Engineer Ted's How to Make Your Engine Last (ground)

[Ted]

My question, Ted, is: At what temperature does this become an issue? (internal components still being cold) How cold must it be before we need to worry about clearances and possibly re-cooling the oil? What else is there that's of concern with cold "innards"?

It depends on what you define as "issue." I think it's somewhere between -20 and -40C where the crank will seize up because the clearances get too small. So obviously that is where you absolutely must pre-heat to the point where you get the crank/case/bearings up in temperature.

Now as far as wear is concerned from the clearances getting smaller? Remember that engine wear is typically one of those "You'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your [engine's] life" items. Based on my experience, you'll definitely start to see damage at 20F, and gets worse as temperatures go down. You'd probably see damage starting at 30F, that just wasn't a temperature where I did any testing at.

The hangar has electric and I could install a Reiff or Tanis but they're not nearly as convenient for spur of the moment trips...like 90% of mine are theses days.

Depends - if you leave it plugged in all the time, then it's just as convenient. Actually moreso than your current setup.

 

[Ted]

What is the reason you wouldn't use it for more than 25 minutes? Are you saying that is inconvenient, or you'd be worried about the device?

I wouldn't use it for more than 5 minutes (not 25) because it's inconvenient. When I get to the airport, I want to get in the plane and get going. Remember, I'm mission oriented in my flying. So for me, having the setup that I have to plug in is much easier. I can plug it in myself, or for that matter I can leave it set up when I leave the airport and just call up the airport office and ask them to do it to save me a trip.

Even for those with with electric, what do you do at out stations? It's not like many FBOs will let ya run an extension cord out onto the ramp. If you're using the aircraft for real travel, and doing it in the winter, you're going to have some cold starts. There's very little opportunity to avoid it.

Actually, most FBOs I've dealt with have been very good about letting me run extension cords across the ramp. My profile picture was taken in Waskaganish, Quebec in early January coming up on 2 years ago. I brought a couple hundred feet of extension cord, put the new oil I needed in after I parked the plane, covered up the engines with the sleeping bags and plugged in the Tanis heaters. They ran for 48 hours straight. When I came back, the engines (cylinders, oil etc.) were all around 130-150F with it being -20F outside.

But let's say there are no outlets and/or the FBO refuses to be helpful. Since engine damage is cumulative, doing something that less ideal than what you normally do won't cause catastrophic damage in most cases. The exception, of course, being if it's tremendously not ideal.

As far as oil goes, we're Aeroshell 15W50 users here as are tons of the flight schools and others. On a Continental. I know, I know, the world may come to an end. When we learned of Camguard and saw hard evidence that it really does work, we started using it. Airplane has been using Aeroshell 15W50 for over a decade. Frankly with our wild temperature variations, having something with a feedstock that's 15 or lower is pretty important to us, which we've discussed once amongst the co-owners. 20W is a bit sluggish in the cold months.

I don't think there's much of a difference between the 15W and 20W personally, but to each his own.

If some enterprising person were to figure out a way to fire up a generator for a period of time prior to a flight to power an *electrical* pre-heat system, obviously if the genset were in a safe location away from combustibles, monitored, etc... What's the minimum amount of time it would have to be on -- to heat at least some "non-ideal but better than that propane burner" portion of the engine?

Depends on the outside temperature. Ask Tanis on this one, they've studied it more than me, but my guess is that for a not-too-cold day probably 2 hours, for a really cold day at least 6.

Ted said Aeroshell with Camguard is close enough to his recommendation. I liked that.

I didn't realize I said that. I thought what I said was that I hadn't read anything on Aeroshell that really told me much one way or the other, but I figured it was ok. I won't use it in my Continentals because of the starter adapter issue.

Not really a pre-heat question, but is there any hard data yet on engine longevity between X, Y, and Z oil brands all with CamGuard added? Or is that picking poop out of... Whatever.

None that I've found, and it's hard to do simply because of the variety of engine operation. What kills the engine first? Cape Air could do such a study, and they may have. They use Philips oil. I also think corrosion is the least of their worries, since their planes fly so much.

I'll throw a final note out here... Most of our clubs don't have pre-heat rules until things get incredibly cold. Many of their aircraft in today's economy don't fly any more than ours does. AFAIK, I'm not hearing many stories of premature engine death on the rental fleet, but will admit I'm not as in tune to the rentals as I once was. Their aircraft also sit outside. Pre-heat in the wind with a propane burner isn't going to be very effective, and I've never seen a rental with cowl plugs. (We do have those, BTW.)

