Exhaust color on fuselage - normal?

saddletramp

saddletramp

Line Up and Wait
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Oct 15, 2015
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saddletramp
A fellow pilot stopped by my hangar the other night & commented on the color of the exhaust stains on my 182. The best way to describe the color is it's the color of coffee with creamer in it.

The pilot who made the comment is a very experienced, retired CFi that taught at a local college that has an active flight school.

When I flew my newly purchased 182 home six weeks ago I texted the previous owner, at his request, to give him my impressions of the airplane. It was a 2.4 hour flight. When I told him the flight went well & that I had averaged around 10 GPH on the way home, he stated that I either didn't really top the tanks or ran the engine too lean. I do know how to use an EGT, by the way.

I noticed when the previous owner demonstrated the airplane to me he leaned the mixture while he taxied & a little on climb. I don't lean on the ground unless I'm in a high density situation. I never lean in a climb unless I'm above 8,000 ft or so & the cylinder head temp is good. I figure that fuel is cheap compared to an overhaul. I've always leaned 50 degrees rich of peak once settled on a cruise altitude.

So weird question. Is the color the exhaust is painting on my airplane normal?
 
saddletramp said:
A fellow pilot stopped by my hangar the other night & commented on the color of the exhaust stains on my 182. The best way to describe the color is it's the color of coffee with creamer in it.

The pilot who made the comment is a very experienced, retired CFi that taught at a local college that has an active flight school.

When I flew my newly purchased 182 home six weeks ago I texted the previous owner, at his request, to give him my impressions of the airplane. It was a 2.4 hour flight. When I told him the flight went well & that I had averaged around 10 GPH on the way home, he stated that I either didn't really top the tanks or ran the engine too lean. I do know how to use an EGT, by the way.

I noticed when the previous owner demonstrated the airplane to me he leaned the mixture while he taxied & a little on climb. I don't lean on the ground unless I'm in a high density situation. I never lean in a climb unless I'm above 8,000 ft or so & the cylinder head temp is good. I figure that fuel is cheap compared to an overhaul. I've always leaned 50 degrees rich of peak once settled on a cruise altitude.

So weird question. Is the color the exhaust is painting on my airplane normal?
Click to expand...
Pretty much, but 50 rich of peak, why?
 
Okay, let me clarify. 50 rich of peak is rick to me. I use 25 rich of peak most of the time as long as the CHT are okay. I have lots of time in T210s at high altitude. Those damed things always ran hot at high altitudes.

Before the 210 guys flame me. I love T210s. If I had the need I'd be flying one now.
 
what model 182 carb or injected? also egt have 6 probes or 1?
 
ok is the probe in the muff exst stack ? or just 1 cylinder? the color of burnt avfuel on vestil white being what you describe is fine. you might want to pretend to NOT have your single probe egt and fly it as you would any carb engine .set up for cruse set throttle prop cowl flaps trim and lean out to slight roughness than in 1 full turn if your red knob is of the vernier type than have fun . you could mark the gauge but there are so many variables a single old alcor one probe is not somthing i would rely on if you were reading TIT in a injected turbo model thats a whole different story
 
Don't think the color is that bad, hard to tell with out a pic, might want to toss up a photo if you can. On mine I get a little brown tinting on my white fuselage.

As for mixture, ALWAYS lean on the ground, to the point that an advancement to full throttle will kill the engine, at taxi and ground power setting you can lean as much as you want and you won't hurt anything.

Leaning for climb, depends on the DA.

When I lean, with a engine analyzer, EGTs are really a secondary thought, I lean first based on my performance chart, then adjust based on my CHTs. I'm also running ROP in my io-520 plane.
 
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