Major Milestone

On a lunch run today, the Tach. ticked over 2,000 hrs.



This may not seem like that big a deal, but the engine in the RV-8 that I just bought last year is a hopped up Lycon modification of an O-360A1A that had fuel injection added as well as ceramic coated, high compression (10:1) pistons.

Many people told the previous owner, that flew it for 15+ years, that this particular engine would never get to TBO, primarily because of the high compression pistons. In fact, it will make more than TBO since I plan to fly it for another 2 years before having the engine overhauled.

It runs extremely well, has good compression on all cylinders and is not making any metal. The only gripe is that oil consumption is slowly creeping up, and has been over the past several years. I am currently at about 1 quart every 4 or so hours. This is what will probably lead to the decision to pull the trigger on an overhaul eventually.

That's awesome. A 172 I fly went over 3500 hours before it got a new engine so hopefully you still have lots of life left in yours.

2000 hrs

Congrats on the 2000 hr mark!
As to the oil consumption, what grade are you using?
I had the same problem when I was using 15W 50 and my mechanic suggested I go back to 100W plus
Oil consumption went back to a quart every 10 hrs or so.
JMHO
Jim

The consumption is about he same on W100+ or 15W50. I used 15W50 all summer as each time I went to the local oil store they were out of W100+.

My "other" plane is a C172 with over around 4100 hrs on it.

Oil consumption went up to around 1qt in 3 hrs. The club opted to do a ring wash, it went back to 1qt in 6-7 hrs after that. A burned exhaust valve recently mandated the replacement of that cylinder so it's back to running great and still using about 1qt in 6-7hrs.

Don't take apart a running engine unless you have to. If it's not making metal, compressions are good, bore scopes look good, valves aren't burnt, just run it!