Cessna 150. Oil on oil radiator.

Gino Shtirlits

Gino Shtirlits

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I saw some piece of foam material in front of the oil radiator. This piece is soaked with oil. Plane owner explained to me that's correct. Really is that right?
 

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I confess I do not recall an oil radiator on either of the four 150s I owned/flew. Which year/ letter model or engine?
 
I've been told that is an air filter, and it is soaked in oil. It is supposed to come pre-oiled. The oil traps the dirt.
 
What is circled is the air intake filter. The oil soaked foam traps the dirt that would otherwise go into the engine. Keeping them in good condition is cheap insurance for keeping the engine happy, which should keep the owner and pilot happy.
 
That's a special, heavy oil. Silicone oil, I think, for water resistance. Those filters are made by Brackett, and Brackett forbids the cleaning and re-oiling of those filters. The whole element is replaced. Washing the oil out means you'll replace it with the wrong stuff, maybe engine oil, which just gets sucked into the engine, leaving the filter dry and passing dirt through to the engine.

The pilot just needs to check that thing on preflight and make sure it's not really dirtied up. Or old and dry or falling apart.
 
The oil helps traps the dirt. The fire retardant is a separate treatment to the foam, according to Brackett.

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Gino Shtirlits said:
I saw some piece of foam material in front of the oil radiator. This piece is soaked with oil. Plane owner explained to me that's correct. Really is that right?
Click to expand...

That's the engine air filter, looks to me like its the Brackett as mentioned above. Those filters are cheap foam things soaked in a thick oil.
 
Dan Thomas said:
That's a special, heavy oil. Silicone oil, I think, for water resistance. Those filters are made by Brackett, and Brackett forbids the cleaning and re-oiling of those filters.
Click to expand...

In the experimental aircraft world some of us use K&N filters that are cleaned and reoiled. K&N makes special cleaners & oil to use. As Dan notes here, those air filter cannot be reused. From the Brackett instruction sheet:
The element has been treated with a distinctive treatment called a wetted agent and is approximately 98% efficient. The wetted agent is an accompaniment in the efficient capturing of dust. In addition, the element has received a fire retardant treatment. For the above reasons, replace the element each 100 hours of use/12 months or when 50% covered with foreign material. DO NOT WASH AND REUSE.
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From this document: http://brackettaerofilters.com/installationsheets/BA-5110A Inst Sheet.pdf

EDIT: Sorry to be a big dummy this morning (caffeine deficiency) ... I see now that Dan had already posted this. :oops:
 
bnt83 said:
That's the engine air filter, looks to me like its the Brackett as mentioned above. Those filters are cheap foam things soaked in a thick oil.
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I'm not totally fond of them, but they're a lot cheaper than the paper-element filters they replaced. Those old paper filters also required periodic cleaning and reoiling. The advantage with the paper was the much larger surface area, since it was pleated, meaning that the airflow though any particular square inch was less. The foam filter has much less area but the thickness also comes into play; dirt can be trapped at any depth. Some of the larger Bracket elements have two layers of foam, a coarser outer layer and much finer inner layer.

All paper elements have an AD against them: https://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_...2BA8EAB12B8CE12186256A380049C63B?OpenDocument

It requires replacement every 500 hours. They're not cheap, either, which is one reason the Brackett STCs got so popular. The other is the quick and easy replacement of a Brackett element. A Donaldson paper filter for a 150 or 172, for instance, is $134 from Aircraft Spruce. For a C177 it's $346. A new Brackett assembly--the whole thing--for an older 172 is $84, a one-time cost. The replacement element is $11. It's good for 200 hours. The strange thing is that Brackett still doesn't list a filter for the 172R & S models, after 24 years in production.

Bracketts have two of their own ADs, one that requires replacement of certain housings that have no lip to prevent the gasket from being sucked into the engine, and another that demands the replacement of housings having aluminum screens in them. The aluminum would vibrate, work-harden, and fail, sending chunks of screen into places that could cause engine failure. I found a few of these old things still on airplanes long after the ADs were issued.
 
The replacement Cessna is called Donald-son (sp) filter, they are good for 5 years.
 
Gino Shtirlits said:
1969 150J
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Ah, now I see you included a thumbnail in your o.p. - yes air induction, not oil radiator.
The latter; many aircraft will have one that looks like image below (which may be, but is not always mounted at the front of the aircraft, as your air induction filter)

oil radiator.png
 
That's a pretty basic question for a 150 owner. It's on your preflight checklist.

I would suggest joining the Cessna 150-152 type club. Lots of technical information and helpful people that can answer these questions about Cessna 150 and 152's.
 
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