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-   -   1 Million Gallons of Oil on m'Belly! (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=170167)

bkervaski 04-01-2019 08:05 AM

1 Million Gallons of Oil on m'Belly!
 
Fun times!

On Friday I went out to do my BFR and when I landed there was about a million gallons of oil on the belly of the airplane.

Took the cowling off, cleaned it all up.

Checked the oil, in reality only lost about 1/3qt.

The oil seemed to be collected around the oil cooler (right side bottom firewall on the 14), there was no signs of oil on the engine or near any of the connectors.

I couldn't find any leaks in the oil cooler. I took it off, pressure tested it (using only the "hold and blow" method and some soapy water). There were no signs of weeping near the elbows. No signs the oil cooler was the problem.

On the 14, the engine vent is pointing towards the oil cooler, dumping out over the exhaust.

The running theory at the field is that the vent line was clogged and came free dumping oil.

There was no indication in flight, no pressure drop or anything odd feeling/sounding.

My plan is to, while leaving the cowling off, taxi and run-ups to get the oil warm and see if any leaks show up.

Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks for any advice!

Oh .. and 1/3qt goes a LONG way :D

pilotkms 04-01-2019 08:42 AM

Just went thru the same. Check the hose coming off the crankcase vent. Mine was fine for 270 hours. Somehow it cracked just aft of the clamp and was hidden at the bottom. Not until I reseated 2 weeping oil fittings and did some ?repair? work on my oil Cooler did I look at the hose. Mine is blue silicon. Replaced with auto hose as a temp fix and now have no weeps or leaks. New hose on order from ACS.

TS Flightlines 04-01-2019 08:43 AM

Bill---you may have some 'extra' blowby that might require and oil separator. Some do, some dont.

Tom

lr172 04-01-2019 08:56 AM

It sounds like this an issue of sudden excess oil consumption and less about where the oil is going, especially if you can connect the dots that the oil is coming from the breather outlet. Is this qty of oil consumption new?

If yes, and is likely coming from the breather outlet, I would recommend doing a compression check. A broken ring, causing increased blow by would be my thought. This assumes that this level of oil consumption is new and appeared suddenly.

Larry

bkervaski 04-01-2019 08:57 AM

Quote:

Is this qty of excess oil consumption new?
Yes, this is all with one flight and all of the oil was on the bottom of the airplane. My engine only burns about 1/4qt every 5 hours of flight at 62 hours.

bkervaski 04-01-2019 08:59 AM

Quote:

you may have some 'extra' blowby that might require and oil separator. Some do, some dont
Makes sense, but this is all from one flight ... an event of some kind happened to trigger it. There has been no excessive oil from the breather tube (unless it has been clogged and just all released at once) and the engine has been dry with no issues.

bkervaski 04-01-2019 09:00 AM

Quote:

Just went thru the same. Check the hose coming off the crankcase vent.
Hoping this is what it ends up being .. would make the most sense.

lr172 04-01-2019 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkervaski (Post 1335980)
The running theory at the field is that the vent line was clogged and came free dumping oil.

That type of event would not increase oil discharge and if anything would reduce it. The event of finally blowing off the blockage would not involve any additional oil discharge and the engine would be discharging less oil while blocked/restricted. Unless, of course, the pressure blow out something else like a front seal, creating a true leak.

Larry

bkervaski 04-01-2019 09:02 AM

Quote:

That type of event would not increase oil discharge and if anything would reduce it. The event of finally blowing off the blockage would not involve any additional oil discharge and the engine would be discharging less oil while blocked/restricted.
Great info! Keep it coming :D Thanks guys!

rjcthree 04-01-2019 09:28 AM

BFR acro?
 
My latest BFR had some relatively unusual attitude recovery in it (especially in a Warrior) including an instructor induced light negative g moment designed to confuse me under the hood. It corrosion proofed the belly of the airplane as you described. And chance your event was maneuver related?


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