Wow! I can't believe how many of you responded to my post. I actually talked to the owner today about coming and seeing it. He said a few things that I thought were odd. For instance, he seemed to be talking about a top overhaul like it was equivalent to a major overhaul. I could have misunderstood though. Anyway, according to him, it is in the shop for a top overhaul right now. I don't understand why he would be doing a top overhaul on a 0 SMOH engine but I am sure the log books and "in person" meeting will make everything clear.
John
Having gone through the buying process in 2003, I want to caution you on this one. Whenever you sense something is not quite right, or 'odd,' your beacon should start flashing. In this case, you should give the seller another chance to explain what's going on in a clear and concise manner. Don't settle for some political sounding mumbo-jumbo...write your questions down on paper if you have to, but clear this issue up now. Not doing so can cost you $$$ later.
How do I know? Of course, it happened to me. My plane partner and I were all settled in on a "mid-time" engine plane that had great avionics, decent glass and appeared well maintained. Great! All we want is the logbooks for a thorough evaluation. No problem!
Except the logs never showed. The seller was busy, forgot them, was out of town, blah blah. By the time we finally pinned him down and looked in the engine log, the first thing we saw was the
mid-timed engine was 200 hrs beyond TBO. We walked. I have several of these types of stories, where the seller won't volunteer any information about the plane, leaving it to you to uncover its hidden and sometimes dark secrets.
My point is this: IF you feel for any reason that something's 'odd', 'not right' or 'funny', trust your gut and walk. There's plenty of these A/C out there, and the next one you find will probably be better.
