Oil drip

[JOhnH]

Probably a stupid question that I should know the answer to, but I will ask anyway. I have a cessna 172N with a newly reman o360. If I check by the nosewheel within a few hours after flight there is no problem. But if I park her for about a week, when I come back there are a few ounces of oil puddled up by the nose wheel. I was told the position of the puddle indicates it is coming from the breather. What would cause this? Is it "normal". I never saw this before getting the re-manufactured engine installed.

 

[kgruber]

That is pretty normal in my experience.

 

[nyoung]

Most likely, the oil is coming from the breather tube, and if so it is pretty common. If the oil really bothers you, there is a product that helps recapture oil from the breather tube, thereby reducing/eliminating this condition.

(http://www.m-20turbos.com/content/products/breather.php?link=breather)

 

[Dan Thomas]

Most likely, the oil is coming from the breather tube, and if so it is pretty common. If the oil really bothers you, there is a product that helps recapture oil from the breather tube, thereby reducing/eliminating this condition.

(http://www.m-20turbos.com/content/products/breather.php?link=breather)

I've seen a cutaway of that unit and there's not much to stop fine oil mist. Even the Airwolf, which uses a steel-wool element to trap the oil, doesn't work all that well. We had one on a 172 and it didn't control the oil loss any better than the straight pipes on the other 172s. Took it off.

At any rate: http://www.airwolf.com/Products_AirOilSeparators.htm

Dan