KS Arrow Pilot
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2011
- Messages
- 23
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KS Arrow Pilot
My Arrow was recently "re-born" after my nose gear collapse. The engine was torn apart, each piece inspected, and re-built up in Poplar Grove. Not a complete overhaul, but close. My local mechanic in MO re-installed the engine and put everything back together. He flew it 2 hours, and then yesterday we both flew it about 45 minutes. Everything went great. Plane flew VERY well and after 5 months of no plane, I was elated to have it back again.
After the flight, I shut down the engine and went to push the plane back in the hangar. There were many splattering drops of oil coming out of the nose gear doors. After pushing the plane back in the hangar, I spent some time looking up into the doors and removed the top areas of the cowl to see where it was coming from. The mechanic couldn't tell either, and we decided he would need to completely remove the cowl to hunt for the leak. The dipstick showed almost no oil left in the engine... but it's mineral oil which is super clear and directly after a flight, it takes a while to drain back to the pan. It had 8 quarts to start the flight.
So I'm bummed. there is oil drenching most of the new components around the engine, and down the belly of the plane. The mechanic didn't have time to check it out until Monday, so I'm grounded another weekend.
I decided to post this ( to vent, and also) to ask other owners for common areas of a leak. The only one I know of is the dipstick guide tube, and it's on there very snuggly. Could I be looking at something major causing this? The area which has oil around it is near the bottom of the engine and all components. And yes, we were watching ALL engine gauges very closely throughout the flight and on the ground and everything was in the green.
After the flight, I shut down the engine and went to push the plane back in the hangar. There were many splattering drops of oil coming out of the nose gear doors. After pushing the plane back in the hangar, I spent some time looking up into the doors and removed the top areas of the cowl to see where it was coming from. The mechanic couldn't tell either, and we decided he would need to completely remove the cowl to hunt for the leak. The dipstick showed almost no oil left in the engine... but it's mineral oil which is super clear and directly after a flight, it takes a while to drain back to the pan. It had 8 quarts to start the flight.
So I'm bummed. there is oil drenching most of the new components around the engine, and down the belly of the plane. The mechanic didn't have time to check it out until Monday, so I'm grounded another weekend.
I decided to post this ( to vent, and also) to ask other owners for common areas of a leak. The only one I know of is the dipstick guide tube, and it's on there very snuggly. Could I be looking at something major causing this? The area which has oil around it is near the bottom of the engine and all components. And yes, we were watching ALL engine gauges very closely throughout the flight and on the ground and everything was in the green.
