Lycoming O320 Question

[JasonCT]

One of the planes I am looking at has an O320 and I am wonding what folks can tell me about this engine?

Performance, Reliability, TBO (are people getting better/less than TBO) that sort of thing.

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

 

[ScottM]

One of the planes I am looking at has an O320 and I am wonding what folks can tell me about this engine?

Performance, Reliability, TBO (are people getting better/less than TBO) that sort of thing.

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

Great engine. decent performance and very reliable. It is in a lot of airplanes and has several variants. One of those is the H2AD and there are some issues that you will want to educate yourself on with that one. I have O320-D3G. The E2D and the D3Gs are very common in Warriors and 172s. Parts are plentiful.

 

[tonycondon]

pretty much bulletproof. backbone of the training fleet, at least the late model training fleet.

 

[Dean]

The Guy two hangars down from me has a 172 with the E2D and it has over 3000 hrs on it and is still running strong with good compressions

 

[JRitt]

I just O/Hed my 0-320H2AD. It had 3800hrs since the last major and 1700 since a top. The camshaft was making metal but the cyls were in great shape. Fly them at least every 2 weeks (once a week is better) and they should make TBO and beyond.

 

[Shipoke]

well Jay i have a 0320 in my warrior and it's treating me good, i have just over 1500 hours on a factory reman. and i use 1 quart of oil every 40 to 45 hours, so when i need oil it's close to time to change it.
Dave G

 

[JasonCT]

Good stuff guys!
The plane I am looking at has been well taken care of but the engine is about 600/700 from TBO so I wanted to get some peoples expieriances with this engine.

Thanks again!

 

[ScottM]

Good stuff guys!
The plane I am looking at has been well taken care of but the engine is about 600/700 from TBO so I wanted to get some peoples expieriances with this engine.

Thanks again!

The O320 tend to go past TBO on a fairley regualr basis, just watch the oil and compressions and you will be fine. I have no qualms about ANY of the O320 variants, Although JRITTs rebuild story did give me the willies.

 

[JRitt]

The O320 tend to go past TBO on a fairley regualr basis, just watch the oil and compressions and you will be fine. I have no qualms about ANY of the O320 variants, Although JRITTs rebuild story did give me the willies.

But you can't blame the engine for an FBO that held my plane hostage. 2 crank case overhaulers that don't know a heavy case from a light case, And a camshaft MFG that that makes a defective product.

 

[ScottM]

But you can't blame the engine for an FBO that held my plane hostage. 2 crank case overhaulers that don't know a heavy case from a light case, And a camshaft MFG that that makes a defective product.

I really was not blaming the engine for that. But if you will remember the same time you were going through that mess I was just starting a mandatory top over haul thanks to an AD on my cylinders. Being a new airplane owner my heart was just sick with how much we were both going through.

I had looked at a couple of 172 that had the H2D so I had educated myself pretty well on that particular model and was not ruling out planes with it. I did rule one H2AD C172 out though because it still had not had the T-mod done to it. Everyone I had spoken to said that was a must have mod, I was surprised that one was still in the fleet somewhere. But this particular 172 was always privately owned and only had 1000 hours on it from new in 1981

 

[JRitt]

I knew you were not raggin on the engine Scott. BTW the plane is flying great these days and I'm flying down to Sun N Fun next month and I'll be meeting up with Kevin to fly over to Gastons in June.

 

[C-1 PILOT]

One of the planes I am looking at has an O320 and I am wonding what folks can tell me about this engine?

Performance, Reliability, TBO (are people getting better/less than TBO) that sort of thing.

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

In a word.."BULLETPROOF"! My Grumman Cougar had 0-320's A1A's if I remember correctly. I got the Cougar runout at 1998 hours TT. We flew it 200 more to get aquainted with it, then O/H'd them. I was told by fellow Cougar owners in the UK that they extend this engine to 3500 TBO, very reliable, wish I could hang one on my Diamond.

 

[NC Pilot]

One of the planes I am looking at has an O320 and I am wonding what folks can tell me about this engine?

Performance, Reliability, TBO (are people getting better/less than TBO) that sort of thing.

Any info would be great.

Thanks!

Which O-320? What plane is it in? There is a difference in Lycoming O-320's.

 

[JasonCT]

Which O-320? What plane is it in? There is a difference in Lycoming O-320's.

Its a 1979 C172N
If that helps

 

[JRitt]

That has the O-320H2AD engine. Make sure it has the T-Mod performed. Have the lifters removed and look at the cam lobes for spalding. Look at the books and see if it looks like it has been flown regularly (50+ hrs every year) and the lycoming additive LW-16702 has been used (or an oil that has the additive in it like Shell w100 plus or 15w-50. If all of this looks good there should be no reason it will not make it to TBO.

 

[NC Pilot]

That has the O-320H2AD engine. Make sure it has the T-Mod performed. Have the lifters removed and look at the cam lobes for spalding. Look at the books and see if it looks like it has been flown regularly (50+ hrs every year) and the lycoming additive LW-16702 has been used (or an oil that has the additive in it like Shell w100 plus or 15w-50. If all of this looks good there should be no reason it will not make it to TBO.

All good advice. I would add to look closely at the log books and see when the magneto was inspected last. Should be inspected/overhauled every 500 hours. It has the infamous Bendix dual mag that can be somewhat problematic.

 

[JasonCT]

Thanks guys, all good advice!

 

[Tom-D]

The 0-235,0-320-and several other lycomings were designed as throw away engines.

not much has changed

here is what the gears in the accessory section look like.

First pic Lyc.
Second is a Cont 0-300

 

[jesse]

The 0-235,0-320-and several other lycomings were designed as throw away engines.

not much has changed

here is what the gears in the accessory section look like.

First pic Lyc.
Second is a Cont 0-300

Bigger is always better.

 

[Tom-D]

Bigger is always better.

The L gears are always worn beyond service limit.

The C gears very seldome are, I have changed 1 set in the last 10 years of building the 0-300 and that engine was run on 80 non D oil. and was last overhauled in 1960 due to a quick stop, (a for real quick stop)