Your statement of "beware of Ebay" is the most pertinent in this thread so far. In all my years of racing and 100's if not 1000's of hours on the dyno I can say I have NEVER reused an oil cooler, oil lines or remote filter housing from any motor that sustained a bearing or any other kind of failure that put particles of metal in suspension... You can clean till the cows come home and there still will be junk entrapped somewhere in those contaminated parts. If someone had a failure the first place they are going to try to recover that cost is to sell stuff on Ebay and the end buyer is getting a part that could/ will ruin the next motor it goes on......... Just my humble opinion ya know.
Ben.
--- On Tue, 12/15/09, Mark Steitle <msteitle@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Mark Steitle <msteitle@gmail.com>
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Oil cooler
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 6:14 AM
Bill,
I seriously doubt that I have a restriction in the line. These are all -8 braided SS hoses. The oil filter is before the oil/air exchanger. The adapter block (and pressure sensor) is located after the oil/air exchanger. The replacement cooler (Modine) is similar in design to the Fluidyne except that the tanks are rounded where the Fluidyne's are flat. So they are inherently stronger.
It seem very unlikely that the -8 hose could flow more oil, even at 90psi, than the Fluidyne cooler could handle. This thing is 3" thick. The core half-section is 5.5" x 3". My guess is that it was like this when I bought it and I didn't notice the deformation in the tanks. It was probably over pressurized by someone trying to pressure test it. But that is just a guess. Beware of buying on Ebay!
On a side note, it has dawned on me that since all of the oil was bypassing the core of the oil/air exchanger, then all of the oil cooling load has been handled soley by the oil/water exchanger that I installed as a secondary cooler. With a little tweaking, I may not even need an oil/air exchanger at all. We'll have to wait and see on that until I have time to explore all the possibilities.
Mark S.
On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 10:58 PM, Bill Bradburry <bbradburry@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Where are you reading oil pressure? Can you rig some way to read it between the pump and the cooler? Look that replacement cooler over carefully and check it for changes as you run the engine or fly for a while. It doesn’t seem reasonable to me that the cooler would blow up on only 90 psi. Could you have a restriction in the line somewhere?
Bill B
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mark Steitle
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 8:35 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Oil cooler
There's a third possibility that I hadn't considered until I looked at the cooler again tonight after work. It is evident that the cooler was pressurized to the point that the tank warped causing the divider to pull away from the core (not welded where it meets the core). This allowed the oil to go in and right back out again. The tubes look fine, but the center of both tanks where there is no support, is ballooned outward.
I'm debating on whether to send it back to Fluidyne for inspection & repair, or to bite the bullet and order a new one (assuming that this size is still available). This one is definitely repairable, but not sure I'd feel comfortable flying behind it afterwards.
I also need to ask Gary what the working pressure is for the Fluidyne coolers. I'm wondering if I may have damaged this cooler with 90 psi oil pressure without realizing it?
I called Fluidyne today and spoke with Gary, the owner. While the cooler is not under warranty, they are willing to look at it and determine if it can be repaired. I'll send it off and see what they say.
There should be evidence of a TIG bead half way around the end tank near the center. Either its there or it isn't. If not and both fittings are in the same end, it is the problem.......
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