I finally got my new (to me) plane back from BFI yesterday. The pilot that retrieved it for me said it flew great, indicated 95 at 9,500 and was still climbing at 300FPM at that altitude. Of course he probably weighs 120 soaking wet, so my performance may be slightly less than reported.

The bad thing, upon inspecting the plane I found that it was dripping oil from the cowling. It was impossible to tell exactly where the oil was coming from, other than the engine compartment. Some time this week or this weekend I will have to pull the cowling and clean all the oil to find the leak. At least the mechanic (who is leaving Friday for a new job) doesn't think it is a safety of flight issue, not yet. Personally I don't like the idea of oil blowing on the hot exhaust while I'm too far above the ground to stop, drop and roll.

Question, I have been a mechanic on various equipment, including nuclear submarines in my youth, and figure that I can fix the leak. But, is this legal, I know there are limits based on preventative vs. major repairs and all that mumbo jumbo. Or if you happen to know someone with a freshly overhauled spare O-200 that they can't wait to donate to a worthy cause, me, I would be happy to accept.

N3110V (finally home)

I believe your restricted pretty much to tightning a loose hose or oil filter etc.

...tightning a loose hose or oil filter etc.

Which is all it might be. What's SMOH on your engine?

The engine only has 951 SMOH, but it has only had 80 hours of use in the last three years. I know that the long time spent sitting in the rain and lack of use is very hard on the seals and gaskets. Maybe it is going to fix itself once the gaskets and seals swell up again???(I know, wishful thinking). I will know more once I get the cowling off this weekend and find the leak. It's just a bummer, I was hoping to go flying this weekend, not work on the plane the first weekend I have it...such is life.

N3110V

Uncowl it, clean it up and go flying! Afterwards, check valve cover gaskets and any clamps, hoses. Thank God it isn't a radial or a Harley!

Suspect the valve cover bolts. That and do as Gene suggests, clean it and fly it. If the leak is severe enough, it can be watched for by someone on the ground with a hand held. Don't over look the really silly stuff too, Like a loose dip stick!
Best thing for cleaning is 100LL and compressed air. The best thing for you other than flying, is learning everything under the cowl. You can never be too familar with anything under there!
Enjoy your new bird, we'll have to get together sometime.
Kurt

Congratulations on getting your plane. Now the fun starts. Pride in ownership equates to lots of elbow grease and some $$, but it is all worth it.

Dane

a couple places to look on cont. o-200 are around the pushrod tube seals (silly upside down camshafts ) and around the oil sump gasket. also check around the vacuum pump up front, if so equpped.
good luck.

Congrats on your new plane. For clarification on what you can and can't do yourself, review FAR part 43 and Appendix A (http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... enFrameSet). Part 43 stipulates who can do what and App A spells out the specifics of each category of work. As the owner you can do a wide variety of preventative maintenance, to include all the suggestions above to track down your oil leak.

That said, until you are intimately familiar with your aircraft it is probably not a bad idea to have an A&P or better coach you along, even with the basic stuff. And even for work that goes beyond preventative maintenance, you are legal to perform it as long as you are supervised by someone who is qualified to perform that work. I try to do as much work on my aircraft as I can - all under the auspices of my IA. And where I can't do it I am looking over his shoulder trying to learn everything I can.

Thanks all for the many helpful suggestions on finding the oil leak. I know ownership is going to entail frustration along the way, I just don't want the wife regretting the plane. After all, she bought it for me for Christmas, so it better not get under her skin or it may go away.

I will scour the cowling and engine this Saturday and hope that I can use elbow grease to repair the leak. I have read FAR's part 43 and understand the limits, except there are some areas that I think are open to interpretation. I suppose I should check with an A&P to ensure I don't violate the reg's.

I do look forward to seeing many of the people on this forum at various locations throughout the summer. I just need to make sure I don't put too much into repairs and upgrades so I can still afford to put gas in, it doesn't appear to be getting any cheaper in my lifetime. I know, I shouldn't be complaining at my 5-6 GPH compared to some of your aircraft.

