Better to have engine operating often or sit idle?

RyanB

RyanB

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Probably a dumb question, but in general would you say its better for a 152 or 172 to fly and run often like almost everyday, or better to have it only fly every so often? Im sure it is better for lycomings and continentals to run like any engine. But in general should an airplane engine run alot or sit idle for a little while and only fly every so often?
 
I like to run ours about one hour a week, at least. Engines do better if they are used. I think avionics do also.
 
Letting a Lyc sit unflown for extended periods virtually guarantees cam and lifter corrosion to form inside the engine. This is the Achilles heel of a Lyc.
 
An exampke per Lycoming. A O540J3C5D engine had a TBO of 2000 hours, the TBO is extended to 2500 hours if the engine is operated 300 hours per year.
 
Our O540 ?B2C2? Runs about 2hrs or more every sat and sun or about 4 hrs a week. Full power climbs to 3-4K AGL and reduced power descents for on average 15-20 climbs each flying day.

It's running fine and well on it's way to reaching TBO and beyound.
 
BillTIZ said:
...Full power climbs to 3-4K AGL and reduced power descents for on average 15-20 climbs each flying day.

It's running fine and well on it's way to reaching TBO and beyound.
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I love zoom-climbs also, but didn't realize they helped engine longevity also... :D
 
Run them all you want/can, just don't abuse them with excess temps or fuel and they will run perfectly reliably well beyond TBO. The O-290 in the PA-12 I flew pipeline in had over 3200hrs on it when I quit, I flew that sucker 8+ hrs a day 3-4 days a week and it saw almost no maintenance, mostly just top up oil, and that was a quart every 9hrs or so.
 
warthog1984 said:
Engines and vehicles are made to run. Letting them sit (unless very well preserved) is the worst thing you can do.
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Running them for a few minutes on the ground is worse than letting them sit.

Dan
 
Need to run the engine long enough to get the oil temperature up and to evaporate any moisture (condensation) in the engine and oil.
 
Our flight school has 2 C172SPs that fly quite a bit. One has over 3000 hrs tach time, the other over 2100 hrs tach time. They get 100 hr inspections ( basically an annual) every couple/few months and all engine checks (compressions, oil analysis) are good. Regular use (and no abuse) makes these engines last a long time!
 
Zeldman said:
Need to run the engine long enough to get the oil temperature up and to evaporate any moisture (condensation) in the engine and oil.
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For a Lycoming, the manufacturer says get the oil temp to 160F or better and keep it there for at least 30 minutes to accomplish that. You can't do that on the ground without cooking the cylinders, so it pretty much means you have to fly it. Also, Lycoming recommends doing the engine preservation process if it will sit for more than 30 days without being flown. However, there's a good bit of experience out there which indicates if you don't fly the plane every week to 10 days, you're asking for the sort of corrosion trouble described above unless you have additional corrosion protection in your oil, like using Exxon Elite or adding CamGuard to any other oil.

In any event, everything I've learned in the last 45 years of flying tells me that the more you fly the engine, the more hours you'll get out of it and the less trouble you'll have with it (provided you operate and service it properly).
 
If you are doing storage maintenance run ups, run it as lean as you can, use the minimum fuel priming you can, and get the oil up to temp. Don't run below 1200rpm or so or it takes too long. It's by products of combustion in the fuel combined with water moisture that you most want to avoid having in your crankcase when you shut down, especially for storage.
 
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