How do you define "premature engine death"? Do you define it as not making TBO, or not making it beyond TBO? Remember that TBOs were largely defined with "old school" operations, and many people who are using the various more modern methodologies are getting well beyond TBO.

 

[Ted]

I agree completely with your conclusion (at least I THINK that is your conclusion) that getting the oil as warm as possible is the key.

More that for optimal pre-heating, you want to get the whole engine warmed up as much as possible. The cylinders, oil, and crank/case/bearings are all important in this.

 

[Ted]

What about the rocker cover ring heater bands? I always liked those.

I've never used them, but don't see why they wouldn't work. Again, you're putting the heat closer to its representative location.

 

[spinfire]

Ted,

You talked about dehydrators. The only one I've seen so far is the Tanis product (http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/11987). I'm not sure how I could leave such a thing out on the ramp whenever I wasn't flying, even in all weather. I do have electric access (and a recently installed Reiff). Are there more compact dehydrating alternatives, particularly something that can fit inside a closed oil door?

 

[kyleb]

I don't see how dessicant based dehydrators can be effective. The breather on the engine is a direct path to the amosphere, and open valves on both the intake an exhaust path provide other open atmospheric access.

One thing I do when I turn on the preheater is I open the oil filler cap. I figure it helps drive off moisture.

 

[gismo]

BTW, here's the reasons I chose Reiff over Tanis:

1) Tanis' system for the Continental IO-550 with an engine monitor installed costs $1,080. Reiff's costs $595.

2) Personal experience. We needed a new heater on the 182 when we had the engine overhauled a few years ago. One of our club officers, a former P210 owner, suggested the Reiff based on his (good) experience with it on the P210, so we had one installed. A year later, we installed one on the Diamond after we bought it. Both have been trouble-free and keep the engine nice and toasty warm in the winter - We use cowl plugs but no blankets or any other insulation on the club planes, and it's warm enough in there that when my hands get cold on a winter pre-flight I stick 'em in the oil door to warm them up!

I have nothing against Tanis, I've heard good things about them too - There's just more issues to worry about due to their potential conflicts with engine monitors, and they cost more as well.

The most important thing in any case is to make sure that you heat the engine, and heat the *entire* engine, not just the oil.

Tanis's product is a little better engineered IMO, particularly the harness that connects it all together. That said, I do believe Reiff's system is perfectly adequate and I like the fact that they include a thermostat on the sump heater. I have the Reiff setup on my Baron and it has worked well both in the hangar and on the ramp when away from home.

Tanis has data that shows their system makes the cylinder heads hotter than Reiff (no big surprise there) but the same data appeared to indicate that Reiff brings the heads to within a few degrees of the rest of the engine. As to the "spot heating" from Tanis's bolt or probe heaters I doubt that's a problem in that the aluminum that heads are made from is an excellent heat conductor and I would expect the thermal gradient across the head to be minimal.

Finally, thermal imaging camera costs run from a few to several thousand bucks today but some lower cost versions of the imaging sensor known as a microbolometer have become available in the last year or two so cheaper cameras may be along one of these days.

 

[Ted]

Ted,

You talked about dehydrators. The only one I've seen so far is the Tanis product (http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/11987). I'm not sure how I could leave such a thing out on the ramp whenever I wasn't flying, even in all weather. I do have electric access (and a recently installed Reiff). Are there more compact dehydrating alternatives, particularly something that can fit inside a closed oil door?

There are other brands out there. Tempest makes one, and there are the Roll-Your-Own variants.

I'd agree with your point about not wanting to leave that outside when you leave. They don't look like they're really intended to be exposed to the elements. What you could do, depending on your undercowl setup (don't know what that looks like for you) is simply do the aquarium pump going through the oil filler, which will circulate fresh air through the engine and get the humid, corrosive post-shutdown gasses out. Our Light'n'Sporty friend thinks this will get you most of the way there, and he's probably right. I'd think that could be made to fit under the cowl, and not be exposed to the elements too badly beyond temperature that way. Just remember to remove it.

I don't see how dessicant based dehydrators can be effective. The breather on the engine is a direct path to the amosphere, and open valves on both the intake an exhaust path provide other open atmospheric access.

One thing I do when I turn on the preheater is I open the oil filler cap. I figure it helps drive off moisture.

