Adam:
I was just looking at the aftermarket price list on Lycoming’s website. They list a “rebuilt” cost, “overhaul” cost, and “core” value. Does anyone know if the rebuild/overhaul cost listed includes the core or not? For example, for my engine, it lists the rebuild at $27,670, overhaul at $24,824, and core at $10,050. Does this mean that if they overhaul my core, it will cost $14,824?
Bob Steward, A&P-IA:
Sadly, NO. The CORE is the engine you trade back in. If they OH your core, they just require you to send it in FIRST, and then they OH it. Not bad if you want to keep it, but it’s 6-8 weeks for them to get around to it.
What it means is that if you order a new engine (or an OH, or a Reman), you pay the price upfront PLUS the Core charge, and then after they determine that your core is usable, they refund you the money for the core.
Lycoming has begun to get very sticky on the cores. They used to take back nearly anything, so long as it was a complete assembled engine. Now they will accept it for inspection, and if there is ANY evidence of previous repair to the crankcase (work order numbers stamped on the case halves, etc.), then they will reject it as not serviceable and charge you for another crankcase ($3500-$4500). Ditto the crank; if it is not perfect, excepting needing to be ground undersize, they will charge for a crank, too.
So you order a rebuild at $27,670, and they BILL you for $38,170 for the engine and the core. Then after they inspect the engine you return, they will give you (partial?) credit back for the $10,500.
They say its because of “revenue leakage”. Perhaps the shareholders NEED the money which wealthy pilots have.
Seriously, if you are thinking about an OH, you now have to consider the very real possibility that Lycoming’s price just went up $3500-$7000… but you won’t know that until AFTER you have installed the replacement and are flying again. Its a bit like trading cars and then having them call a few weeks later to say that they didn’t get as much on your trade in as they had expected, and you need to pay an extra $100/mo on your car payment to make up the difference.
If you are buying a factory engine, there are only 2 places to go: Airpower and VanBortel. Both offer a “~$300 over invoice” price and handle all the paperwork for you. Just be aware that if your “core” doesn’t meet their standards, then the price went up.
An alternative is to sell your core engine to a homebuilder (on eBay?) and then just PLAN on the $10,500 core charge as part of the purchase. It might be cheaper than being hit with $3500 for a crank case and $4000 for a crank, and actually only getting the remaining $3000 for the engine. If you can sell the used one on eBay for $5000, then you can buy the replacement outright, and the “core” only costs $5500 ($10,500 – $5000).