<VV> Oil changes again

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:53 hours 01/11/2005 -0500, Pitts10ch@aol.com wrote:

>stuff.  I don't want to pull my engine any time soon.  Sidebar, I  worked
for a 
>guy once and we had Pratt and Whitney R985 radials on Beech  18's.  He never 
>chaged the oil but they (his engines not all Pratts) leaked  so much that we 
>just added a gallon every night to each engine and it was always  fairly
clean 
>looking.  Bizarre!

Larger radials (I suppose a 985 PW would qualify, maybe)  change their own
oil regularly.   The end user need not do it...   just keep adding to
replace what the engine expends while running or drools on the floor when
not running.  

If you keep the tanks filled the oil stays clean.   It doesn't stay there
long enough to get that dirty... :)   


Ever notice how well lubed the landing gear always was on most anything
with radials on the wings and LG in the nacelle?    

...and how shiny the tires stayed?   Radial engine'd airplanes are
self-preserving and self-lubricating.   

This does not include the oil that weeps into the bottom cylinders from
sitting overnight, which gets squished out the exhaust when the GC pulls
the props through before starting...  and the blue smoke rolls across the
field when the engine lights.    

Actually, this "add as you go" practice seems to work pretty well for Vair
engines as well, especially those with old tube seals.   And it sure
preserves the lower shroud sheet metal even in the "salty road" states.    



tony..