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Lycoming not run in long time

edstepec

Active Member
Hi Members. I have a 320 not run in 15 years and stored in dry climate. I know all the bad things that can go wrong. Apart from splitting the case or flipping her upside down to get oil to tappets/cam, has anyone ever overfilled to top of dipstick? What are the concerns that I am not aware of by overfilling then draining?
 
has anyone ever overfilled to top of dipstick?

Yes, I did :) on a 320, one thing though... said engine had not been laying around for a 6th of a century. Engine was stored inverted, filled with oil, silica gel plugs and exhaust/intake plugs fitted. 10 years later pulled 2 cylinders showing superficial corrosion, engine off to the the overhauler for minimal rework, running fine since then.
 
Hi Members. I have a 320 not run in 15 years and stored in dry climate. I know all the bad things that can go wrong. Apart from splitting the case or flipping her upside down to get oil to tappets/cam, has anyone ever overfilled to top of dipstick? What are the concerns that I am not aware of by overfilling then draining?

Filling an engine with oil would be done BEFORE you store the engine for a long period. No benefit in filling it if you intend to operate it in the near future.
 
Mike Busch

Check Mike Bisch videos. I remember watching one about prepping a stored engine for first start. Seems like he said to fog it with an 8oz can of Kroil in a garden sprayer.
 
Hi Members. I have a 320 not run in 15 years and stored in dry climate. I know all the bad things that can go wrong. Apart from splitting the case or flipping her upside down to get oil to tappets/cam, has anyone ever overfilled to top of dipstick? What are the concerns that I am not aware of by overfilling then draining?

I have an O-320 in a similar situation to you. Stored for about as long after it had been run for 286 hrs since OH. I just plan on doing what one of the famous engine gurus suggested, which is put in fresh oil, pull the plugs and spin the engine on the starter until oil pressure is indicating or prime through one of the gallery plugs until pressure is showing. Re-install the plugs and fire it up. After a ground run/runup, I will do a compression test to see how it looks. Since this engine is on a new 4 I will be staying over the field for the first flight. I have scoped the cylinders and all looks good. Will also do a filter cut after 5-10 hrs.

Just my plan, good luck with yours.
 
The problem on a Lycoming is the camshaft. It sits above the oil, and if it’s not stored correctly, you will most likely have corrosion - on the cam lobes, and/or the solid lifters. This is very difficult to see without a deep cleaning and a strong magnifying glass - unless the corrosion is really bad. I had the same situation with my O-360 on my RV6 build. The engine had 100 hours since new, but had been in storage for 27 years. The engine had been ‘pickeled’ but I didn’t trust it, so I tore it down. At first I thought I had made a mistake, because everything looked pristine. I sent the parts out to various overhaul shops. The cam and lifters went to Rick Romans in Oklahoma. They looked fine to the naked eye, but on closer inspection, all of the lifters had tiny pits, which would have eaten up the cam lobes fairly quickly. They put a ‘precision grind’ on the cam and sold me new lifters. 16 years and 1200+ hours later, the engine is still running strong.
 
Filling with oil

If you fill it with oil, it will come out lots of places including through the rings and out the valves. Maybe still will accomplish wetting some parts with oil.

I stored a used IO-320 for about six years on a Harbor Freight engine stand with maybe 12 quarts of auto oil mixed with a couple of cans of STP. Every month or two I would flip it upside down while I was in the shop. This was in a damp climate in Michigan. When I tore the engine down after storage it was clean inside with no rust.
 
I have an O-320 in a similar situation to you. Stored for about as long after it had been run for 286 hrs since OH. I just plan on doing what one of the famous engine gurus suggested, which is put in fresh oil, pull the plugs and spin the engine on the starter until oil pressure is indicating or prime through one of the gallery plugs until pressure is showing. Re-install the plugs and fire it up.

Although priming the oil system as described is a very good idea before starting any new installation, it won't do anything for storage damage. And it won't lubricate the cam and tappet faces, which have no pumped oil supply. 286 hours of run time followed by 15 years of storage means they will be bone dry (and possibly rusty) during all that spinning.

Hi Members. I have a 320 not run in 15 years and stored in dry climate. I know all the bad things that can go wrong. Apart from splitting the case or flipping her upside down to get oil to tappets/cam, has anyone ever overfilled to top of dipstick? What are the concerns that I am not aware of by overfilling then draining?

Offhand, I can't think of any concern, other than it may not work. Filling to the top of the dipstick doesn't guarantee the oil level in the upper crankcase will rise above the cam and tappet faces. It can only rise to a level where it traps air. Unless your case has an open web at the top of the accessory end, the only air exit would be through the rearmost cam bearing clearance. Assuming the engine is stationary, perhaps on the airplane, you might want to do it with the nose pointed below horizontal, and allow significant time for the trapped air to creep through the bearing. That should make the breather vent the high point just above the end of the cam.

I stored a used IO-320 for about six years on a Harbor Freight engine stand with maybe 12 quarts of auto oil mixed with a couple of cans of STP. Every month or two I would flip it upside down while I was in the shop. This was in a damp climate in Michigan. When I tore the engine down after storage it was clean inside with no rust.

Great storage plan!
 
I have an O-320 in a similar situation to you. Stored for about as long after it had been run for 286 hrs since OH. I just plan on doing what one of the famous engine gurus suggested, which is put in fresh oil, pull the plugs and spin the engine on the starter until oil pressure is indicating or prime through one of the gallery plugs until pressure is showing. Re-install the plugs and fire it up. After a ground run/runup, I will do a compression test to see how it looks. Since this engine is on a new 4 I will be staying over the field for the first flight. I have scoped the cylinders and all looks good. Will also do a filter cut after 5-10 hrs.

Just my plan, good luck with yours.

+1

This is what I would do. If there is damage, it is already done, so no need to worry about it now, as long as everything spins over smoothly. I would wait for 5 hours of run time before checking compression and other things. First oil change will show some iron from the rust wearing off, so expect a bit in the filter.

Biggest risk of damage is to the cam/lifters. If there was damage, it will show up in the oil filter, so important that you open the filter each oil change do some research on what to look for in there for signs of lifter spalling. You need to catch it before it becomes extensive to minimize damage to bearings and other parts.

Getting oil to the cam before start would be nice, but I am guessing that there is already corrossion on the cam / lifters and getting oil on it won't help that and the small amount of wear caused by the dry start is insignificant compared to what will happen if the lifters have pitting. I speculate that the cam / lifters are bone dry after 6-12 months and MANY engines have been started after sitting 6-12 months with no significant long term damage. Certainly not nice to the engine, but not a death sentence.

Larry
 
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I filled my Mattituck IO-320 completely with oil to ensure the camshaft was fully immersed in oil and let it sit that way for a couple weeks. I attached a hose to the case vent fitting and filled it from there once the oil level topped the oil filler tube. The oil eventually found its way to seep points and started to drip out the exhaust and fuel servo every so often. I then drained it out and refilled to normal level with fresh mineral oil. I am confident that the cam has a fresh coat of oil on it and I am careful to not bump the prop working around the plane.
I had a nice supply of oil I bought from the estate of a retired AP/AI, so did not have a lot of money invested in it,,.50 cents quart. I lost track of how much oil I dumped in but I would guess from memory maybe 4-5 gallons?
 
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