Oil Shortage?

Flocker

Flocker

Line Up and Wait
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Flocker
I ordered 3 liters of Aeroshell Sport Plus 4 a few weeks ago from Lockwood Aviation. I was told there was a shortage and it was on back order and they had no idea when it would ship. I tried to order some from Aircraft Spruce today and the estimated ship date was February 22nd. Has anyone else experienced this? My wife went to get her oil changed in her car today and was told that they only had synthetic.
 
I bought oil and filters last month in preparation for this. Tires are also going to be hard to source. Get some consumables if you can. The world was shut down for a year and we’re paying for it.
 
texasclouds said:
I bought oil and filters last month in preparation for this. Tires are also going to be hard to source. Get some consumables if you can. The world was shut down for a year and we’re paying for it.
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I have done the same thing, bought oil last month, filters and tires, tubes this month. My airport manager told me last month when I bought oil Aircraft Spruce was down to 50 cases after he bought some.

They didn't have the tires I usually use, I bought what I could get.
 
Flocker said:
I ordered 3 liters of Aeroshell Sport Plus 4 a few weeks ago from Lockwood Aviation. I was told there was a shortage and it was on back order and they had no idea when it would ship. I tried to order some from Aircraft Spruce today and the estimated ship date was February 22nd. Has anyone else experienced this? My wife went to get her oil changed in her car today and was told that they only had synthetic.
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Supposedly when fuel demand was flat in 2020 the refineries weren’t making specialty stuff.
 
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Ive had no problem getting oil, but my oil filter has been on back order with spruce for months. ended up buying one locally.
 
CH48109-1 for my E225. the expected ship date keeps getting pushed back. it used to be mid december. now its january.
 
Lots of difficulty finding certain grades in the automotive world. Rotella 5w-40 for diesels seems to be pretty spotty as are other brands in that same weight. Had to special order a basic Wix oil filter for a 5.3L LS-engine which is normally readily available at O'Reilly Auto, but they are often out of stock. It's less about the oil itself or the filter manufacturers, but the raw materials like plastic jugs and filter element raw materials are sitting on container ships waiting to get into port.
 
I was at Walmart today to pick up a few things for the truck’s oil change. It was really thin there.

I bought extra filters and oil because I don’t want to be caught short.

the place from where I buy my W100+ also advises me to keep extra on hand.
 
Tailwheel tires are unobtanium. Luckily my CFI uses the same tires for his amphib so he sold me one.
 
I called WagAero on 11/29 to order a case of Aeroshell Sport 4. The lady said it was back ordered for several weeks. I said no big rush. She said it was most efficient to order online, and to put in remarks I knew it was back ordered. I did, and got a call the next day telling me it was back ordered and asking if I still wanted it. I said yes and was prepared to wait however long.

The oil arrived UPS on 12/2. Maybe I just got lucky but try them. As an aside, I have plenty now if you need some in a pinch.
 
Spruce still has Phillips xc in stock. I sometimes use oil to make my orders eligible for free shipping, so I have a year's worth in my cabinet.

I did have to order some camguard though, and spark plugs. God aviation stuff is expensive.
 
FastEddieB said:
I called WagAero on 11/29 to order a case of Aeroshell Sport 4. The lady said it was back ordered for several weeks. I said no big rush. She said it was most efficient to order online, and to put in remarks I knew it was back ordered. I did, and got a call the next day telling me it was back ordered and asking if I still wanted it. I said yes and was prepared to wait however long.

The oil arrived UPS on 12/2. Maybe I just got lucky but try them. As an aside, I have plenty now if you need some in a pinch.
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Thanks for the PIREP Eddie. I'll give them a call today. I can't afford to be grounded due to a lack of oil.
 
Flocker said:
Thanks for the PIREP Eddie. I'll give them a call today. I can't afford to be grounded due to a lack of oil.
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Again, I have extra. Happy to sell you half the case, about $75 given my case cost after shipping. Always looking for an excuse to fly, unless you want to make it over here (Lenoir City).
 
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Remember, oil and filter change hours are arbitrary. So much depends on type of flying. My IO-520a manual originally said change at 75 hours and I just have a screen.
 
Snowmass said:
Remember, oil and filter change hours are arbitrary. ...
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really?

oil doesn't pick up contaminates?

oil doesn't degrade over time (use/calendar)?
 
also, ‘oil’ is a funny word. if u repeat it enough times it seems like it’s not even a word. it’s even funnier to look at. oil. oil. oil. wtf. O. I. L. oil. say it 10 times and then look at the word……oil. its just weird AF.
 
FastEddieB said:
“Arbitrary” is a poor choice of words here. There’s documented reasons behind the intervals given by manufacturers. Better to say the recommendations are somewhat “flexible”.
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“TBO-like”
 
Flexible is a word that I like!

I have been changing oil in a small fleet of cars and trucks since 1983.
I have never believed in 3000 mile oil changes for cars or trucks. I changed them at 5000 miles even back in the 80s. Big diesel trucks way more miles than that. Big trucks change them at 750 hours, factory suggest 500 hours.

Bragging I have never experienced a engine failure during my 37 years of maintenance.

Now my 2014 F250 gas engine recommends 5000 mile oil changes, guess what I change them at 7500 miles and I take care of 4 of them.

My newest Detroit diesel recommends oil changes every 45000 miles and 1500 hours of use. I have stuck to this recommendation so far.
I love that the factory's are extending oil change recommendations.

I ran a lycoming 0-320 H2AD to 100 hours and sent a sample to blackstone. All were within averages with no problems noted. I changed out the motor and is why I ran it to 100 hours.

I change my oil in my cessna between 50-60 hours and do fly often, 3-5 days a week.

My buddy's Cherokee only flew 68 hrs last year and that is how long he ran the oil. His mechanic did not have a concern about that. I helped with his annual and oil change.

IMO thousands of gallons of oil are wasted every year. I thought we were supposed to be more "green"? lol

Ok now that I posted this I will get ready for my first engine failure!!
 
I still say oil change oil change times are arbitrary since nothing suddenly happens a certain number of hours so the not infallible manufacturers (if they were infallible we wouldn't have ADs.) simply pick numbers that are harmonious with our base 10 counting system, i.e. 100/2 or 100/4 in this case. The amount of oil deterioration over time depends on how the plane is flown and the conditions in which the plane is stored. OK, my last post on this; if don't understand by now you probably never will. Adios.
 
Snowmass said:
I still say oil change oil change times are arbitrary since nothing suddenly happens a certain number of hours so the not infallible manufacturers (if they were infallible we wouldn't have ADs.) simply pick numbers that are harmonious with our base 10 counting system, i.e. 100/2 or 100/4 in this case. The amount of oil deterioration over time depends on how the plane is flown and the conditions in which the plane is stored. OK, my last post on this; if don't understand by now you probably never will. Adios.
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not agreeing is not the same as not understanding.

but, tu tambien adios
 
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