David-aviator
Well Known Member
OK now Im scratching my head and getting side tracked (the main reason I pay attention to these boards). So if I run 50 LOP, and the CHT's are always 45 degrees colder than running 50ROP, then would you expect it to be cleaner in the cylinder with LOP or ROP? Perhaps if I could measure top of piston temperature that would answer my question. I guess lower cht's do not translate into lower combustion temps. Nor do lower EGT's for that matter since the EGT probe is down stream from the comustion.
There's no question running lean (LOP or ROP) will leave the combustion chamber clean..when I was charging around in my LEZ with an 0235, it was aggressively leaned and had none of the problems the 152 or Tomahawk had with lead fowling. The plugs were always clean as a whistle. I did the same with the 0360 in a Cozy and when it was torn down for OH at 2000 hours the guy said this engine could have gone another 300 hours easy, it was clean.
I predict you will find your engine clean as a whistle also. Hopefully, you won't find any little aluminum balls anywhere.
Whether running LOP is a good idea, I have no opinion except I don't think Lycoming recommends it. However, lots of guys have done it for years. I never did because I never had a fancy engine monitor. It was lean until it rumbled a bit and a little rich to get it smooth. It was right on the edge cause flying into colder air made it rumble and a little more rich cured that. How you guys run LOP and don't have a rumble beats me. Maybe I was in that area and did not know it.
Good luck, Kahuna, I sincerely hope the motor is OK. This is a very interesting thread.