pierre smith
Well Known Member
I learned a valuable lesson recently, when my oil temp in the Air Tractor's PT-6 turbine started over redline! I immediately pulled up out of the field, reduced power and headed the 10 miles home, really worried.
I managed to keep the temp right on redline, which is only 100C and running synthetic oil. We pulled the cowls off and I soaked the big oil cooler with Purple cleaner from behind and had a strong stream of water from the hose and zillions of insects fell on the slab as we rinsed, repeated and rinsed again.
There's big scoop for the cooler inlet and it must act as big insect funnel as well.
The flight thereafter was not without a bit of trepidation, but circling the airport, the temp was now a good 1/4" below redline and I returned to the field and all was well. I later discovered that I have an intermittent gauge/sender as well.
You guys ought to consider back-washing your oil coolers occasionally, as I'm gonna do with the -10. During some full-moon periods, I see an enormous increase in insect populations and I can't help but believe that some of our oil temp problems could simply be a clogged cooler.
Best,
I managed to keep the temp right on redline, which is only 100C and running synthetic oil. We pulled the cowls off and I soaked the big oil cooler with Purple cleaner from behind and had a strong stream of water from the hose and zillions of insects fell on the slab as we rinsed, repeated and rinsed again.
There's big scoop for the cooler inlet and it must act as big insect funnel as well.
The flight thereafter was not without a bit of trepidation, but circling the airport, the temp was now a good 1/4" below redline and I returned to the field and all was well. I later discovered that I have an intermittent gauge/sender as well.
You guys ought to consider back-washing your oil coolers occasionally, as I'm gonna do with the -10. During some full-moon periods, I see an enormous increase in insect populations and I can't help but believe that some of our oil temp problems could simply be a clogged cooler.
Best,