Oil Changes

[ScottM]

On the red board there was a question about how often to do an oil change. I will not let my oil go more than 50 hours and if it makes sense I will change it sometime between the 30 and 45 hour point.

So with that thought in mind I headed to airport today to change my oil. It has 32 hours on it. I am planning a big trip to Florida and back in two weeks. So I thought start with fresh oil. I am also headed out of town with the plane tomorrow so it will be a good enough XC to show if there is going to be a problem.

Went under the cowling and it was pretty clean still although I did not a little bit of oil spray on the rubber hose that oges to the oil breather tube. But I could not locate where the spray had come from. This was prior to the oil change so it was not from any oil I spilled. Any thoughts??

The rest of the change went without incident and I even cleaned the whole aircraft belly. First time in a year I have done that! It was not too bad. I used a belly wash and a creepr to get under the plane. Only took my about 20 minutes to get it done.

The filter looked good, oil was black, spilled only a little, and the everything went together just fine. No leaks and it is back in service.

 

[Tom-D]

Why do you think most of the part 141 flight schools run 100 hours between oil changes and get to TBO with no excessive maintenance?

 

[RotaryWingBob]

Why do you think most of the part 141 flight schools run 100 hours between oil changes and get to TBO with no excessive maintenance?

As I read it, Scott's question was about the oil he saw, not about his oil change interval.

 

[tonycondon]

my 141 school ran 50 hrs between oil changes. i suspect that with regular use you can go further between changes.

 

[TMetzinger]

Why do you think most of the part 141 flight schools run 100 hours between oil changes and get to TBO with no excessive maintenance?

I don't know that they do - every flight school I've seen does the hundred hour and oil changes at 50.

Be warned, I know from experience that Lycoming will look hard at your oil changes if you ever go to them for repairs that may be covered under their warranty. We had an IO-360 in a 1998 M20J start making metal at 900 hours, with the airplane only 3 years old - so you can see that it was flown frequently. Lycoming agreed to pay for the camshaft replacement and such, until their lawyers saw that an oil change was performed (I kid thee not) at 52 hours. They then attempted to deny responsibility, and it was only after Mooney got involved that they agreed to do the work, and we ended up getting a factory reman for the cost of removal/replacement/shipping.

So I strongly suggest changing at 50 hours with a filter, and 25 with a screen.