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increasing oil temp at landing

KayS

Well Known Member
Hi All,

my oil temps were always low. 150 - 170 in summer, during winter my oil never unfreezes. currently i install Vans oil cooler shutter.

over the last flights i saw increasing temperatures when coming in to land with low power in the pattern by 20 F or so. never noticed that before. is this normal? is there any kind of explaination to that?

there were several older threads about this topic but these were drastic/erratic indication jumps and it seems these were caused by sensor wiring/grounding problems.

Thanks
Kay
 
Seems normal to me, slower, warmer air down low, lower rpms=oil flow through cooler slower, 20 degrees not much in my opinion. I’d never be concerned with this event…YMMV
 
I’m guessing a constant speed prop? If so, in full high RPM pitch (as for landing) it will reduce engine cooling air. This also surprised me when I changed from a FP to the nice Hartzell BA prop on my first RV.

Carl
 
Your oil temps are two low for effectively burning off water and other deposits. I would consider blocking off part of the oil cooler after checking that your gauge readings are correct.
The temps in the pattern are similar to both aircraft I have owned. They always bump up a bit with lower airflow.
 
180~190F is optimum for cruise. 150~170 is low, so an additional 20 is no concern, other than being curious regarding why things changed.

BTW, water evaporates (changes to vapor phase) just fine at 150, although the rate (lbs per hour, for example) is slower.
 
thanks for your inputs! i was not concerned about the raising temperatures, just curious and wanted to understand. seems that this behavior is normal and i don't have a sensor wiring problem.

btw... i am in the process to install a shutter in front of the oil cooler to raise overall oil temps.
 
fwiw, installed a shutter last year since I couldn't, but for very hot conditions, raise the oil T >180. Cold weather flying returned a typical 160ish.

Today, after the install, most of my flying is done with the shutter fully closed. Seldom, usually during prolonged climbs, or very hot days (of which we only dreamed about this year...) do I need to open it slightly.
And now just able to maintain 180 during cold conditions :)
 
I have seen in some aircraft that the very act of turning on the electric fuel pump prior to landing will cause the oil temp readings to change by as much as 30 degrees! Must be some kind of RF energy causing it. Magic and mirrors!
DAR Gary
 
I've seen various oil temp gauges read low, for example the old gauge Van's used to sell normally ran about 20d low in my experience. So make sure your gauge is reading correctly. Very few 360 powered RV's have low oil temp problems as the Vernatherm usually keep temps pretty close to where they belong. It's usually high oil temps that are the problem.
 
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