The desiccant-style dehydrators advertised have a little air pump to force air into the engine through the breather or the oil filler. No, it's not a ton of air, but it doesn't take much pressure to make air move one direction. So, they'd work just fine.

The plugs that you just put into the spark plug holes and elsewhere require significantly more units to be effective (and therefore more effort), but don't require electricity.

 

[David]

Tim,
There's no reason why you couldn't use a long duct with the red dragon if you wanted to. I suppose you could also put it on the floor and blow in through the cowl flaps. I don't like having a flame and an electric fan under the plane where fuel might leak which is another good reason to keep the heater in front of the plane. The red dragon is pumping out more than 40,000 BTU with a fairly powerful fan filling the engine compartment with hot air - no need to take advantage of hot air rising. There's nothing but hot air in the engine compartment. Probably the best thing to add to your setup is an old sleeping bag. With my bonanza, I had a Kennon insulated cover that fit nicely. I use that cover now with my chipmunk. It's not a great fit but it gets the job done. Here's an old photo of my bonanza.

Ted,

Just some data points.

I run my Salamander set-up for 30 to 45 minutes anytime the OAT is 40* or less. It provides a reasonably even heat for the entire engine compartment and raises the oil temps 25* to 30* above ambient. (@Dave, this is the temp immediately after starting the engine. My oil temp will read 10* higher than it actually is before starting because the sensor is externally mounted, but the temp drops immediately upon starting).

I believe my set-up is better than the red dragon for two reasons. First the heat source is farther from the engine so the air entering the cowl isn't so hot and, second, I'm introducing the warm air into the bottom of the cowl and allowing it to naturally rise instead of trying to force it down from the top.

The Achilles heel of my system is the internal engine components...crank and bearings, etc. There's a lot of mass there that I know I'm not warming much if at all.

My question, Ted, is: At what temperature does this become an issue? (internal components still being cold) How cold must it be before we need to worry about clearances and possibly re-cooling the oil? What else is there that's of concern with cold "innards"?

The hangar has electric and I could install a Reiff or Tanis but they're not nearly as convenient for spur of the moment trips...like 90% of mine are theses days.

Here's my system, again:

 

[Geico266]

I don't see how dessicant based dehydrators can be effective. The breather on the engine is a direct path to the amosphere, and open valves on both the intake an exhaust path provide other open atmospheric access.

One thing I do when I turn on the preheater is I open the oil filler cap. I figure it helps drive off moisture.

Try opening up the oil cap after flying. It let's a ton of moisture out of the crankcase.

 

[timwinters]

Probably the best thing to add to your setup is an old sleeping bag.

Yeah, I have one that I use when it gets really cold but that photo was taken on a day when the temps were in the upper 30's. When the temps are more "moderate" I don't use a blanket, I simply leave the cowl plugs in.

Also, I think it's worth noting (or maybe not) not to forget that the oil temp can sometimes be 10* or more cooler than the air temp. I recently drove to the airport in 50* temps for a lunch trip after a brisk night (low of 25*) to find my oil temp at 35*. I definitely still preheated.

 

[bqmassey]

I'd be interested in your take on the shock cooling debate, Ted. Myth or reality?

 

[Skip Miller]

Try opening up the oil cap after flying. It let's a ton of moisture out of the crankcase.

+1!

Just don't forget to re-install before startup/takeoff.

-Skip

 

[Jaybird180]

Ted, do you have any data you can share that points to quantifiable gains with each effort?

 

[timwinters]

There's a parallel conversation being had on this over at CPS and one of the guys over there has an interesting set-up.

He uses a ship bilge Heater that is U.L. Listed for an explosive environment http://www.xtremeheaters.com/buy/heaters

He puts it inside his cowl, uses an insulated cover and leaves it on all the time. It's thermostatically controlled so it maintains a constant temp. It also does a fair job of heating the cabin through the cabin air ducts.

Those of you who are CPS members can see more here.

http://www.cessna-pilots.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=228835#Post228834

 

[Ted]

I'd be interested in your take on the shock cooling debate, Ted. Myth or reality?

Since this is the ground thread, I'd rather keep that out of here. I've stated it before, but what I figure I'll do later is make a second thread on how to make your engine last (while flying) thread. We'll discuss that there.

 

[Ted]

Ted, do you have any data you can share that points to quantifiable gains with each effort?