On a side note, there is a beautiful 1990 Maule MX7-235 (I think) sitting in the local FBO hanger having an engine remounted after a crank AD was completed. I was talking with the mechanic and she said the plane only has 92 hours since new. The only time it has had in the last two years was taxiing between the hanger and the shop for annuals. What a waste of money and a beautiful plane, the owner just sold his KingAir, so it isn't a matter of costs, he just doesn't realize what he is missing apparently. For some strange reason I have never been able to understand why people let their aircraft sit for years. Why own it if you aren't going to use the dang thing?

N3110V

I know the valve cover gaskets have all been replaced this last December at annual, so they either screwed up putting them in or it is leaking from a more expensive location.

It isn't exactly leaving a puddle, the inside of the cowling is coated with fresh oil and it drips down onto the nose wheel pant. It is probably not nearly as bad as I think, I'm just really anal about things being correct, especially machines. I could treat it like my old harley, wipe off the oil after every ride and fill it with fresh oil before the next trip and all is good.

Does anyone know how many quarts per hour is an upper limit for losing oil. It appears to be about one quart every four hours, but that is based on it being about half a quart low after a two hour flight, so it may be slightly more or less. And of course it may have started leaking oil in the last ten minutes of the flight, there is no way to tell when the leak started.

N3110V

To be practical, most engines will seek a level somewhere below full oil capacity. My Lycoming will accept 8 qts but will blow it out till it gets to 6 and be really happy there for the next 12 to 15 hours. Try running a qt under max and see if it slows down the discharge

Gene

My C-85 is similar to the 0-200, in fact I got a 0-200 crank in the C-85. When the oil is full and I run the the engine for any length of time oil runs out the case vent tube. It continues to drip for a couple hours after leaving a small pool of oil on the ground. I am told this is because the crank sloshes the oil around and some of it gets pulled out by the air flowing out the vent and it is common on the C-85 as well as the 0-200. After about a half quart is gone it quits and doesn't leak again till I have to add oil, which is usually when I change the oil.

-Jon-

Whee,
I think I am going to clean the oil up on Saturday and put the cowling back, fly it till it either starts on fire or I find the leak. It appears to be slightly less than half a quart low, so maybe it needs to spit out another half quart or so before it will be happy.


N3110V

According to the MSDS for Aeroshell W100 the flashpoint for that oil is 500 degrees F.

I'm trying to remember eactly how this works, but it's something like this. An engine must have the oil capacity to allow for it's use at the max allowed oil consumption for the max time that the aircraft that it is installed in can be run due to fuel capacity of the aircraft. In other words it's not supposed to be possible to run low on oil before you run low on fuel. That's what determines where the highest mark on the dipstick is. It is almost always overserviced if you fill it to the top mark and will almost always blow oil out of the breather pipe until the oil level reaches a point where no more is blown out of the breather. If your engine top end is in good shape then the oil consumption will stabilize when it's level is one or two quarts from the top and very little oil will be used. Even a well worn engine will begin to use a lot less oil if run one or two quarts from the top mark as it will blow out a lot less oil from the breather.
Example our C-210 carries 120 gl. of fuel, leaned out at altitude you could have as much as 10 to 12 hours of fuel so Continental put's the top mark at 10 quarts in order to ensure that at the end of 12 hours of flight that the engine will still have plenty of oil in it even when it is old and worn out. If I fill it to the ten mark it will blow out 2 quarts in a few hours and then it will run the next 40 or so at 8. If I fill it to 10 at oil change then I burn 2.5 quarts in 50 hours or if I fill it to 8 then I burn .5 in 50 hours. This is a factory rebuilt engine with about 200 hours on it, your results may vary

We had a similar (maybe) leak on our c-85 which is pretty much identical. As has been said, check the pushrod tubes where they connect to the case. They have some bushings with spring clamps and the clamps sometimes work their way off. We just replaced our pushrod tubes with new spring loaded (like on a io-540) tubes from Real Gaskets. Stc'd and everything. Also check the oil pressure sending attachment and the sump bolts. We had a couple of those things just a little loose and it doesn't take much oil to make a mess of your airplane!

Don't forget to check the front crankshaft seal up by the propellor. If it leaks there will be quite a bit of oil.

speedbump wrote:Don't forget to check the front crankshaft seal up by the propellor. If it leaks there will be quite a bit of oil.

Aren't those fun to stretch over the crank flange

Down here in the summer you just leave them on the pavment for awhile, and they slip right on. Of course they get so hot you have to wear gloves.