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  #1  
Old 11-17-2016, 12:44 PM
Pat Stewart Pat Stewart is offline
 
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Location: Granbury Texas
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Default IO360 oil leak/blow by

Been struggling to find the source of about a tablespoon of oil on my belly after every flight. This engine has about 58 hours on it. I brought the oil level down to about 6.5 and still have oil. I can find no sign of any leak (yes it's a Lycoming) around the engine so assuming it's blow by. No staining on the top of the exhaust were the blow by tube is located so that's interesting. This engine also has an oil separator.

Thoughts would be appreciated.
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  #2  
Old 11-17-2016, 01:33 PM
Gerald Clabots Gerald Clabots is offline
 
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Default Oil leak

Have you checked the crush washer on the oil screen at the rear of the engine and the plug is tight enough.
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  #3  
Old 11-17-2016, 01:42 PM
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snopercod snopercod is offline
 
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Default Rocker Cover gaskets?

I chased an oil leak for months and even went so far as to add fluorescent dye to the oil to try and pin down the source. It turned out to be one of the rocker cover gaskets.
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  #4  
Old 11-17-2016, 02:43 PM
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LettersFromFlyoverCountry LettersFromFlyoverCountry is offline
 
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How's your breather tube look?
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  #5  
Old 11-17-2016, 03:05 PM
vic syracuse vic syracuse is offline
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Don't hesitate to run it BETWEEN 5-6 quarts. I find that over 6 qts and it will blow out.
And with only 58 hours you might still be getting some blowby past the rings.

Vic
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  #6  
Old 11-18-2016, 06:58 AM
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edsong edsong is offline
 
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Default Oil level.

Lycoming says 4 quarts is minimum.
Like Vic said,
Mine likes it best at 6 quarts. Add at 5 quarts.
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  #7  
Old 11-18-2016, 08:12 AM
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Toobuilder Toobuilder is offline
 
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Just as a data point, I consider 6 qts "full" on a 360, and only add oil when it gets down to 4.
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  #8  
Old 11-18-2016, 08:47 AM
Bavafa Bavafa is offline
 
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This is all good info for me, for the first year or two I would add oil when I got to about 7 Qt, now I add oil when I get to 6. Maybe I should let it go farther down. I don't have awful a lot of oil on the belly but recently seen a small strain of oil that I can not find the source.
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  #9  
Old 11-18-2016, 09:38 AM
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az_gila az_gila is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edsong View Post
Lycoming says 4 quarts is minimum.
Like Vic said,
Mine likes it best at 6 quarts. Add at 5 quarts.
Unless you have a IO-360-M1A/B or HIO-360-G1A Lyc 360, the actual specification given by Lycoming is only 2 qts. minimum.

I also find my O-360 is happier at 6 qts. Any more and it seems to auto-correct to the 6 qts. number anyway...
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  #10  
Old 11-18-2016, 09:39 AM
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AltonD AltonD is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Stewart View Post
Been struggling to find the source of about a tablespoon of oil on my belly after every flight. This engine has about 58 hours on it. I brought the oil level down to about 6.5 and still have oil. I can find no sign of any leak (yes it's a Lycoming) around the engine so assuming it's blow by. No staining on the top of the exhaust were the blow by tube is located so that's interesting. This engine also has an oil separator.

Thoughts would be appreciated.
I finally figured out and got comfortable with 6 quarts in my RV7A/IO360M1B.
Very stable there. More than that, it just blows out the vent. I also have a oil separator.
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