engine wear and oils

[Jgibson]

Mike is absolutely correct in that synthetic oils do not 'hold' lead as Dino oil does. If using 100ll in a Rotax 912, oil changes are recommended at 25 hours. If using nothing but mogas, 50 hrs. The issue with FULL synthetics that were pulled off the market was because the BIG Continentals would accumulate lead deposits in the front oil galley, causing starvation and ultimately rod bearing failure. But in the smaller Continentals and Lycomings it ran fine.
When the full synthetic was recalled, we bought up all we could find and ran it in everything up to 0-200's and Lycomings 0-360's for 10 years until the supply was exhausted. The old wives tales about leaks and other scare stories were just that....bull. And when we ripped down the engines for overhaul, the wear was almost negligible. One 0-235 I saw ran 3500 hours with no issues whatsoever.
And if startup wear definitely is the highest-wear time, why WOULDN'T you want a quicker-flowing multi-weight oil hitting the bearings quicker? That's why ALL new auto engines use nothing but water-thin oil weights in order to better quickly lube tighter tolerance engines.
I myself have used NOTHING but either full synthetic or Aeroshell 15-50 semi-synthetic for the past 35 years with absolutely NO adverse effects on ANY engine I've either worked on or flown. I have owned 14 planes myself, and was a partner in an aircraft repair service for 25 years.
And to pre-oil a small Continental, just remove the oil pressure gauge hose and back-pump oil with a squirt can down into the pump gears. Oil will pump up immediately once primed like this, which is often necessary with tail dragger planes sitting for long periods with work oil pump gears.

[lgsievila]

CAMit Engines have an inhibitor system available-below is copied from their website. I have one and it works as advertised

A hand-operated pump inside the cabin selectively sprays neat clean engine oil into the intake port during shutdown. The effect is similar to using an oil can to spray oil onto the top of the intake valve just prior to and during the transition from idle to zero RPM. The oil is dispersed in a radial pattern to coat the bore. As the oil is in a stream rather than ‘fogged’, there is less oil required; the large oil droplets attach to the hot surfaces without burning.

The pump displaces approx. 3cc – just enough oil to do the job, but an amount small enough that no noticeable smoke is created on subsequent start-ups.

Two pumps of the handle before and one during shutdown is all that is required for short term protection. For longer term protection, simply cool the engine CHT/valves to 50°C, restart the engine momentarily and inhibit immediately. The lower temperature ensures the maximum amount of residual oil remains.

The oil reservoir for the pump is part of the dipstick housing, allowing easy access and checking during daily pre-flight checks. Included in the system is a CAE dipstick.

The unit can be fitted directly to a new or overhauled CAE engine, as all CAE heads are already modified to accommodate the system. With some simple modifications (tools provided) to the heads to accommodate the oil jets, the inhibitor system can also be fitted to older 2200 & 3300 engines.

The inhibitor system comes with instructions to be easily fitted and eliminates the concern associated with leaving an engine laid up due to infrequent use. The inhibiting system can be used selectively, and without the removal or disconnection of any part of the aircraft.

Currently only available for EXPERIMENTAL installations.

Please contact us here for a price and with your shipping address, we will be able to supply the costing and time frame for shipping.

Onex33