Rotax 912 Reliability

[Flyboy66]

Good to hear. So I am going to change the question a bit. To those of you who have more than 500 hours on your 100 hp Rotax (carbureted or injected), what type of maintenance or repairs (other than oil, and oil filter change) have you had to perform?

[Floog]

Over 1,200 hours now. Engine still runs better than new! Because I recently converted to EFI, fuel economy is even better now. I've never opened the engine up for anything other than oil changes, plugs, etc. The engine has no leaks. I use mogas primarily and 100LL only rarely. It has never failed to start. It quit running only once: I believe it was vapor lock. The 912 is an amazing and reliable little engine!

[jiott]

I fly a 912uls and have 550 hours on it with nothing other than regular scheduled maintenance. I did have a radiator failure but that is not really a part of the engine and not a Rotax part.

[av8rps]

Besides being known for extreme reliability, the 912 is very well engineered to operate even if you do develop problems. One good example of that is the cooling system. If for some reason you were to lose all your coolant, you can safely fly it to the closest airport, and probably without any engine damage. The coolant system is just cooling the cylinder heads, the rest of the engine relies on cooling fins and air.

[WWhunter]

Floog, you mentioned FI, is this a factory FI engine or an aftermarket type?

As far as getting back OT, my 912 has had ignition problems that may need an entire wiring and ignition module replacement. Not fun to be flying along and the engine start sputtering and totally quit on on ignition. Luckily I was over my strip when it happened. Granted, this is a very low hour (200TT) eninge but of 1997 vintage.

[Floog]

I ordered the factory 912 ULS through Kitfox Aircraft in 2014. EFI is Edge Performance after market kit from Norway. It was essentially a one day conversion. After installing the kit, all that had to be done was set the idle. Later, I added a 40 amp alternator and a backup battery (see pic) for the fuel pumps. The Rotax ignition is stock.
Sorry to hear about your problems.

[tracstarr]

Floog. I just came across the same performance upgrades. Which did you add? Just the intake/Fi system or also turbo and big bore? I'm assuming not the upgraded cam shaft since you said one day conversion. Did you get any measurable HP improvements? Or just what you "notice"? How many hours do you have on it?

I'm curious as I think somewhere I hear them mention a total HP gain of over 50 with everything added. That's pretty damn significant.

I'm just trying to decide which engine to get or if I should wait for the 915is. But, I like the cost savings of the 912uls with bolt ons. Just curious if the reliability is affected with the increased HP

[AirFox]

Give Jason Busat(Canada guy) a call at Badasspowersports.com. He is the North American rep for Edge Performance. Both Doug and I installed the EFI only. It's good for about a 9 HP gain. If I was in the market for a new engine I would order a Rotax 912 ULS from Jason with the Cam, EFI and Big Bore kit. You would save a bunch of weight over the Rotax 915IS. I think that setup would be over 120 HP and more than 30 lb lighter. I have almost 200 hours on my 912 ULS with the EFI. Doug(Floog) has probably even more.

[Flyboy66]

In one of these threads I saw mention of some aftermarket leaning product for the carbureted engines. Does anyone know what it is and has anyone tried using the product? Did it work as advertised?

[WWhunter]

Hacman is the item you are looking for. No personal experience, but have read many positive posts about it.