New Skymaster Owner

TomM · #1 04-19-20, 11:54 PM

A quick update for all of you. Last Thursday I flew from Oklahoma to Ohio for my check ride. All went good with Brad Newman at Tiffin Aire. Supper great guy. Flew back to Oklahoma that same day to drop off my instructor. After a good night sleep (finally) I left Friday and flew my bird home to Iowa solo...filed IFR, climbed through the clouds to severe clear and all went great. It was an awesome feeling to get through the training and the check ride. I have a list of things to start working on to make this plane my plane, and I am very much looking forward to it. She leaks oil because I think it has been sitting. After the first 2 days of training the oil leaking slowed, but the push rod tube ends at the engine case are dripping wet. Easy enough to start chipping away and working my way down. No leaking at the crank seal.

I cant get over how slippery these things are! At less than gross it beats all the cruise speeds noted in the book. Very happy with everything!!

I am going to post my instructor in the instructor part of the forms. Brad Newman the DPE has been mentioned a number of times here, but my instructor has not.

Feels great to have a AMEL with a center thrust limitation!!!

frank.oconnor19 · #2 04-20-20, 08:19 AM

Congrats.

We had to do the push rod seals as well. is tedious but worth it. The amount of work to get the oil leaks under control is worth it. I wish you luck. I love owning my plane.

Frank
N326 - 1976 P337

cessnadriver · #3 04-20-20, 01:47 PM

Tom M.
Great job on your new CLT rating!! I just finished mine in February, 2020. I own a 1965 C337 and also have the oil leaks from the push rod seals. I also bought 6 rebuild cylinders from Gibson Avn, Oklahoma, cost me $5200. Plan on replacing them on the rear engine due to 3 cylinders with low compression. When I started training from my home airport I noticed I was using a quart of oil per engine in about two flight hours. Thankfully the leakage has slowed to about 1/4 quart per engine in 3 hours of flight. Mostly through the push rod seals. AFTER I paint my plane this summer I hope to do the seals afterwards. Since I'm an A&P that will save me a lot of money, doing it myself. Good luck with yours!
Regards, BILLS

TomM · #4 04-20-20, 09:11 PM

Thanks Bill and Frank. I do love it! I also started out losing about 1 quart every 2 hours - what a mess. It has slowed to a quart every 6 hours so its better, but still on the messy side. My mechanic has the seals in stock and I am on his schedule.....but he is booked out till mid summer. So hopefully it will continue to slow down.

After seeing the great posts about the side window replacement, I am going to knock that out over the summer as well. They are quite milky.

Although the solid orange color is growing on me, we will be splashing some trim color on it this summer as well. As with most folks I am sure, it will be a work in progress until I cant fly any more......

hharney · #5 04-20-20, 10:13 PM

What oil level are you operating the engine at?

TomM · #6 04-20-20, 11:05 PM

I keep it between 7 and 8 quarts. In the Hawk XP I used to fly it seemed like if you had more than 8 quarts it would blow it out. Similar motor, different plane.

Is that the range I should run it in or have you guys found a different range to be better?

Never thought to ask what level I should run it at. Thoughts??

hharney · #7 04-21-20, 01:26 PM

7 quarts seems to be about max from what I have heard. Typically you would allow it to stabilize and see where it levels off at. My engines like 6 quarts. If I keep the level at 7 it greases things up more. Also depending on how hard you run the engines seems to change the amount blown out. If I run 2500 rpm it will tend to be more grease if I run 2350 rpm it seems to be less.

Also not all dip sticks are stamped correctly. This is retaliative to knowing exactly what you have in the sump but not necessarily where the level stabilizes at. But when you change your oil dump 6 quarts in and let it sit for a little bit then see what the stick says. Remember the filter takes a quart too. When my dip stick says 6 I have dumped 7 quarts in the engine.

cjordan · #8 04-24-20, 07:41 PM

Has anyone tried one of the vacuum systems where a plastic line goes down the dipstick tube? I use this on vehicles all the time. No mess at all. At least in vehicles, it seems to get all of it out, can hear sucking air if you pull off the bottom of the pan when it's empty. The one I have used is called a topsider.

I may see what happens trying this next time around.

hharney · #9 04-27-20, 10:20 AM

I've seen some Lycoming equipped planes use this because they are subject to cam rust. If you fly once a week not usually a problem with these Continentals but can't hurt. They use a tube of desiccant material to draw the air through

JAG · #10 04-27-20, 11:06 AM

cjordan - I change oil on one of my cars that way and never thought of using on the aircraft...It would make for a clean way of changing the oil on the aircraft, but I always wondered how much old oil or sediment gets left behind, versus using the low point like the drain plug. Certainly something to consider though as an alternative once and while.
Jeff

TomM · #11 04-28-20, 04:13 PM

Update: I changed the oil (wish I would have thought about the zipper baggies - what a mess!!). 7 quarts before starting the engine showed as 6 quarts on the front dip stick and less than that on the rear with the plane level. So I am sure I was running 8 or better in the beginning - which ended up on the belly and tail.

I have 40 hrs logged now and I am totally kicking myself in the butt for not getting one of these things 20 years ago!!!! I love it so much!

I want to thank this group for being a positive influence on me as well as preparing me financially for the annual inspections and the like. You guys are great!

This will be my last post on this thread so it doesn't get out of hand topic wise.