When I was selling my TBM I looked at overhaul cost, I was quoted $375k flat rate, if I wanted to do just the hot section inspection it was $24k plus $9k to remove and reinstall. That was last year, I can’t see the 850 engine being more than that. Pratt is not raising prices any faster or eqregiously more than Socata. Some of their part prices are absolutely breath taking along with the obligatory glacial lead times. Price a heated windshield, I did in 2015, $16k, in 2017 that same windshield in 2016 was $27k and 35 weeks plus freight from France. Great airplane loved it, but the maintenance costs are on par with a jet.[/quote]


That overhaul cost seems reasonable for that particular engine. I bet you had to guarantee a lot of things in order to get that price.

As far as the hot, what needed to be removed and reinstalled? Can't you just split the engine at the "C" flange and leave the engine on the airframe like every other Pratt powered plane?

Most aircraft allow for the engine to be split by two guys in a matter of hours and the entire hot section should be on a bench before lunch break. It should take no more than a day's labor for one guy to do a very thorough inspection, then another half day to put it all back together again using a few hundred dollars worth of hardware and gaskets. Even on a tightly cowled aircraft, I wouldn't expect the hot section labor to exceed 24 hours worth of work.

To be fair, I've never worked on a TBM, so they may consulted someone at Mooney on the proper way to make an engine completely inaccessible to the mechanic.[/quote]

To be honest I didn’t ask what the process was, nor did I do the hot section (it was not due). The overhaul price was basically flat rate regardless of what they found. I did ask about that and there were no disclaimers on the quote. I thought it was pretty reasonable although those engines are loafing most of the time and I never had the internal fortitude to run the itt anywhere near 800. If I saw 790 I was pulling the power lever back. 765 in cruise was about normal, cost me 5 knots or so but it really didn’t matter. I have heard stories about other owners running 795+ ITT and never had an issues, my wallet and my ego are equally sized so I stayed on the conservative side of that operational option.

Call him?! I'm budgeting to make a pilgrimage to N. Carolina to learn from the master!

Craig, how do you operate your engines? Trend monitoring, power settings, TIT limits, compressor washes, etc? Flying down in the corn as you do, are you always torque limited or do you run up against TIT limits at all?