N520TX
Well Known Member
This is an issue that's been on my mind to do something about for a while but was just too set in the "not broke, don't fix it" mentality.
As anyone who went to LOE knows, central Texas has been hot lately - that's nothing new, it's always hot here in summer. Well, during the flight there and back; while at 9,500 and 10,500 respectively; my oil temps were running about 210ish give or take with a fuel flow around 10-11 gph. I could lean it some more, but then the oil temps obviously go up. It always runs like that in the summer here and I just didn't give it a second thought.
That all changed yesterday. My neighbor here flew out to Midland in his 50 yr old Bonanza V35 with its 6 cyl Contintental bangin away. When he returned, we talked about the flight where he relayed to me the fact that he was burning about 10gph - for a 6 cyl ! Well ... that doesn't sit well with me. My O-360 4-cyl fuel burn was greater than the larger engine.
Of course the reason is due to running rich - due to the high oil temps. My baffling and seals are in great shape (I think) - so I need to find the other reasons for it. I recalled a thread by DC on his web site a while ago about swapping out for a new cooler. After digging a bit on rvproject, and on this site, I found all the details - and sure enough, I'm running a cheap Positech ($165) oil cooler. I admit it, I chose that cooler based on PRICE alone. I mean the SW is $450 .. is it really THAT much better at 3 times the price ??
Based on all the evidence I've read, I've come to the conclusion that the answer is YES. Not sure why it took this long to tackle, but the straw that broke the back was obvious. So far, I have 300 hrs (+-) on my RV, and figuring an average fuel burn overage of 1.5 gph, that is an extra $450ish of gas burned that I didn't need to. That alone pays for the better cooler. The order for the SW-8406R is going to go out today.
Just thought I'd relay a story - perhaps someone might find it usefull.
As anyone who went to LOE knows, central Texas has been hot lately - that's nothing new, it's always hot here in summer. Well, during the flight there and back; while at 9,500 and 10,500 respectively; my oil temps were running about 210ish give or take with a fuel flow around 10-11 gph. I could lean it some more, but then the oil temps obviously go up. It always runs like that in the summer here and I just didn't give it a second thought.
That all changed yesterday. My neighbor here flew out to Midland in his 50 yr old Bonanza V35 with its 6 cyl Contintental bangin away. When he returned, we talked about the flight where he relayed to me the fact that he was burning about 10gph - for a 6 cyl ! Well ... that doesn't sit well with me. My O-360 4-cyl fuel burn was greater than the larger engine.
Of course the reason is due to running rich - due to the high oil temps. My baffling and seals are in great shape (I think) - so I need to find the other reasons for it. I recalled a thread by DC on his web site a while ago about swapping out for a new cooler. After digging a bit on rvproject, and on this site, I found all the details - and sure enough, I'm running a cheap Positech ($165) oil cooler. I admit it, I chose that cooler based on PRICE alone. I mean the SW is $450 .. is it really THAT much better at 3 times the price ??
Based on all the evidence I've read, I've come to the conclusion that the answer is YES. Not sure why it took this long to tackle, but the straw that broke the back was obvious. So far, I have 300 hrs (+-) on my RV, and figuring an average fuel burn overage of 1.5 gph, that is an extra $450ish of gas burned that I didn't need to. That alone pays for the better cooler. The order for the SW-8406R is going to go out today.
Just thought I'd relay a story - perhaps someone might find it usefull.