Pay Me now or Pay Me Later
Preheat? Not if you don't want to. But, boy you will pay for it. Anytime the temp gets down around 32 degrees you should have some sort of a pre-heat. Pan heaters are a great way to pre-heat. The heated oil is thin enough to start to flow as soon as the engine starts, thats what its for. If your on the road the best pre-heat is to have the aircraft put in a heated hangar a few hours (min) prefer overnight before your flight. All the components will heat up at the same time. 2nd best pre-heat is forced hot air. Most FBO's will have some sort of pre-heat, but there is a warning here, that some linepersons are not fully trained on how to use it. I have seen blistered paint on many occassions. Have the lineperson put the heat tubes in the air scoop(s) and insure they are secure and directed over the top of the cylinders. One thing about cold oil, even when using pan heaters they heat the pan oil and dont the cylinders, valves, lifters, etc.... that oil, if its real cold is still the thickness of molasses. It will not move too fast or coat the moving parts. Ive heard form the manufactures that it takes aprox 9 min to completely cycle the oil just after start up. Thats along time to wait for complete coverage of all metal parts. In that time there is alot of scraping and gouging going on. Your really wearing out the engine more than normal. So if you don't want to pre-heat don't but don't tell your mechanic I don't know why the engines didn't make overhaul. My recommendation, pre-heat to the best you can always, don't skrimp on the few dollars here.
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