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I bought my 1966 Skymaster 2 year ago, and with all used machine there were some repair to be done. I notice that when the aircraft sat after flying, small pools of oil would appear under the front wheel well and also when dropping my gear doors, oil was in there also. I asked my A&P about it and his response was that the seals on Continental engines tended to leak and there wasn't much I could do about it except to keep adding oil. My engines have about 2200 hours each, so at the time I took him at his word. Besides, I had other repair to work on.
Last Christmas, I flew from Colorado to California to test the aircraft after my repair had been made. The trip out to California was uneventful as was the scenic flight for my friends around the San Francisco bay area. On the way back to Colorado, I landed in Nevada for refueling. Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. It was already cold (about 25 degree F on the ground) when I took off again. Over the Utah/Colorado boarder I passed through a cold air mass I was expecting and my OAT drop from 20 deg F to below -15 deg F in about 20 minutes. It was so cold, my heater could keep me warm and I had to put on my winter coat, which was in reach (I couldn't reach the gloves which were way in the back). By the time I landed in Colorado Springs I found my rear spinner cone and broke off and there was oil all over my horizontal stabilizer.
Besides the spinner cone being a pain (I mention it somewhere in the messages), it turns out those seal used on my valve covers started leaking and my oil just passed out past the propeller and out the back. I lost 4 quarts of oil during that flight. If I continued the flight, I would have lost it all. After fixing the seals, I have had any pools of oil leaking anywhere.
I wonder if flying into very cold weather with degraded valve cover gaskets allows oil to leak out of the engine and it just flow along with the airflow out the bottom of the aircraft on the front engine and out past the propeller for the rear engine. There would be no visual confirmation. You won't see an oil pressure drop until your almost out of oil and you never see a temperature rise in the oil (because there is less of it to absorb heat) or Cylinder head temperature rise due to the extremely cold weather. When all the oil is gone, your engine seizes.
Just my opinion at this point. I've included a picture my friend took of my front nose wheel and you can see the oil around the chocks. It doesn't do this anymore.
Karl
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