Hello all,
I have a quandary with this
engine and am hoping to get some help in solving it.
I have about 60 hours on the engine now and it runs
quite well. Due to the worries related to Fred Moreno?s problem with
his engine and various others I was highly concerned about the safety of
operating my L-IVP with this power plant. To that end I?ve been
monitoring it closely and have been doing frequent oil changes to look for
developing problems.
All parameters have been good
except there was silicone early on in the oil (first change was at 5 hours
then at about 15, then at 35 hours and another later on.) and a slight
elevation in aluminum. Second oil change still have the silicon and
aluminum was much higher. Also there was a bit of metal flakes in the
filter element ? non magnetic. Last oil change was even higher
aluminum and silicon still elevated. The oil filter element looked
like it had glitter applied to it. Blackstone has been doing the oil
analysis. I sent the last filter element to Howard Fenton
(2nd oilpinion in Oklahoma) and he expressed concern and advised
to quit flying until the problem is figured out.
He says the only metal found is
aluminum and he?s never seen or heard of that. Always in his
experience there would be some other metal showing up in excess as well
because there isn?t a place in the engine he?s aware of the aluminum rubs
against aluminum.
I discovered after the second oil
change that the alternate air door was not closing completely and that
probably explains the silicon.
I did compression check a couple
of days ago and got normal readings ? 80/75 to 77.
I don?t have a plan about how to
trouble shoot the origin of this metal. I notice that cylinder #5 runs
hottest egt?s during warmup but other than that I can?t think of anything
out of the ordinary.
Does anyone have a suggestion
about how to sleuth out this problem?
Reards,
John Barrett,
CEO
Leading Edge
Composites
PO Box 428
Port Hadlock, WA
98339
www.carbinge.com