Engine care when not flying

[hawaiiJim]

John, ny 86 dropped some ideas : I'm sure I'll get a lot of flack for this, but, IMHO, the only thing rotating the prop does for an idle engine is scrape any oil film you may have had off the cylinder walls. Better to just leave it alone, or fly it. Ground running has its own set of issues, too (water vapor in the oil...)

A & P here says turn prop weekly!

Let's discuss this, as I leave my T craft in Summer to fly Maule in AK,.!

[Forrest Barber]

some A&P's may be wrong.... true the valve position changes but the oil being scrapped off out weighs that idea... run the engine each 30-60 days if possilble. Get her up to operating temp ( fly her) . Otherwise just leave her sit. We had one ship here for 24 yrs and another one for 22 years we just left them sit.... ran good too!

[Jim Hartley]

Forrest, can you elaborate more? This is a good subject. Did these ships sit for months at at a time? High/low humidity? Dessicant Plugs? cylinders full of oil? TBO history? MMO? So many factors involved in reaching TBO but I would like to hear more from you and others that can give some tips on prolonging engine life. Bring it on ...!

[Forrest Barber]

Well as I mentioned they sat for 24 YRS & 22 YRS that was the time sitting NEVER turned over. the 24 yr were two Jacobs on a UC-78 Bob cat the other was the 220 Cont on a Stearman. I DO NOT RECCOMEND this as a good idea; BUT it was done. the point is it can happen. WE merely drained the fuel, checked the mags, pulled the lower plugs, drained the oil from lower cyls & sump or tank put in fresh after hosing things off inside with a blow gun and diesel fuel, pulling them through and firing them up.... the Cont needed to have the valves ground on two cylds before return to service. When I say run them once in a while, that can be as far apart as 6-12 months and they seem okay here in NE Ohio that has high humidity, temps from -10 to 100 degrees F. The oil can run off the Lycoming cams real easy and they can rust, the oil can run off the Cont & Lyc rocker arms and rust ; obviously if you ahve a engine that has been sitting, pull as much off as you can and get some preservative onto all parts to prevent a dry start up. any other tales to tell?? IF I were to own an engine that was going to be put on the shelf for a while I would follow the manual for proper preservation of course....

[Forrest Barber]

After re reading the last post , I see We really need to discuss long engine life. I saw an engine that ran from 1911 to 1938 and was never shut down, ran on well head gas., oil was kept replenished, I am sure they shut her down for ignition service too!
I saw an A-65 with 2400 hrs. topped once at 1200 , pipe line patrol. I saw a Lyc 0-320 on a Cherokee with 3200 hrs never touched, it is possible . I believe in a good warm up; get cyl head temps up, do not shock cool, change oil , clean screens ; or change filters as required, keep clean , use winter front protection, coomon sense stuff...... and yes I do use MMO for the small Conts with 100LL & part car gas , have no idea why, the formula is nothing tricky but it works IT borders on the occult....

[ROllerton]

MMO and engine life.

There was a good article in Skinned Knuckles about a year or 18 months ago on MMO. In their (pretty careful) evaluation they determined that it did soften carbon and other deposits enough so they would come loose or wash away. Something to do with the type of petrolium base.

MMO came about in the pre wwII days when there was no standards for gasoline and it was a frequent chore to take off the head and scrape the carbon and gunk off the pistons and valves. And make pull the valves to ream the guides of crud.
Anything that could reduce or eliminate this chore was appreciated.

On our farm in Arizona, we ran about 10 or so 300 to 600HP irrigation pumps that ran 24/7 at 600RPM on Natural Gas; We bought MMO in 55gal drums.

BTW, if you fool around with old cars, a subscription is well worth it, and pretty cheap too.

[stormman]

OK i will bite! What is IHMO and MMO ?

I know " I should have known"

[ROllerton]

Dear Brother Norm;

The first is Internet Shorthand for:

IMHO --> In My Humble Opinion

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

The second is the secret code work for that cure all that we all know and love (well almost all everyone)

MMO --> Marvel Mystery Oil



Marvel Oil Company
331 N. Main Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
Phone 914.937.4000
Fax 914.937.4004

[stormman]

IMHO & MMO

Hell i KNEW that! Knew is the key word here.
Bob , what this password thing that keeps popping up saying a Supervisor has to type in a password?
The Marval can was a nice touch. I think i have 3 of them in the garage.
" I should have Known"
BTW im a mouthpiece for some of the other guys as they know i put my foot in my mouth all the time and that the little ego that i had was taken away by school girls long ago.

[Robert Lees]

Norm, me ol' buddy, don't be a mouthpiece for other people. Let them state their own views.

[stormman]

mouthpiece

not a mouthpiece old chap , just that they ask me a question to a post and i figure if they asked me there must be a shit load of others who are wondering too

[ROllerton]

They should write you in for Gov. in California. Bet you would have things humming right along in short order!

[Victor Gisclair]

IMHO & MMO

Thanks Norm,
I new what MMO was but not IMHO. Now thanks to you I am a smarter Cajun

[ROllerton]

The flying coonass

http://www.coonass.com/

(said in a loving sort of way)

[Victor Gisclair]

IMHO & MMO

Thanks Bob I am enjoying every Minute of it to.