I bought a very well crafted RV-9a (032O carb Hartzell CS) with 80 hours on it about 3 months ago. I have flown it on a 5-hour roundtrip up to N. California and about 10 hours around the Corona area. The engine normally seems to run with an oil temperature of 200-210 degrees. Today, when I climbed thru 5,000 feet en route to Big Bear at 24/24, the temp was up to 245 degrees as I slowed my climb to 500 feet per minute. I then leveled for a minute and the temp remained around 240-245 degrees. I turned back to Corona, descended at low power settings and it seemed to cruise at 21/21 at 220 and 24/24 at 235 degrees at 4,000 feet. The OAT was around 89 degrees at 5,000 feet and the same down below. Is it OK to cruise or climb with the oil temperature at or a couple degrees below redline? What is a good max. cruise oil temp to use? The CHT were never over 375 degrees and the EGT were around 1350 and below even when the oil temps were near redline. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Last edited: