Chrisgoesflying
Cleared for Takeoff
Would love to pick your brains about this.
Two weeks ago, I went flying and noticed that the oil pressure was slightly lower than usual. Still well in the green, just above 30 psi in cruise. Flew for about an hour and then landed. While taxiing at just over 1,000 rpm, the oil pressure was really low after the flight, barely touching 20 psi. It’s normal to have lower oil pressure after flying, but usually it doesn’t get that low.
Today, I wanted to go on another flight and noticed there was oil dripping out from the front of the engine, right below the prop (see photo, scroll to the second photo for close-up: https://imgur.com/a/jfuHmsH). It wasn’t a whole lot, but I’ve never seen oil there. I cancelled the flight but ran up the engine. First run up, all was normal with oil pressure close to 40. After the run up, I idled at 1,000 rpm for 5 minutes and oil pressure was just under 30. Next run up, oil pressure came up again to about 35. After pulling power back to 1,000 rpm oil pressure went down to about 20. Last run up, oil pressure went up to just over 30. Then back to 1,000 rpm and oil pressure went down to under 20 psi.
I parked the plane, went for a bite and then back to the airport. I looked at the same spot and saw some oil dripping there again.
For reference, on the last flight two weeks ago, OAT was around 22 degrees. Today was about 24 degrees. I’m running Aeroshell w80 but topped up with w100.
The engine was rebuilt in December with all new gaskets and a bunch of other new parts. Ten hours after the rebuild, the mechanic re-torqued all screws and changed the oil again. That was in mid January. Since then, I've flown the plane about 20 - 25 hours (would have to get the logbook to know exact numbers) with no further maintenance.
It's a C-85 12F engine with a spin-on oil filter pulling an Ercoupe with me and my wife all throughout Canada (and hopefully soon the U.S. once the border opens).
Two weeks ago, I went flying and noticed that the oil pressure was slightly lower than usual. Still well in the green, just above 30 psi in cruise. Flew for about an hour and then landed. While taxiing at just over 1,000 rpm, the oil pressure was really low after the flight, barely touching 20 psi. It’s normal to have lower oil pressure after flying, but usually it doesn’t get that low.
Today, I wanted to go on another flight and noticed there was oil dripping out from the front of the engine, right below the prop (see photo, scroll to the second photo for close-up: https://imgur.com/a/jfuHmsH). It wasn’t a whole lot, but I’ve never seen oil there. I cancelled the flight but ran up the engine. First run up, all was normal with oil pressure close to 40. After the run up, I idled at 1,000 rpm for 5 minutes and oil pressure was just under 30. Next run up, oil pressure came up again to about 35. After pulling power back to 1,000 rpm oil pressure went down to about 20. Last run up, oil pressure went up to just over 30. Then back to 1,000 rpm and oil pressure went down to under 20 psi.
I parked the plane, went for a bite and then back to the airport. I looked at the same spot and saw some oil dripping there again.
For reference, on the last flight two weeks ago, OAT was around 22 degrees. Today was about 24 degrees. I’m running Aeroshell w80 but topped up with w100.
The engine was rebuilt in December with all new gaskets and a bunch of other new parts. Ten hours after the rebuild, the mechanic re-torqued all screws and changed the oil again. That was in mid January. Since then, I've flown the plane about 20 - 25 hours (would have to get the logbook to know exact numbers) with no further maintenance.
It's a C-85 12F engine with a spin-on oil filter pulling an Ercoupe with me and my wife all throughout Canada (and hopefully soon the U.S. once the border opens).
