New to colder temps

Rykymus

Rykymus

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
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647
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Allen, TX
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Rykymus
So, I must moved from CA to TX, and apparently we're having an unusually cold spell here. The nights are dropping to -1 to -9, and the last couple days the temps didn't get any higher than -2 all day. Warmer days are coming, maybe 5c to 12c.

My question is: I arrived with 15w50 in my bird. (She's on tiedowns now.) I still have at least 10 hours of life left in that oil. Should I change it now to something more akin to the colder temps? Or is this weather not cold enough to worry about it until the next oil change?

Thanks
 
Nope, 15w50 is a great all weather oil, if you look in your POH you'll see it spans the whole range, personally I like to add some camguard.

You'll likley also want to be preheating in those temps too, and be cautious of ice and frost not only in the air but on your plane on the ground.
 
Over at DTO, we're running 80-weight during winter months.

And a really thorough pre-heat is a very good idea.

Since you are on the outdoor tie downs, add to your preflight a very careful check of frost on the wings and control surfaces. It does not take much for that to turn a flight on a calm winter morning into a disaster.
 
Why does a California dude report temps in Celcius?
It isn't that cold today abd it'll be back into the high 60s by the weekend.

How much frost on the wings does it take to make a disaster?
 
25 years parking outside in Alaska teaches better than Google.

Sublimation. Winter pilots know about that word. It's what makes ice and frost go away during flight when it was too stubborn to come off pre-flight.
 
Thanks for the replies. Follow up question: If the plane spent 48 hrs in (barely) freezing temps, how long does it need to be in above 40f before I no longer need to worry about preheating? I really don't want to invest in gear to preheat if this kind of cold snap is not customary for this area. Besides, I don't plan on doing a lot of flying in cold weather anyway. I just don't want to hurt my engine.
 
Continental's preheat threshold is 20* F. Lycoming's is 10* F. Both mfgrs advise you to use the proper oil, which you're doing. Learn what your engine likes for prime and go fly.
 
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