Engine sitting idle in the shop.

GaryO

GaryO

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Gary Ostrander
If an airplane spends several weeks in a shop for non-engine related work will the shop do something to circulate oil through the engine to prevent corrosion?

The reason I ask is that my airplane has spent the last two weeks in a paint shop. It's due to be finished next week. With the holidays starting it's easy to see the completion date pushed back a few days. And then if there are any problems ...

I have also read about owners whose aircraft have spent two months or more in the shop. Can this cause problems for the engine or do most shops have a procedure to prevent problems?

If my airplane is not ready next week I will ask the paint shop about it but I was wondering if it's something that shops already plan for.
 
Generally not. It's an area most folks just don't think about. But there's not much the paint shop can do about it, because they can't fly the airplane in the middle of the paint job, and two weeks of down time isn't enough to merit the "pickling" process. OTOH, if you know ahead of time it's going to sit unflown for two months, it's probably worth it.
 
Thanks. That's what I thought but I just wanted to check. I've been reading other pilots horror stories and getting nervous.
 
My airplane spent nearly four months sitting on the ground after hurricane Charley. I only had to replace 3 of the 4 cylinders. Oh, and the crankshaft.

Kidding!! The grounding led to no engine issues that have made themselves known in more than a year.

Sample size of one, tho.
 
Ken Ibold said:
My airplane spent nearly four months sitting on the ground after hurricane Charley. I only had to replace 3 of the 4 cylinders. Oh, and the crankshaft.

Kidding!! The grounding led to no engine issues that have made themselves known in more than a year.

Sample size of one, tho.
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My Baron was down for almost three months in the winter due to vandalism during it's annual. It did actually fly twice during that period on a ferry permit to get some avionics work done while we were waiting for parts. The rest of the time is sat in a heated shop hangar. The next year we found a corroded camshaft and ended up replacing that engine with a reman. It was about 200 hours shy of TBO so it wasn't a huge loss (although I took the other engine 300 past TBO and it was still running strong when I overhauled it), but I'm pretty sure that the long time spent sitting idle in the hangar contributed to and or caused the corrosion.
 
If it were my aircraft I would ask the shop NOT to rotate the propeller. If they rotate the prop it will wipe off any oil that is on the cylinder walls this is with any aircraft sitting. Something I would of suggested first is changing the oil before going into the shop. Fresh oil will not have the acids and water that old oil has built up.

As soon as you get it back I would take it out for a good long flight at least 1-hour to get rid of any water, if the oil has a lot of hours on it. But in most cases it should not be a problem because the shop should be warm, which would help prevent any water build up after shut down.

Just one man's opinion.

Stache
 
Stache said:
Something I would of suggested first is changing the oil before going into the shop. Fresh oil will not have the acids and water that old oil has built up.

As soon as you get it back I would take it out for a good long flight at least 1-hour to get rid of any water, if the oil has a lot of hours on it.
Stache
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The oil was changed three weeks before I droped it off at the shop. And the shop is a 45 minute flight from my home field. So I guess I have those two recs covered. :D
 
I have always been amazed about how much surface corrosion occurs with a new piece of unprotected steel, sitting on my shop bench. We have a RH of <25% usually... but still get a fine layer of oxide if the part does not have cosmoline/oil/plastic wrap on it.
Sorry to not be more optimistic, I fight deterioration of all sorts every day and it drives me nuts.
 
GaryO said:
If an airplane spends several weeks in a shop for non-engine related work will the shop do something to circulate oil through the engine to prevent corrosion?

The reason I ask is that my airplane has spent the last two weeks in a paint shop. It's due to be finished next week. With the holidays starting it's easy to see the completion date pushed back a few days. And then if there are any problems ...

I have also read about owners whose aircraft have spent two months or more in the shop. Can this cause problems for the engine or do most shops have a procedure to prevent problems?

If my airplane is not ready next week I will ask the paint shop about it but I was wondering if it's something that shops already plan for.
Click to expand...


Gary, your kidding..Right? Seriously, you really need not worry about a couple of weeks or a month of inactivity. I'm figuring the plane is probably indoors, correct? Even if outside it should not be a problem. I'd change the oil again after you get it back home. No matter how well the induction system was taped off I'm sure some pait vapors or debris will be evident. You should be ok.
 
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