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This is a follow-up of my previous posts regarding the new fuel pump made by BCD.
My first BCD pump (S/N 11.0274) developped an internal oil leak after 60 engine hours. The oil was dripping through the draining hose. The pump was replaced under warranty.
The replacement pump ((S/N 11.2909) developped the same defect (leaking oil through the draining hose) after 10 hours. After removal from the engine, scuffing was observed at the tip of the plunger (see attached picture). The eccenter in the gearbox did not show abnormal wear and the magnetic plug was found ok. The pump was replaced under warranty.
The replacement pump (S/N 11.3412) was installed yesterday, followed by an engine run-up and a short flight.
I filed a Customer Service Information Report CSIR, and I have not received any
news about it as of today.
It is obvious that there is a huge design and/or quality issue with those BCD pumps : quality of the internal seal, quality of the plunger material and/or hardening process.
These defects may cause serious engine damage and possible engine failure.

Questions : will my replacement pump last 100 hours ? 10 hours? 1 hour? Will my engine be destroyed by the metal particles from the pump plunger ? What is Rotax doing about those issues ? I cannot believe I am the only one to have these problems with the new pump, so if you experience similar problems, please tell us on the forum and tell the Rotax factory.


Suggestions : until Rotax 
and BCD improve the design and quality control of this pump.
 I am afraid it would be safe to: 

1. Inspect the output of the pump draining hose for the presence of oil before every flight.
 For this inspection to be effective it is important to route the pump draining hose so that the output is as far away as possible from the oil breather output.
2. Remove the pump from the engine every 10 hours for inspection of the plunger for scuffing. See SB-912-49

Urgently waiting for news from the factory on those safety critical issues.

Remi Guerner
Scuffinga.jpg (You do not have access to download this file.)
  • Re: Bloody new fuel pump

    by » 13 years ago


    Hi Remi,


    In reference to the scuffing.
    Did you put copper anti-seize on the plunger mating surface before you installed it? If you are not then the scuff happened right away because it wasn't lubed for the initial start. Are you using the new pump gaskets and not an older one? I have heard of some pump high pressure issues that Rotax fixed (unless you get a first run pump from a distributor), but not the problems you are having. You may be getting a bunch of first run pumps from the same distributor, that's just a guess on my part. I doubt you will hear back from the factory with that report. SB-912-49 was actually written for the old pump, but yes the inspection would be the same.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


    Thank you said by: YEN NIEN YU

  • Re: Bloody new fuel pump

    by » 13 years ago


    Hi Roger,
    Were did you find the instruction to use anti-seize compoud in the Rotax documentation? I used plain engine oil to lubricate the plunger and this should be sufficient. Note that the scuffing occured on one pump only. The plunger of the two other pumps I replaced had no traces of wear at all.
    Of course i used the new gaskets supplied with the pumps.

  • Re: Bloody new fuel pump

    by » 13 years ago


    Hi Remi,

    You put the anti-seize on the tip of the plunger. Oil may not be enough. The anti-seize is a little more viscous and harder to rub off than the oil. It will stay put and not run off on the first several revolutions. I learned in Rotax school. I recommend everyone with a Rotax engine take a Rotax class. It could save you a lot of money and hundreds of hours of frustration. Your gearbox was assembled using anti-seize to prevent its metal parts from scuffing at a new start up. We use it when we do gearbox re-builds or assembly too. If you read the gearbox inspection section in the Heavy Maint. manual Rotax puts the anti-seize on everything that will turn or move on a first start up. Sometimes first time owners see a little copper colored material in a first oil change and think it is metal from the engine. It is just the residual anti-seize. I have sent someone an email about you inspection time table. You do need to do one.
    Not all the first run pumps had high pressure it was intermittent, but the owner really wouldn't know until he put the pump on. Some aircraft don't have fuel pressure gauges so they should use a mechanical gauge to double check it and run the engine up to 5000 rpm. If you don't have a gauge a few symptoms of the high pressure would be fuel spilling out the vent lines and a rough running engine.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


  • Re: Bloody new fuel pump

    by » 13 years ago


    I am on my third pump from rotax. The first two were putting out 7psi and the max rating is 5.2.
    The third pump is still in the box, I may be reluctant to recomend this engine to a new pilot or aircraft owner. I want to see if my plane will fly at all this winter. So far, I have yet to fly more than a few hours between failures.

  • Re: Bloody new fuel pump

    by » 13 years ago


    Hi Jay,

    It's just a glitch in a new design. It's one of the best and reliable engines on the market for our purposes. Like a Honda engine in a motorcycle. Treat it right, give it the proper maint. When you are supposed to do the maint and it just runs and runs.

    Roger Lee
    LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
    Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
    520-349-7056 Cell


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