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pesky oil leak solved finally - quick drain

Geico266

Well Known Member
I was changing oil today and trying to narrow down where a small oil leak is coming from, hard to do on a Lycoming I know, but I really think it is the quick drain!? :confused: I can see where oil is "seeping" around the blue collar.

Anyone else had a problem with theirs?
 
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quick drain leak--

The o-ring needs to be changed from time to time on the quick drain. The heat and pressure causes the o-ring to become hard and brittle. Not a big job to remove the drain and replace the o-ring.
 
The o-ring needs to be changed from time to time on the quick drain. The heat and pressure causes the o-ring to become hard and brittle. Not a big job to remove the drain and replace the o-ring.

Thanks for the heads up! The "annual" is coming up and that will be a good time to tackle that major job. ;)
 
My Saf-Air leaked a tiny bit when new. Called 'em and they INSISTED on sending me a new unit. I said "just send me some new o-rings". "Nope, we're gonna send you a new one just in case there's a scratch or something in the seal area." Okay. Didn't even ask for the old one back.
 
pesky oil leak solved finally.

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its has been quit a while with this leak and i never thought to suspect the quick drain. 50 cents worth of parts and i am very happy. those o-rings only had thousands of hours on them. what a great invention. i can dump my oil by going thru the oil door to hook up a hose. i seem to get a nice click when i close the valve now. keep on pounding or flying. :)
 
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o-rings

Anything special about those o-rings? Were did you get yours? I think mine needs to be changed also. Know the size?
 
Turbo we did our first run last Saturday and noted oil on the cowling directly down from our newly install QD. Was the leak around the treads where it goes into the oil pan or from the inside of the QD?
Phelps
 
I was watching my hangar mate do an oil change the other day and he has a piece of tubing connected to his quick drain valve routed up to his oil door where it is coiled up and tie wrapped to his engine mount. This way, if the valve leaks it will flow into the flexible tube but does not have enough pressure to climb all the way up to the oil door. To drain the oil, he reaches down, opens the valve, and starts a syphon to drain the oil. A little more weight to carry around but don't need to remove the lower cowl for an oil change and lower risk of an oil leak. Just a thought.
 
I was watching my hangar mate do an oil change the other day and he has a piece of tubing connected to his quick drain valve routed up to his oil door where it is coiled up and tie wrapped to his engine mount. This way, if the valve leaks it will flow into the flexible tube but does not have enough pressure to climb all the way up to the oil door. To drain the oil, he reaches down, opens the valve, and starts a syphon to drain the oil. A little more weight to carry around but don't need to remove the lower cowl for an oil change and lower risk of an oil leak. Just a thought.

An oil change is an excellent time to pull the cowl for a good inspection of the engine compartment. Call it a forced inspection if you wish. :)
 
An oil change is an excellent time to pull the cowl for a good inspection of the engine compartment. Call it a forced inspection if you wish. :)
Agree with Sam. An oil change is a great opportunity to perform a conditional inspection. Why limit an inspection and your chances of discovering a problem only to once a year? Even with my three bladed prop, removing the lower cowl is not that big of an issue so why not do it and gain unrestricted access and an unrestricted view of the entire engine area?

P.S. Oh, and Turbo, I have to ask. What exactly is that advertisement underneath your quick drain? It makes for an interesting back drop.
 
i went to ace hardware and got 2 orings. standard sizes.

mine was leakn past the worn orings. they were very brittle and flattened out.

pussers rum, good to the last drop. :eek:
 
If any of you gentlemen are interested, I can get you a scanned copy of some MS standard o-ring charts with sizes and cross references and applications for most aviation fluids. Some orings are hard to find in the auto parts sources.

?ric
 
i do 30 hr oil changes and found the quick drain handy to drain the oil when you come in after a flight and want to get the oil out fast. the next day i have the option of pulling the upper and or lower for maintenance. on long extended trips out west i was able to do a quick oil change on the ramp. since fixing the quick drain i havent seen any oil on the bottom. ;)
 
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