High Oil Temps
Make sure the oil temp gauge is accurate.
verify with appropriate thermometer.
Check engine timing
Check for proper oil supply or low oil pressure.
Combustion gases leaking past the piston rings.
Combustion blowby blackens the oil; Do compression check.
Engine baffling not sealing
Baffling should seal the top from the bottom of the engine.
The oil cooler might be somewhat blocked, the oil cooler flange might
be warped.
Is the oil hot, but the cooler isn't??
Air can be trapped in the cooler with low mounted oil coolers.
Was the cooler new? if not, had it been properly flushed? (prob. not your problem)
Is the vernatherm valve defective?
77C valves should move at least 0.090 inch as the temperature rises
from 120 to 170 F. 173 degree marked valves should move at least .16 inch
while temperature rises from 135 to 173 F.
Do you have worn vernatherm seats? Look at the seat in the housing.
Look at the vernatherm where it seats. Try to determine if there is good
contact.
There is a lycoming tool for refacing the housing seats.
.010 of an inch is the maximum allowed to remove when refacing.
Also, if your vernathem screws into your oil filter adapter, your housing
is probably replaceable. (easier,cheaper)
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the above information is paraphrased from:
Engine Troubleshooting Module
John Schwaner, Sacramento Sky Ranch
His book and software are very useful and I highly recommend them for
Lyc,Cont owners.
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I suspect you have one of those problems, as it doesn't sound normal to me.
But if you high OAT folks have worked all that out and still want more cooling
but not the weight of a second cooler/lines, another option is an "oil filter"
cooler which I believe were used on Piper Tomahawks. Somewhat longer job of
changing the oil filter,more difficult safety wiring etc, extra scat
hose/drag, but you could probably get 10-15 degrees out of it.
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