Oil Temps Two - Too cold!

[BigJohn]

I've been following the discussion about too high oil temps. Interesting, but doesn't affect me since I have not experienced that situation, even on a couple of hot days that I flew - pretty rare here in upstate New York anyway.

However - my airplane seems to take for-ev-er to warm up to the required 122 degrees. It's not quite so bad now that summer is here, but in the other three seasons I feel like I am running off half the engine life warming up the plane.

So, I am seeking information about how much improvement others have seen by installing a thermostat in the oil plumbing. Does anyone have some real numbers, like before and after warmup times? I want to make a decision on this before Oshkosh, because if I decide I want a thermostat I will look for the components while out there.

 

[yankee-flyer]

Thermostat problem

Hi John,

I know the feeling, but.... I installed the thermostat this spring, purged the system, etc. Oil temp came up to 220 much faster (sorry, I didn't time it) than before but when the thermostat opened to send oil throug the cooler my oil pressure dropped to 17-20 pounds and STAYED there, even with short run up to 4500 RPM. Opened everything up and made sure the lines AND cooler were full of oil, purged the system, and tried again. Same result-- very low pressure whem the stat opened. Contacted the company and they said that was NOT possible. Sent them, and several forum members photos of the installation, and everyone agreed that I had it installed properly. Purged the system again with same results-- after the thermostat open the oil pressure dropped to less than 20 pounds and stayed there. Contacted the company several more time and they kept insisting that was not possible. I asked them to send another unit so I could swap it out and see what happened. They refused. I asked if I could rerturn mine and exchange for another, even though that would mean a couple weeks down time. They refused! Best offer I could get was a full refund but no exchange-- figure that out!! I pulled the stat, reinstalled original lines, and everything worked as before. I did get my money back but I never got a reason why they wopuldn't exchange the unit. I'm apparently a one-time failure, as others have installed it successfully. I'd like to have it but won't deal with them again-- and maybe vice versa.

PS-- this time of year temps are abover 125 by the time I taxi to the runup spot-- winter takes 5 minutes wait.

Wayne 120241/ N143WM


Wayne 120241

 

[JBPILOT]

Hey Big John - -

For sure buy the THERMOSTASIS brand therm. The std. silver automotive version is just not good enough. The silver auto. trans. version is considered a 10% by-pass unit. Thermostasis is 98% by-pass. YES, it makes a BIG difference. I never timed the difference before/after installation, but I certainly know it makes a serious difference in warm-up time. If my engine is say 60 degrees, by the time I taxi to either end of our strip, it is ready to go. It took forever before. In winter, I plug in the REIFF pre-heat, so I start out at 90 degrees. By the time I get to the end of the runway, I am at 140 or more. It takes some serious work to get it set up, but I am very satisfied with my original installation. If I was doing it again, wouldn't change anything. Only a couple places you can put it easily.

John Bender

 

[Peterk]

Hey, Hey Big John

Even here in Texas I use the Reiff heater strip on my case in the winter. If the ambient temp some morning is a freezing 45 my oil will be in the 90's when I start. I don't need the thermostat but it sure was the perfect addition to John's.