Assisted Oil Change

RyanB

RyanB

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I am going to do my first assisted oil change on the Archer this week with the on-field mechanic.

Are there any good housekeeping items that y’all like to do when your oil gets changed?
 
Quick drain. Rubber hose. Oil recycling container. If you are changing filter too it gets messier. The quick drain makes it tons easier. First thing I put on all my engines. For some reason, none of my planes have had quick drains, and when my engine was overhauled, I had to replace it again.
 
Hand cleaner. The kind that works with or without water. Get a big vat of it. And a case of paper towels.
 
I bought a box of surgical gloves, awesome for keeping the hands clean from the start...or mechanics gloves.

I bring a heavy duty trash bag for the paper towels and oil bottles if using single quarts.

If its cold where you are leave the oil in the car where its warm, pours way faster.

I gave up on pouring the oil back into small jugs and bought a 12qt oil container...never going back.

A gallon jug of water and some gojo if you don't have running water nearby to wash hands.

After the first 6qts I check the dipstick every additional 2qts to make sure it tracks with what us added.

Take pictures of the saftey wire routing and quick drain position before changing anything.
 
I put the plastic bag the new filter comes in over the filter to be removed. Loosen filter first, slide bag over filter to be removed, remove filter. Works good containing the oil.
 
Oil sample bottle (controversial). I do it.

Watch how the filter is cut and learn. Bought my own after the first two. I like to keep my cut filter elements (I’m odd). Ziploc, date.

Inspect the engine and other appliances for oddities. (Found a blue streak that led to a tiny fuel leak. Found loose rivets in heat shield, loose vac pump exhaust.) Touch stuff. Ask a lot of questions. Soak in the education.

Clean oil off of stuff if any, note leaks for annual squawks.

That’s all I got.
 
Why worry about the mess, aren't you going to wash the engine?

make a big drip pan and catch the mess. (garbage can liner works too)
 
On the Cherokee I wrap the filter in a plastic bag full of paper towels. When I remove the filter, the oil and filter go in the bag rather than down the engine. I also put a bunch of towels below the filter since the hole drips after the filter is removed.
 
Ryanb said:
I am going to do my first assisted oil change on the Archer this week with the on-field mechanic.

Are there any good housekeeping items that y’all like to do when your oil gets changed?
Click to expand...

yeah, make sure you know what you’re doing, there are ADs that must be complied with at every oil filter R&R on some airplanes, like Dad’s o-470-r oil filter adapter
 
Ya'll need to learn how to do it without a mess.

Take an oil bottle (empty) and cut the face off it. Place that under your oil filter. Get some tubing and put that on the quick drain. Run the other end of the tubing to a 5 gallon jerrican. Quick drain it, and while it's draining pull the filter off. The extra oil from the filter runs into the homemade oil catch - which you can then pour into the jerrican as well.

I need exactly 1 paper towel and a squirt of Lucas Slick Mist or 409 to clean up.
 
Be sure to wear light-colored clothing.;)
 
Bell206 said:
Be sure to wear light-colored clothing.;)
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I haven't gotten any oil or grime on my clothes in 30 years of doing oil changes - automotive, motorcycle, lawn and garden, or aviation.
 
The amount of mess is somewhat related to the plane itself. I could change oil and filter on the 180hp Supercubs I used to fly with nothing more than a 5-gallon bucket and a couple paper towels. No spills, no run, nothing to clean up really. The 172's usually weren't bad either. On the Mooney I flew? I never did find a good way to get the filter out of it without getting oil down the back of the motor and firewall. With the position the filter was in and what else was around it in there, I never found a good way to get it off without spilling lots of oil in the process. I'm sure there's a secret trick, but I never found it.
 
Oil and filter change completed, along with a few other odds and ends that needed to be addressed. It was a great hands on experience and best of all, a filter that was clean as a whistle!

Changed from Aeroshell Multigrade to the Phillips XC by A&P recommendation. Yeehaw!

6A15C7FE-A1C5-421F-8D7C-EA05FC0556B2.jpeg
 
With some of the tips provided, it can indeed be done with very little mess. To those recommending paper towels, which of course can come in handy pretty much constantly, I HIGHLY recommend Pigmat. Those things are magic when it comes to catching and absorbing spills.
 
MuseChaser said:
With some of the tips provided, it can indeed be done with very little mess. To those recommending paper towels, which of course can come in handy pretty much constantly, I HIGHLY recommend Pigmat. Those things are magic when it comes to catching and absorbing spills.
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Yeah, he made a channel out of cardboard and ran the filter oil into a bucket. Worked well.
 
I don't mind the filter or the oil so much. It's the ten thousand screws I have to take off the Mooney that won't go back on that always gets me.
 
steingar said:
I don't mind the filter or the oil so much. It's the ten thousand screws I have to take off the Mooney that won't go back on that always gets me.
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For me, it was the safety wire. Everything else was easy peasy. I’d imagine a couple more times of learning the ropes with tying it properly and I can be on my own.
 
steingar said:
I don't mind the filter or the oil so much. It's the ten thousand screws I have to take off the Mooney that won't go back on that always gets me.
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You’re doing it wrong. Same plane and I can do a complete oil change in less than an hour if you don’t count waiting for the oil to drain. Less than 40 fasteners total and only 6 of them are screws.
 
steingar said:
I don't mind the filter or the oil so much. It's the ten thousand screws I have to take off the Mooney that won't go back on that always gets me.
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Do you use a thick tapered pick to help align the holes/nutplates near the screw you're trying to get threaded? If not... highly recommended. Makes easy work of it.
 
steingar said:
I don't mind the filter or the oil so much. It's the ten thousand screws I have to take off the Mooney that won't go back on that always gets me.
Click to expand...
Al Mooney sure was of the opinion that nothing was worth doing unless it had a couple hundred screws holding it on.
 
Ryanb said:
For me, it was the safety wire. Everything else was easy peasy. I’d imagine a couple more times of learning the ropes with tying it properly and I can be on my own.
Click to expand...

Yep, takes a few goes with the safety wire before it looks pro. My A&P joked with me after I finally mastered it saying, "great, now we can't tell if we did something or you did something, and can't blame you for it if it's wrong."
 
Here are two ways that you can reduce the mess with the filter:
1) Pick up one of the Tempest filter drain tools. These have a clamp that goes around the filter and a knob that punctures the filter and lets the oil drain out through a hose. Not much mess with these.
2) Puncture a hole in the top of the filter and use a compressor hose to blow air through the hole. The air blows much of the oil left in the filter out of the filter and it drains down to the engine oil sump.
 
Similar to others.

Hang funnel with hose on filter.

Poke hole in side of filter with awl/pick that will be down when rotated 90 degrees.

Rotate 90 degrees so hole is down.

Poke hole in top.

Go have lunch.
 
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