New Skymaster Owner

cessnadriver · #1 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 · #2 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 · #3 04-20-20, 10:13 PM

What oil level are you operating the engine at?

TomM · #4 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 · #5 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.

TomM · #6 04-21-20, 01:37 PM

Thanks for the info! My oil and filters will be here this week and I planned on changing the oil this weekend. I will do exactly what you said below to determine the ACTUAL oil levels. Admittedly the dipsticks are really hard to read. I had to clean them up, use a magnifying glass and flash light to read the markings and then scribe lines at the 6 and 8 quart marks to make them easier to read at a glance glance. Thanks again!!

frank.oconnor19 · #7 04-21-20, 08:45 PM

I too have found that the oil is best around 7 qts on the dipstick, any more and I just wipe it off the belly. I use 8 qts on an oil change. Not sure what others are doing but I am changing the oil every 30+ hours. Use 50W in colder months and 100W in warmer. No multi viscosity. But that is just me.

I did put in the quick drain plugs, they are STC'd and make getting the oil out of the front engine a lot cleaner.

Frank