Oil change

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tazin river
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Oil change

Post by tazin river »

Hello there

I changed the oil in our C 180 on floats just before pulling the plane out of the water in the fall. The plane was not used this winter and will be put back in the water around the 3rd week of May. The annual will be done in the next 2-3 weeks or so.

My question is...should I change the oil again even though the engine did not run since last fall?

Cheers
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crazyaviator
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Re: Oil change

Post by crazyaviator »

If the oil was inhibiting oil, then yes, change it . If it was not inhibiting oil but the engine was not run and it looks like new, then no, don't change it. Run the engine for an hour ,then recheck the oil (Drain a cup) for evidence of the engine rusting or corroding over winter. ( IMHO)
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cgzro
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Re: Oil change

Post by cgzro »

what does the engine manual say? Usually its change every xx hours or yy months regardless of hours and preserve if left more than yy weeks.

Anyway water will have accumulated in the oil just through condensation so I would drain and replace regardless.
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SuperchargedRS
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Re: Oil change

Post by SuperchargedRS »

Its the cheapest mx you can do on a plane, besides skywagons are not exactly cheap aircraft, nor do they have small cheap engines.

Just change the oil, it's one of those things, when in doubt grab your tools and fill a bucket.
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crazyaviator
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Re: Oil change

Post by crazyaviator »

Anyway water will have accumulated in the oil just through condensation so I would drain and replace regardless.
Condensation is your enemy as well as acids during combustion. I do not believe that a 20 min flight will cure the condensation issue, If oil was $10.00 a change , i would do it every 25 hrs!!!
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tazin river
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Re: Oil change

Post by tazin river »

Thanks folks for those words of wisdom....makes sense...

Will change the oil again next week...
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piperdriver
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Re: Oil change

Post by piperdriver »

If the oil has very few hours why not just leave it in. The first flight of the year will burn the condensation off in the oil.
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longjon
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Re: Oil change

Post by longjon »

What I was thinking, go for a flight, not 10 min but enough to burn any condensation out of the oil.
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ahramin
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Re: Oil change

Post by ahramin »

http://www.shell.com/business-customers ... k-3peo.pdf
Almost all oil change recommendations specify not only an engine hour time limit, but
also a calendar time limit; typically 4 or 6 months depending upon engine manufacturer. On low usage aircraft the calendar time limit is usually more critical than the engine hour limit. The need for frequent oil changes in aircraft is not caused by the oil wearing out,
but rather by the oil becoming contaminated with by-products of combustion, dirt, water (both atmospheric as well as from condensation inside an engine) and unburnt fuel. This contamination can cause corrosion in the oil wetted areas of an engine and thus changing the oil removes these contaminants and helps to minimise corrosion. In order to minimise this corrosion inside low usage engines, calendar time changes are important.
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