

[Superpilot]

So you turn up at your aircraft, a non-complex, light SEP hoping to complete a 200 mile X-C flight. You are very thorough with your pre-flight checks, oil was sufficient and clean. You have full tanks of fuel and there were not present any traces of sediment or water. No oddities were noticed with the way the engine started.

You take off and climb straight up to FL65 and cruise at a brisk 110KTS. You pull back the mixture control a tad and monitor the whole situation for a while. All the needles are 'in the green', fuel pressure is good, oil pressure is good and all temperature guages paint a perfect picture......The engine cuts out. You hurridly push the mixture lever forward but no joy. You attempt a restart, still no response.....

In such situations what could possibly be the reason for the engine failure?

[cblinton@blueyonder.]

The Con Rod just snapped leaving you up S**T creek without a paddle.:{

[Monocock]

Fuel supply interrupted by a lump of silicone sealant that has broken away from the recently overhauled carburettor and blocked the fuel supply?

It happened to me....

Although I was 6350 feet lower than FL65:ooh:

[nouseforaname]

i know you said your tanks were full but a lot of the engine failures that I hear about sound suspiciously like fuel starvation from not enough fuel in the tanks!

One guy told me there was at least an hours fuel in his tank when he had a failure. How can you judge an hours fuel!?

[IO540]

(1) Mechanical failure, (2) electrical failure, (3) fuel blockage.

[dublinpilot]

Or the catch all, when nothing else seems to fit:

Carb Iceing?

dp

[Kolibear]

Engine driven fuel pump failure - check the fuel pressure gauge and turn on the electric pump.

[Final 3 Greens]

Fuel tank vents blocked.

[FlyingForFun]

Surprised it's taken so long for carb icing to be mentioned......

But, from personal experience, my reply would be a dodgy fuel supply (MoGas) causing the fuel filter to become blocked. Didn't result in engine failure in my case, because as soon as the engine started running rough I switched on the standby fuel pump which feeds through a seperate filter, but it's the closest I've come.

FFF
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[18greens]

The weld that hold the magnets in the magnetos fails. The mag still spins but slower than before and fire random sparks into the engine causing the engine to slow down insidiously.

If you are clever and you realise what has happened you can turn off the failing mag, or you land in a field.


OR

A con rod has stuck itself out of the side of the crankshaft.

OR

A hole in the carburretor diaphragm

OR

You have flown inverted for longer than the endurance of the inverted fuel tank

OR

You are flying a Tiger moth and pull a loop. Everyone knows the engine stops at the top because of fuel starvation but starts again when gravity mode is reselected. Except this engine is new and a bit tight and stops instead of windmilling so it won't restart (and there's no starter motor).

OR

A section of the propellor has fallen off

OR

All of the propellor has fallen off

OR

You just pulle dthe Mixture knob thinking it was the carb heat

OR

You were trying to change tanks and you turned it off instead.
.....

It goes on, just read the accident reports. Theres a joke that pilots don't parachute because who would jump out of a servicable aircraft. The quick response from the meat bombs is 'Theres no such thing as a serviceable aircraft.'

All of this leads to the conclusion that if you are going to fly make sure you are happy with the forced landing drill 'cos one day it will happen. And if the engine stops undo what you just did.

On the bright side mechanical failure does not feature too highly in accident reports and most planes are pretty reliable.

[Onan the Clumsy]

what carburated aircraft has a fuel pressure gauge/guage/gage?

(never could spell that word)

<<edit: Can you spell "indicator" or "instrument"? It's a good work-around.>>

[Atlas Shrugged]

Most low wing aircraft will have one.

My TB20 is fuel injected, so it does. The TB10 is carburetted and also has one.

[FLYbyWIT]

Remember there is a diffference between fuel starvation and fuel exhaustion.
Fuel starvation perphaps caused by vent blockage and therefore unequal pressure leading to no fuel flow from wing tanks.
Fuel exhaustion meaning you just fcuked up. Me thinks this is correct

[big.al]

When I had a failure in the C152 during last solo before my PPL skills test, it was due to the failure of some of the bolts holding on one cylinder. There was a clear one inch gap between cylinder barrel and the engine. Hmm, nice.....

[Big Pistons Forever]

If a normally running engine just quits cold than it is almost certainly a fuel interuption. Internal mechanical failure or ignition problems will almost certainly give obvious indications before out right failure.