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Hi Bob,
I might draw a distinction between "safe" and "smart". It would certainly have been smarter to fix the problem rather than engage in denial {:>), however, unless the coolant lost starts to compromise your engine cooling, I don't view it as "unsafe". I had the same problem with my first 86 NA engine which used the stock "O" rings and got a bit hot during ground runs. I flew it for 10 hours before tearing it down to fix it. The leak in that case was small and I would only lose approx 1/2 cup of coolant per hour of flight. So it sort of depends how bad the leak is.
The thing is sort of self limiting once the engine is running. You actually loose more coolant lost due to compromised "O" rings when the engine is not running. The reason is that when running and as the pressure builds up in the coolant chambers, it appears that it the pressure on the coolant side pushes the "O" ring back against the combustion gases and you get a degree of sealing. When the engine is not running the coolant simply leaks through the compromised "O" ring.
When I arrived after a 2 hour flight to Louisiana I had lost approx 1 pint of coolant.
No question, it would definitely have been smarter to fix the problem when you recognize it. Certainly with the problem fixed - its got to be safer {:>)
Someone said - "you never learn from your successes, you only learn from your mistakes" - makes me a very learned person {:>)
Heck, with all the help available there at Charlies, it would have taken me twice as long to overhaul the engine {:>)
Ed
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob White" <bob@bob-white.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 7:23 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Engine Rebuild - Coolant Leak Cause
Hi Ed,
With 20/20 hindsight, would it be safe to say that the incident
depicted in the photo was enough reason to not fly again until the
engine had been checked?
Think how much help you would have had at Charlies! Although you
wouldn't have had Laura back home to send new parts.
Bob W.
On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 11:02:06 -0400
"Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com> wrote:
Those of you who look at the Real World Solutions web site and their latest photos may recall seeing a photo titled "Congratulations, it's a boy" which shows coolant squirting into the air from my overflow tank. Photo taken at Charlie's fly in. That was pretty good evidence of a coolant leak between combustion chamber and coolant galleys and supported by the fact that I had notice my coolant pressure increasing on the flight to Charlies by approx 11/2 psi per hour of flight. It started at a normal 10 psi and had increased to18 psi by the end of the flight.
<snip>
Best Regards
Ed
Ed Anderson
Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
Matthews, NC
eanderson@carolina.rr.com
-- http://www.bob-white.com
N93BD - Rotary Powered BD-4 (real soon)
Prewired EC2 Cables - http://www.roblin-photo.com/cable/
Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
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