I don't have any reports that I can point you to, no. This is pretty much based on what I've observed as a pilot and engineer. If I had to rate the issues discussed here in the order of importance, I'd say:

1) Pre-heat
2) Oil and additives
3) Dehydrator

 

[murphey]

I'll have to see if there's a detectable level of heat at the root of the prop blades. I'm in a very well-sealed hangar, so I doubt it'll be an issue. It'd be neat to have one of those heat cameras, tho... Wonder how much those cost?

Yes there is. I've got the oil pan heater, a cowl cover (which also covers the front so no need for cowl plugs) and prop covers. Even if I forget the prop covers, the difference in temp of the prop tips and at the spinner is markedly different.

 

[denverpilot]

How do you define "premature engine death"? Do you define it as not making TBO, or not making it beyond TBO? Remember that TBOs were largely defined with "old school" operations, and many people who are using the various more modern methodologies are getting well beyond TBO.

In my example, I'd say it was just no ragged stories of mechanics on the field saying the flight club and school aircraft were eating engines faster than any others.

But you make a good point. Some people think TBO is good, others are hoping for going twenty plus years past the manufacturer's recommended number of years without an overhaul, and thousands of hours beyond TBO.

So asking around isn't going to give consistent objective data, I suppose...

 

[Ted]

In my example, I'd say it was just no ragged stories of mechanics on the field saying the flight club and school aircraft were eating engines faster than any others.

But you make a good point. Some people think TBO is good, others are hoping for going twenty plus years past the manufacturer's recommended number of years without an overhaul, and thousands of hours beyond TBO.

So asking around isn't going to give consistent objective data, I suppose...

That's the problem with governing engine life. I tend to think if all you get is TBO, you were doing something wrong. Then again, I talked to one Cirrus owner who thought a top overhaul at half time on his TSIO-550 was fine if it meant he could cruise at 85% power and climb at 100%. I told hom to expect two top overhauls, and he said that was unacceptable. Well, maybe you should pull the power back...

 

[flyingcheesehead]

The hangar has electric and I could install a Reiff or Tanis but they're not nearly as convenient for spur of the moment trips...like 90% of mine are theses days.

How's that? It's best to leave them plugged in so as not to allow the engine to cool to the point where moisture condenses inside, and if you do that the plane is always ready to go.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I will also add here that this is always done with a large (not one of those piddly little kitchen fire things) fire extinguisher close at hand, and since I generally fly recreationally, it's rare to do the "extreme cold" thing. If it ain't fun, why do it? Life's too good for that.

Because letting your airplane sit for long periods over the winter isn't good for it, and because flying in really cold weather *IS* fun - The performance is amazing!

Even for those with with electric, what do you do at out stations? It's not like many FBOs will let ya run an extension cord out onto the ramp. If you're using the aircraft for real travel, and doing it in the winter, you're going to have some cold starts. There's very little opportunity to avoid it.

Sure they do. Our club aircraft are kept in a community hangar that has FBO-owned extension cords with socket lights running to all the planes, and there are cords on the ramp that the line crew plugs in when they pull the planes out of the hangar, and pilots plug in when they park on the ramp. Their own rental planes all have extension cords going out to their spots on the ramp as well.

Our club also has several 50-foot extension cords in lockers in the hangar for taking along when flying to other airports in case they don't have cords. Simply due to the kinds of flying I do in the winter (mostly local, $100 burger runs, or flying south) I don't have many occasions to do this except for my yearly trip to Cadillac, where the plane gets parked in an unheated hangar with an extension cord running to it.

but the airplane was cold started at least a few times. It was basically unavoidable.

Our club rules prohibit starts without heat below 20ºF, touch and goes below 0ºF, and any flight operations below -20ºF, with a $50 fine imposed on anyone who does (enforceability is an entirely different problem, of course).

I've been spending $40+tax for a preheat whenever it's below 40ºF, so you can tell where my opinion lies.

However, my winter $100 burger runs are enabled by cowl plugs - They'll easily keep enough heat in for a few hours to make it start well. Prior to the return, I'll do a quick preflight and when I remove the cowl plugs just before I hop in, I'll stick my hand in and touch the cylinders to verify that there's still some heat in there.

It's not that hard to avoid cold starts.

If some enterprising person were to figure out a way to fire up a generator for a period of time prior to a flight to power an *electrical* pre-heat system, obviously if the genset were in a safe location away from combustibles, monitored, etc... What's the minimum amount of time it would have to be on -- to heat at least some "non-ideal but better than that propane burner" portion of the engine?

