Oil change and the 1st Preheat of the Winter Season..

AKBill

AKBill

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AKBill
So I did a oil change last weekend. Changed a cylinder about 25 hours ago. Engine O-320 about 1200 hours SMOH. Changed oil from Aero Shell 100W straight mineral oil to Phillips type M 20-50W straight mineral oil.

Did my first preheat of the winter season. Preheated 2 hours with an E-Z heat oil pan heater. Temperature was 25F last night. Flew today everything ran great. Noticed a small increase in oil pressure after the oil change. Oil pressure was about 75 psi before and 80 psi after oil change. Cruse engine speed 2400rpm.

I fly between 50 to 100 hours a year. I talked to an IA who recommended running straight mineral oil all the time because of the low number of hours I fly.

Comments please.
 
AKBill said:
So I did a oil change last weekend. Changed a cylinder about 25 hours ago. Engine O-320 about 1200 hours SMOH. Changed oil from Aero Shell 100W straight mineral oil to Phillips type M 20-50W straight mineral oil.

Did my first preheat of the winter season. Preheated 2 hours with an E-Z heat oil pan heater. Temperature was 25F last night. Flew today everything ran great. Noticed a small increase in oil pressure after the oil change. Oil pressure was about 75 psi before and 80 psi after oil change. Cruse engine speed 2400rpm.

I fly between 50 to 100 hours a year. I talked to an IA who recommended running straight mineral oil all the time because of the low number of hours I fly.

Comments please.
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My comment is purely on a lot of research as a first year owner and zero on maintaining experience. So basically worthless. I don't think given the temperature/climate/outdoor storage of your plane it's a good idea to run straight weight there in the winter. I'd be happy about the 25 hours you got with the straight weight mineral oil and have gone with the Phillips like you did.
 
Think your AP has it backwards, how how many hours you're flying and the differences in temp, run the Philips split weight with camguard.

Straight weight is great for warm weather, constant hours every month flying.

Go to FBOs in cold areas, some of them only carry Phillips XC, infact in your home state of AK you might have a hard time finding a spare qt at many places, not many people up there run it.


Oil is not somewhere to try to save money.
 
Judging by the average temperatures listed in a quick google search for Juneau, I think straight weight oil would be fine and possibly even more appropriate there than the use of straight weight oil in the uppermost tier of states in the CONUS.

I tend to default to just running multi viscosity oil all year long and changing it as needed, regardless of the temperatures. You could probably do two oil changes a year and be good. Using the same oil year round would cut down on the hassle of having to find the appropriate oil when you need to add some since you'll likely have some on hand for the next oil change.

I'm guessing you're using "M" oil due to the recent cylinder swap? You could likely have switched to XC at this last oil change. Or you could have just broken in the cylinder on XC and called it good.
 
Why did you use Type M? It's multi-vis break-in oil for guys who still think X/C isn't good for break-in. X/C works great.
 
Stewartb said:
Why did you use Type M? It's multi-vis break-in oil for guys who still think X/C isn't good for break-in. X/C works great.
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In fact I just had a complete top overhaul with new ECI Titan cylinders, pistons, rings etc. and ECI’s break-in procedure recommended X/C 20W-50 as the break- in oil. I run it all the time and in the winter months I add Camguard.
 
Stewartb said:
Why did you use Type M? It's multi-vis break-in oil for guys who still think X/C isn't good for break-in. X/C works great.
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The reason I used type M is I was advised to use a straight mineral oil for break in of the new cylinder. Didn't know X/C could be used for break in.
 
First time owner, but in ND, my FBO and my AP both recommend Phillips XC 20W50 all yr

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
I'm at a high altitude with looong winters. I have used multigrade year round in all my planes. I have never had to fix a valve, replace a cylinder or break open an engine case yet (all Lycomings, I have never owned a Continental motor). I used to run AeroShell 15-50 for many years, but switched to Phillips 20-50 this year only because Shell has raised its price much faster than Phillips and the difference is now getting stupid.
 
