Oil Temperature

[MikeB]

Do any of you have trouble keeping the oil temperature up on the "Super 85" or 0200 conversions? I expected to have high oil temperature problems if anything with the 0200/L16 conversions but I actually have trouble getting the oil temperature up to much over 160 degrees which is too low to boil the moisture out. I have the opening below the nose bowl covered and the lower outlet for the pressure cowl about 1/2 covered. Granted the ambient temperature has been fairly cool up in the northwoods but I'd like to see the oil temperature up around 180-185 degrees. I also have dual cylinder temperature gauges and they tend to run around 350-375 or so. The oil temperature gauge is new and appears to be working right.

MikeB

[rkittine]

Hi Mike,

When I bought my 7CCM Champ with a C-90 (pretty much an 0-200), there was a hand painted on red line of 160 degrees. In a very hot summer day I get a little over that, closer to 180, but most of the time I am right at the 160 mark. Thinking it was a gauge problem, we pulled the sender and put it in bowling water and sure enough the gauge read about 212. I agree that the temperature is low and yet I have not had any indication of water in the oil.

My CHT guage reads about 325 on take off and initial climb out on both sides, and then drops to about 275 in normal cruise. I would guess that any water burns off in the cylinder than????? Though I am not that well versed in this.

Let me know if you have any better luck.

Regards, Robert

[jepropst]

Mike, with my C85/O200 upgrade and a 6 quart oil sump, I typically run about 100 degrees above ambient and very seldom ever gets up to 180. Engine baffles are new and very tight. I have a single cylinder temp gauge that usually runs in the the 375 to 400 range on the #2 cylinder, with the engine leaned for cruise. I have a miniwolf air/oil separator with an external bottle to catch the sludge out of the bottom of the separator. I see very little water out of it in the summer but in the winter I do notice a little in the form of foamy sludge. In 70 hours of operation I probably have collected about a half pint of sludge from the air/oil separator. My oil consumption has been running about a quart every 25 hours (Aeroshell 100W). I normally run 100% autogas because it is available from a local station while 100LL is 17 miles away.

[MikeB]

Thanks for the replies. I guess 100 degrees above ambient would be pretty close to what I'm reading. John, like yours, I spent a lot of time getting my baffles very tight (expecting I would have a problem) even around the crankcase cooling intake behind the prop. The nose bowl has bigger 'bug eyes" or at least they're bigger than the old club Champ but I hate to cover any cooling to the cylinders. I do have the mounted oil filter but I doubt that has much to do with it and I sure as heck don't need a blast tube on it. I did pull the oil temperature gauge and although I couldn't get the temperature up to boiling (hot plate in my hangar) it seemed to be pretty close to the thermometer reading. I'm still running 100LL as I only have about 12 hours on it since major with new cylinders. They appear to be broken in but I hate to run cold on green cylinders too.

My old A65 Champ always tended to run around 140 degrees at the colder temperatures (35-40 degrees) but I could always bring that up to 170 degreess by installing the lower outlet plate. I just based that on the fact that the A65's burn very little fuel. I don't have a handle on the 0200 yet but I expect it's in the 5-6 gallon range. I also haven't done a lot of leaning yet so that may help bring the temperature up some too. Generally I fly around 2500 rpm at cruise.

It's supposed to be nice tomorrow so I might take a ride again. Getting that time of the year when I'll probably put it up for the winter anyway.

Mike

[rkittine]

After reading some of the responses, I thought that I would also add that I have the Airwolf remote spin off oil kit, which adds about .5 quarts or oil to the system, plus since it is a -8, the lines running to and from the oil filter. Don't know if that made any differecne in the oil temp as I only flew the plane a few hours before adding that.

[Dennis]

Mike,

Mine runs about the same once it warms up and the warm up time is very slow. I am usually airborn for several minutes before it comes up to 160 or there abouts. It also has an oil filter. I think the issue is with the location of the sensor bulb. It is completely incased in the wire mesh oil filter which may be acting as a heat sink to the case. I may be way off the wall with this one and I have no basis for my guess work other than I cannot believe these engines are running this "cold". Dropping from 180 down to 160 is only about a 10% drop in temp. Could the mesh to the case provide a 10% temperature drop? I don't know but it is a thought. Since you are playing with it, try removing the mesh filter just to check to see if it has an effect on the oil temp.

Next time you are traveling to or from Texas, stop by and fly my Champ. I would like your opinion on its performance. It will also give you a chance to compare oil temps.

Dennis

[MikeB]

I think I have an extra screen housing around 'some place' and that might be worth a try. I just left the screen in as a handy spot to check for metal, etc. in the oil flow (although the STC says to remove it). I seem to have a lot of 'snot' dripping from the breather tube after I shut it down. I might pull a valve cover too as moisture seems to collect there too if I remember correctly.

Performance wise, it really 'takes off'...even with the short prop. Speed wise it's hard to tell but I'd think somewhere between 90-95 mph according to the GPS. Good climb rate....no problem easily climbing to 4000 feet or whatever, whereas I used to quit at around 2000 AGL with the old Champ as it really didn't like to climb that much.

Mine came in fairly heavy at 955#. I was hoping for something around 900# but with the battery (24#), starter (9#), upholstery, greenhouse (.125 Lexon), extra fuel tanks (18#), etc. it all adds up, I guess. It's comfortable and I usually fly alone anyway. My friend's L16 (C85) weighed in at 950# with the old starter and generator combination so guess I shouldn't feel too bad and the performance is there anyway.

Mike

[Dennis]

Mike,

Mine is also a little fat. She came in at 938 with no electrical. But like you, I am getting about 90 cruise and a climb that is fantastic.

Dennis

[MikeB]

They say, "if you throw it up and it comes down it's going to add weight' so that's the penalty I guess. I used Superflite and it's heavier than sin. I believe I'd use something different next time (if there is a next time). It's easy to work with and looks nice but the glue is very MEK intensive and the finish cracks in cold weather to the point where I'll most likely put the plane away for the winter...not to mention the fact I'm getting to be sort of a wimp in my older age.
On the other hand, my friend used Poly-Fiber and his isn't a whole lot lighter than mine at 950# as opposed to 955#.

Mike

[joea]

Mike,

I have the same problem with the 0-300 (same as your engine but with two extra cylinders) and my cure for this is to blank off the airflow to the oil cooler. If I was flying further North would also blank off some of the air intake to the cylinders trying to get the oil temps up where they need to be.

Joe A

[MikeB]

Joe,
Glad to see you're back . Of course on the L16 I don't have an oil cooler so that's not an option. I'm not a big fan of blocking air to the cylinders although it's been done on the old club Champ. As I mentioned previously I have the nose bowl opening below the prop covered and also the lower pressure cowl outlet partly covered which does help some. I suppose, in essence, accomplishes about the same as covering part of the bug eyes. Living up here in the north I've found that helps with engine temperature and cabin heat as much as anything. On the old 65 horse Champs with "y" pipes about the only thing that used to warm up was your left toe in "0" temperatures, anyway. I've always had it in my mind to 'invent' a lower cowl flap that could be controlled by a cable on the dash but when the temperatures go down so does my ambition to preheat, shovel snow and drag the plane out, although flying with skis is about as much fun as your can legally have with your clothes on. Be interesting to see what happens next summer when the ambient is 80 degrees or better. My friends recently completed C85 seems to run about the same low temperature so it's not exclusive to the 0200 conversion, I guess.

Anyway, I've pretty much parked the L16 for the winter as I don't want to be running my new engine and not keeping the temperature up and we're off to sunny Texas later to see the grandkids at some point.

Mike