Depends what system you have installed. I went with the Reiff "standard system" (100W on the oil and 50W/cylinder) since I plan on leaving it plugged in at all times in a well-sealed hangar with cowl plugs in. However, they also sell a "Turbo" system and a "Turbo XP" system that use higher wattages and heat the engine faster.

There is no single answer on this - It depends not only on the heating system you have but also on OAT, whether or not you're protected from wind, whether or not you have an engine blanket and/or cowl plugs to prevent heat loss, etc.

Since I've never seen any source say that heating is necessary below 50ºF, it's probably safe to assume that if your engine is at or above 50ºF, you're good to go. If you have a system that's always on, oil temp and CHT will give you a pretty good indication of the overall temp of the engine. However, if you just heated your engine in the last 1/2 hour and it was previously at -20ºF, CHT and oil temp will be higher than other parts of the engine - CHT/oil may be at 50ºF, but your crankshaft may still be at 0ºF - Ted's example of food in the microwave is a good one (warm outside, frozen inside).

I'll throw a final note out here... Most of our clubs don't have pre-heat rules until things get incredibly cold.

I dunno... Is 20ºF "incredibly cold"? And while our rules have fines for cold starts below 20ºF, we do tell members (and the FBO) to plug them in whenever it's below 40ºF.

I've never seen a rental with cowl plugs. (We do have those, BTW.)

Rentals at MSN have 'em - They're "homemade" ones, just big foam blocks with a rope through 'em, but cowl plugs nonetheless.

 

[Ted]

So now folks, here's my thought with this thread and others to come:

We have a number of issues that belong here in Maintenance Bay on a recurring basis. We have stickies for other items such as "Why Climb for Ice?", and there is some great information in those stickies that we keep building on. Let's start the same here in Maintenance Bay. I'm willing to write them and share my knowledge and experience to lead this effort on the engine side.

What say y'all?

 

[tmyers]

Information is power as they say, I am always looking to learn so please, type away.

 

[denverpilot]

Enjoying it immensely, Ted. Old enough to know I'm no engine expert, and young enough to still change my ways if it appears there's a benefit from it.

 

[Alexb2000]

Interesting read.

First I have an engine heater and use it, although not much since I pay for a heated hangar whenever possible in freezing temps.

But.... I watch flight school aircraft sit out on the ramp in the cold, no cowl plugs, no heaters, no... nothing.

Then some student goes out there, primes the hell out of it, and preforms a 2000 RPM cold start. This goes on day after day. Sitting in the FBO with a cup of coffee it's easy to imagine all the damage being done.

So why do these engines go to TBO and beyond routinely while someone else's babied, pre-heated, hangar queen, with a 20 year old 1000 hour engine needs an overhaul?

Is time a much bigger concern than pre-heating?

 

[Henning]

Interesting read.

First I have an engine heater and use it, although not much since I pay for a heated hangar whenever possible in freezing temps.

But.... I watch flight school aircraft sit out on the ramp in the cold, no cowl plugs, no heaters, no... nothing.

Then some student goes out there, primes the hell out of it, and preforms a 2000 RPM cold start. This goes on day after day. Sitting in the FBO with a cup of coffee it's easy to imagine all the damage being done.

So why do these engines go to TBO and beyond routinely while someone else's babied, pre-heated, hangar queen, with a 20 year old 1000 hour engine needs an overhaul?

Is time a much bigger concern than pre-heating?

Because engines are rugged as hell and want to run as it keeps oil on everything. The absolute worst thing you can do to an engine in the normal course of things is to let it sit unpickled.

 

[Ted]

Interesting read.

First I have an engine heater and use it, although not much since I pay for a heated hangar whenever possible in freezing temps.

But.... I watch flight school aircraft sit out on the ramp in the cold, no cowl plugs, no heaters, no... nothing.

Then some student goes out there, primes the hell out of it, and preforms a 2000 RPM cold start. This goes on day after day. Sitting in the FBO with a cup of coffee it's easy to imagine all the damage being done.

So why do these engines go to TBO and beyond routinely while someone else's babied, pre-heated, hangar queen, with a 20 year old 1000 hour engine needs an overhaul?

Is time a much bigger concern than pre-heating?

The answer is that there are many things that will try to kill your engine. Since they impact the same parts, they tend to work in parallel to age your engine.

Flight school airplanes are run often, and are also typically O-320 or O-360 Lycomings, which have a tendency to last forever, no matter what you do to them. So they have a lot of positives going for them.

