Fly Often!

[Jesse]

I have an engine in my RV-6A that came off a damaged RV-9A, sat for about two years before running in my plane, then started flying at least once a week and often more. The first sample in this report was from the oil that was in the sump while the engine was sitting, so no corrosion from sitting I said in it. It was, however, not flown very often before it was damaged. We out new oil in and flew the first 20 hours or so. That oil had all the corrosion/wear from running after sitting for 2 years. You can see from the sample dates that it has been flown very regularly ever since, and you can see the wear metals decreasing. This proves, IMHO, that the absolute best thing for the engine is to fly. I am using Phillips 20W-50 oil in all except the second to last sample, where I think I used Aeroshell 15W-50. I have also used Camguard in all except the first sample.

[gmohr]

Jesse, I see that you are using CamGuard. What is the benefit of CamGuard?
As you know I am just getting ready to start flying my 6A that you ferried here
last April. My first flight should be on Monday Oct. 10th.

Thanks!

[BruceMe]

Can I get an Amen!?

[rightrudder]

Very cool to see those numbers....thanks for posting. Nice to have the empirical data.

I took your advice and flew this morning. My friend was heaviest pax to date at 6'2", 265 lb. He's won the world gold medal in the shot put for his age range (60-65) for the last four years!

[scsmith]

This one will be VERY interesting to watch into the future. Jesse I hope you will repost about once a year or so.

It will be interesting to see if once you got all the surface corrosion off and flushed out, and fly regularly, did the corrosion event do any deeper damage that will shorten the life of the engine? Primarily cam and lifters no doubt.

Presuming the corrosion introduced some deeper pitting that will accelerate wear in the long run? Or wear off the surface corrosion and then it performs as well as one that was never exposed to corrosion?

I hope we can watch this one and learn, at least one good data point.

[Jesse]

That's really what I am wondering. I would think that if there was much pitting or corrosion on the CAM lobes, the metal would not be so low, even in the short run. I am going to keep changing the oil every 25hours or so and keep my eyes on it, but I am very optimistic at the continued decrease. It really almost can't go any lower than it is now, so only time will tell. I'm hoping to keep putting about 20-25 hours/month between myself and my assistants that fly it, so we should continue to get regular reports. I will definitely report back as time goes on.

Maybe some of the engine gurus on here can comment on these results and venture a guess on what is actually going on. Btw, there has been no oil in the filter, which I am changing every other oil change.

[David-aviator]

Fly often is good for airplane and pilot.