We recently purchased a partnership in a 1958 Cessna 175 and were just told that these engines may have a reliability problem--pistons blow up while in the air???? Would love to have feedback from current owners.

It is the infusion of pyrodex into the aluminum on those old Continental Pistons... I hate it when that happens!

Seriously, Pistons Blow Up in flight? Coach Mike, that has to be the funniest report I have heard on the GO-300 to date.

Yes, there are issues but nothing like these explosions.. Stick around there are lots of GO-300 Drivers around here. Also read the overview page on the website homepage.

Did you hear the one about the meteorite that fell on a Texas ranch, and none of the diary cows ever gave a drop of milk after that! Yes, rods can break, cams can break, pistons can crack, valves can stick, jam the piston and punch a rod through the case with any internal combustion engine ever made, but the GO-300, properly maintained is no worse than the rest. I replaced mine - not because I was afraid of a piston blowing up, but because some parts are hard to come by. Parts can be found, and the crankshaft is the tough one to find, and if one is turned for oversize bearings, the bearings are very expensive. Nevertheless a good GO-300 is a good GO-300. I have seen people cut corners and put O-300 cylinder assemblies on the GO-300, and all other sorts of quirky stuff, but investigation reveals that people do quirky things with all airplanes and engines. A good A&P with GO-300 EXPERIENCE, can fix you up with no worries.
You must always consider the source of what you "hear". Check it out, and rev that sucker up to 3000-3200 rpm and fly the hell out of it. The big whopping prop on the front will let you outrun just about every 172 and 182 in the air.

Coach Mike,
Bobby is correct in that all engines will have failures. The GO 300 can have cylinder issues but they will almost always show up during an annual at the compression check. I had my engine overhauled last year by Magnum Engines in Fort Wayne, and had ECI cylinders put on which seem to be much superior to the older Continentals. The Continental cylinders I had before tended to go through valve guides.

Anyway if you want to form your own opinion you can go to the NTSB website and search Cessna 175 accidents. There are a few instances of cylinders failing, and connecting rods breaking, but it is much more common to have the plane go down because it was run out of gas. Many of the failures in the engines were caused by obviously bad maintence, and some of the engines that fail aren't GO 300s but Franklins, Continental 0470s, and even a Lycoming.

My plane is just about perfect for me in that it will carry a good load, land about anywhere, and cruise at 120 knots. I would not worry about the plane letting you down so long as you just do the basic maintenance.