Age matters, especially with respect to corrosion. The flight school engines probably never get a chance to suffer corrosion issues since they run so much more frequently than the privately owned planes.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I watch flight school aircraft sit out on the ramp in the cold, no cowl plugs, no heaters, no... nothing.

Then some student goes out there, primes the hell out of it, and preforms a 2000 RPM cold start. This goes on day after day. Sitting in the FBO with a cup of coffee it's easy to imagine all the damage being done.

So why do these engines go to TBO and beyond routinely while someone else's babied, pre-heated, hangar queen, with a 20 year old 1000 hour engine needs an overhaul?

Is time a much bigger concern than pre-heating?

The flight school planes are getting flown regularly enough that there's still a film of oil left over on things from the previous flight, so there's not nearly as much wear as there would be if they'd done that cold start to an engine that had been sitting for a week or two, or worse yet a month or two.

When I worked at an airport, I couldn't believe the number of planes that weren't flown AT ALL in the winter. That's not good for 'em either.

 

[gismo]

The answer is that there are many things that will try to kill your engine. Since they impact the same parts, they tend to work in parallel to age your engine.

Flight school airplanes are run often, and are also typically O-320 or O-360 Lycomings, which have a tendency to last forever, no matter what you do to them. So they have a lot of positives going for them.

Age matters, especially with respect to corrosion. The flight school engines probably never get a chance to suffer corrosion issues since they run so much more frequently than the privately owned planes.

And chances are that 2000 RPM cold start in the flight school airplane was performed on an engine that hadn't been sitting long enough to let the oil run off so the abuse is fairly well mitigated by the residual lubrication.

 

[Ted]

And chances are that 2000 RPM cold start in the flight school airplane was performed on an engine that hadn't been sitting long enough to let the oil run off so the abuse is fairly well mitigated by the residual lubrication.

Correct. And even if it had been sitting overnight and cold soaked, that likely falls under the category of "something else will kill it first" given the high hour use for the plane.

 

[Henning]

BTW, this is also one of the added bonuses to Cam Gaurd, it helps keep the oil on the surfaces.

 

[Ted]

BTW, this is also one of the added bonuses to Cam Gaurd, it helps keep the oil on the surfaces.

That reminds me, I need to order some. Going to need an oil change next week.

 

[Alexb2000]

So what is the order of importance?

1. Fly frequently
2. Use good oil/cam guard
3. Pre-heat

???

 

[Henning]

So what is the order of importance?

1. Fly frequently
2. Use good oil/cam guard
3. Pre-heat

???

All three work together.

 

[Ted]

So what is the order of importance?

1. Fly frequently
2. Use good oil/cam guard
3. Pre-heat

???

Henning is right, but let's look a little further.

If you fly frequently, your engine will spend a lot of time at temperature, and you won't have condensation and corrosion, as well as issues with things like age and degradation of seals/etc. This is the most important overall I'd say.

If you pre-heat, you'll save on wear no matter what. But obviously pre-heating wear is highly variable, and you see a number of planes with little to no pre-heat that are flown often and have no issues. I'd say this is second important.

The primary benefit of good oil is in corrosion protection, and also having less cold start wear through multi-viscosity oils. Also less wear on Continental starter adapters (if you have that concern). Seeing as pretty much all sorts of oils seem to lubricate, this is probably third most important on the list. However, this is also the easiest one to do since you need oil anyway, and it's all more or less similar on price. So I think it's silly to not do this one.

That reminds me, I need to order some more oil, filters, and CamGuard.

 

[denverpilot]

So what is the order of importance?

1. Fly frequently
2. Use good oil/cam guard
3. Pre-heat

???

4. Profit!

(Gratuitous South Park Underpants Gnomes reference.)

 

[jesse]

Now a sticky.

 

[Skylane81E]

Flying the thing is #1 on the scale with out a doubt. Of our school planes ONE has had to have repair work done not caused by stupid pilot (or mechanic, failed to successfully extract a flush broken starter stud and had to have the case welded 50hrs shy of TBO {we overhauled it}) tricks. It was a top overhaul on a plane that had been idle for about 5 years prior to our leasing it. This includes the "evil" H2AD that the last one I pulled (only because we had a spare) had run 3000+hrs and the one on it now has gone over TBO recently as well.

 

[Ted]

I'm going to start another thread for how to make your engine last - flying version.