AKBill said:
The reason I used type M is I was advised to use a straight mineral oil for break in of the new cylinder. Didn't know X/C could be used for break in.
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Depends on the manufacturer's recommendations/warranty. And location may affect it, too. Most of us are not in extreme weather during the breakin process.
 
I don't know crap about airplane engines, however, wondering...are there not any synthetic products used?
 
Skyrys62 said:
I don't know crap about airplane engines, however, wondering...are there not any synthetic products used?
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There are no fully synthetic aviation piston engine oils because of the leaded fuel that we still use.

AeroShell 15-50 is a "semi-synthetic" - blended mineral base with synthetic as part of the additive package. It is a bit of an exception though.
 
Exxon Elite (20-50) is also semi-synthetic. Phillips x/c is the only mineral AD multi-viscosity oil I know of.
 
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Jumpmaster said:
In fact I just had a complete top overhaul with new ECI Titan cylinders, pistons, rings etc. and ECI’s break-in procedure recommended X/C 20W-50 as the break- in oil. I run it all the time and in the winter months I add Camguard.
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Yup.....cept I run Camguard all year. Unless you live in Florida or another gulf coastal state, the winter months are the driest and the easiest on corrosion. Cold air does not hold moisture. Warm 80 deg F air holds lots of moisture.
 
This is from Lycoming service letter 1014M. It is dated May 1995.

Mineral oil must also be used following the replacement of one or more cylinders or until the oil consumption has stabilized

I'm wondering those who talked about using AD X/C for break-in, was the X/C developed after this service letter? Was there an improvement in the petroleum technology that was not available at the time the service letter was written?
 
X/C is mineral oil. Old thinking is that ashes dispersants might interfere with break-in but that's been proven incorrect. Phillips doesn't have a bunch of additives in it like Aeroshell's plus oils or Exxon Elite. Those additives would be a problem. The ashes dispersant part is not. With that in mind? Phillips Type M and X/C don't have anti-corrosive additives, which is why so many of us add Camguard. Don't add Camguard until that cylinder is completely broken in, and it should be at 25 hours, but do consider adding some corrosion protection after that. Another way to get corrosion protection is to add a quart of Phillips anti-rust oil with the X/C at every oil change. In fact you can use anti-rust as a break-in oil but not many guys do. Anti-rust has preservatives but is not ashless dispersant.

https://phillips66lubricants.com/products-by-segment/aviation/engine-oil
 
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Stewartb said:
X/C is mineral oil.
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X/C Aviation Oil was the first FAA-approved mineral oil-based, ashless
dispersant, multi-viscosity aviation engine oil

I guess that is what through me for a loop. I thought you either had AD or straight mineral oil. Didn't think of a mineral based AD.
Thanks for your comments.
 
I've the last couple of years changed from straight weight in summer months to multivis in winter and note consistently higher oil consumption with multivis - not out of acceptable ranges but consistently higher.
 
Which multi-vis? I'm guessing it's one of the semi-synthetics?
 
Stewartb said:
Which multi-vis? I'm guessing it's one of the semi-synthetics?
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AeroShell Oil W100
Phillips 66 X/C Aviation Oil 20w-50

both mineral based.
 
Huh. That’s unusual to have increased consumption with X/C. In fact yours is the first report I’ve ever seen, and pretty much everyone I know uses X/C.
 
But do they have the opportunity to compare to straight weight?
 
Most, yes. Phillips and straight weight are both way better that Aeroshell 15-50 but my experience and that shared by friends is that X/C has less blow-by and reduces consumption. I never found the difference significant, though. Not compared to 15-50, anyway. Another thing I noticed was that both straight weight and X/C had lower CHTs than 15-50 with straight weight having a slight advantage over X/C. I noted it but never have understood it.
 
Stewartb said:
Most, yes. Phillips and straight weight are both way better that Aeroshell 15-50 but my experience and that shared by friends is that X/C has less blow-by and reduces consumption. I never found the difference significant, though. Not compared to 15-50, anyway. Another thing I noticed was that both straight weight and X/C had lower CHTs than 15-50 with straight weight having a slight advantage over X/C. I noted it but never have understood it.
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And XC costs less and more people carry it if you land and need to add a qt
 
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