Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

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gkremers
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Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by gkremers »

All,
I've been reading as much as I can on the merits of remote mounting the oil pressure sensor to the firewall. I was hoping the newer style Honeywell sender would have solved the problem but that does not seem to be the case. I had an older 912 in my Pulsar circa 1997 and went through 3 VDO senders in 500 hours. Lockwood sells a remote mounting kit that relocates the VDO sender to the FW.

Any recommendations would be great.

Jak,
Is the factory remote mounting or just sticking with the Honeywell in it's factory position.

Thanks,
Gary
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stede52
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by stede52 »

Gary, would defintely take the time to remote mount the oil sensor, my first Rotax 912 went thru two sensors and believe me that it is very un-nerving to see your oil pressure spike or fluctuate wildly and there's no place to land. I sold the airplane before I had a chance to remote mount. The UL350 remote mounts its sensor from the start and I also installed a secondary backup sensor (as I talked about in a previous post) for piece of mind.
Steve D N419LD
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scubarider2
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by scubarider2 »

Knock on wood....no problems with mine so far with 350+ hours. :mrgreen:
Dennis
Live as though you were going to die tomorrow, learn as though you were going to live forever...
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gkremers
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by gkremers »

Dennis,
Do you have the VDO or Honeywell sender?

Thanks
Gary
jak
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by jak »

Gary Since the planes I build are all customers I tell them the do's and don'ts and let them choose I prefer to remote mount on the firewall and try to get all to do so but about half just leave it in the eng. Jak
Pick up a rifle and you instantly change from a subject to a citizen.
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scubarider2
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by scubarider2 »

I am guessing VDO which came with the engine.
Dennis
Live as though you were going to die tomorrow, learn as though you were going to live forever...
User GDS
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Re: Rotax 912 oil pressure sensor

Post by User GDS »

I had the new Honeywell unit fail in less than 10 hours on the Rotax in my RV12. I replaced it with the $40 VDO unit and it was working fine when I sold the plane 100 hours later.

The old VDO unit is mechanical, there are levers and springs that move in response to oil pressure changes. It is susceptible vibration and shock. It only costs $40.

The new and improved Honeywell sensor uses a pressure transducer, which is much less susceptible to vibration. It costs $270. The remote mounting kit is ~$100.

In the RV12, my approach was to buy two of the inexpensive VDO sensors, one installed directly to the engine and the other for a spare. The spare is fast and easy to install in the field. My rational is that if the oil pressure sensor fails, it doesn't matter which kind it is, the engine will continue to run and I will be safe, maybe a little edgy for the rest of the flight. If the oil pressurization system fails, I'm in trouble no matter what kind of sensor I'm using.

A minor consideration for remote mounting the sensor is that you are adding a few additional points of failure in your pressurized oil system.
GDS
So Cal
Highlander #232
Rotax 912ULS, Dynon Skyview
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