Just bought a 185 and had it put on wheels from floats. On floats the previous owner stated he would keep it at 10 quarts. On wheels it spits out anything over 8....does the oil level measure that much differently from floats to wheels?

What should a normal oil level be on wheels....I know the POH states 12....but my experience on other aircraft is that they usually level themselves out at something less than full.

Thanks for any help.

Dipstick should have a float side and a wheel side if I remember correctly.

Oh 'and the 520 in my 185 liked 10 quarts

low rider wrote:Dipstick should have a float side and a wheel side if I remember correctly.

That makes sense.....this one doesn't.

Are there marks on both sides of your dipstick.?Engine should like 10 quarts weather it's on floats or on wheels. ( if thats what the previous owner said) dipstick will read different depending on what attitude the plane is sitting in .

low rider wrote:Are there marks on both sides of your dipstick.?Engine should like 10 quarts weather it's on floats or on wheels. ( if thats what the previous owner said) dipstick will read different depending on what attitude the plane is sitting in .

No marks on both sides.... I was wondering if 10 on floats is is the same as 8 on wheels.

That would be my guess. When u do your next oil change just put 10 quarts in it and make an x on the other side at the level it reads. Pretty sure that's what whoever had my plane before me did....

If your dipstick is at the firewall end of the motor on wheels 8 qts is going to appear more like 12 qts

I put an overhauled O-470R in my 180 not too long ago. It came with a dipstick that has a Cessna 182 part number on it. It reads 12 quarts with 8 in the sump. When I put 12 in it reads about 15 quarts on 8.50s, though that's just extrapolating the scale by eye. It is likely that your plane is holding 8 and reading 12 on wheels and holding 12 when reading 12 on floats. I would check that your dipstick is the correct part number for your plane/engine combination.

Yukoner wrote:

low rider wrote:Are there marks on both sides of your dipstick.?Engine should like 10 quarts weather it's on floats or on wheels. ( if thats what the previous owner said) dipstick will read different depending on what attitude the plane is sitting in .

No marks on both sides.... I was wondering if 10 on floats is is the same as 8 on wheels.

It's not legal on floats without seaplane marking on the dipstick. Find someone with a seaplane stick and mark yours like that.

DO NOT leave it the way it is. At some point someone will (or maybe already has) put a shitload of oil in that motor then go run it. The result MAY be an engine that pukes oil the rest of its days.

This happened to mine when the mechanics had a dumb shit pilot test fly the plane after float install. That one HAD seaplane markings on the stick, but DumbAss didn't know to look, so added oil up to 11 quarts on the land plane side.....then went and flew it. That thing drooled oil forever after.

The stick should have the normal range with numbers on one side and two X's stamped on the other side for max and min.

Easy to fix.

MTV

Thanks for the help!

This might be heresy, but aren't all those engines overfilled to satisfy some obscure regulation?
My 470 is happy running as low as six. I watch pressures and temps, change it often... and the engine is quite happy. Overfilling is a big problem in my years of observation. Thoughts?

My first 185 would blow out everything above 10 in an hour or two and stay at 10 for 5-6 hours. My present one will fill to 12 and actually slowly, over 5-8 hours descend to 10. Now I just did a top end on all six cylinders and have very little blow by on new rings. It also is dependent on your preferred cruising altitude. Your oil will foam and make more oil mist at high altitude than low. If you have a lot of blow by, then this all just goes out the breather and onto your belly. You can see what your blow by is by getting a temporary oil cap (something from NAPA) drill a hole in it and put a low pressure gauge (an old airspeed indicator works), check it at idle and low rpms. If you have a lot of pressure, then you may want to consider a top end to just do your rings, but really do the valves as well (if they are not bad, they will be soon, besides they are cheap). You may have an excellent compression test, but it doesn't really tell you the condition of the rings in a dynamic situation. Or you can put one of the many different oil recovery systems on, they do work.

The point is the Continentals have a very long, shallow oil sump. The difference in dipstick readings between floats and wheels is significant, and its easy to overfill on floats if your dipstick isn't properly marked.

I've always started a 520 at 11 quarts, then added when it gets below about 9. I'd never run one of these engines below 8 quarts. If the engine was put together right AND broke in right, they should NOT puke oil at 10 or 11 quarts.

If you are running 6 and it pukes anything more than that, I'd check to see if you have the right dipstick. I've got a lot of hours behind these engines, and I'd never run one at 6, myself.

MTV