|
Message
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: idle speeds
Dreadful to hear about your problem,
Dave
My first six port had about 40
hours on it when I also discovered a coolant leak into number 2 rotor. It
also was the results of some overheating before I discovered that I had to
"burp" the engine. That engine was built for me using the stock coolant
"O" rings. I have since used the TES coolant "O" rings in both the rebuild
of the six port as well as my current turbo II block and even though I have
overheated the turbo II block (trying to get *&^%$ thermostats to work for
me) I have had no recurrence of the coolant leaks. You probably only need
the TES type for the "inner" rings, I continue to use the stock outer
rings.
But, I agree, you need to find
out why your setup is failing to cool. As I recall you have a large
radiator sitting under the block. If I recall correctly its sitting at a
fairly steep angle to the airflow. If you are running the engine without a
cowl/duct to capture your prop wash and force it through the fins, you may not
be getting sufficient airflow through it. I think someone suggest going to
Home Depot/Loews and getting some of that large reinforced clear plastic hose
and replace part of your hose runs with that. I might provide some visual
clues to what is going on.
After all there are only two
possibilities. Your coolant flow is insufficient to remove the engine heat
at an adequate rate from the engine OR the radiator is not rejecting sufficient
heat into the airstream (could be a bit of both I guess). Determining why
one or the other of those conditions exists of course is the challenge.
With the clear plastic hose, you should be able to get some idea of the flow
rate. If you wanted to get techie, you could try to time bubble flow speed
along a measure section of that hose and using the cross sectional area of the
hose to estimate a flow rate. For that purpose you might want to insert
several feet of hose into your circuit some place.
I would suggest you try these things before
tearing down the engine. I ran my six port for about 10 hours with the
leak (but it sounds like it was somewhat smaller leak that you have). As
you well know, not much point in rebuilding the engine with that problem
unresolved. If coolant flow appears to be adequate, then that would narrow
it down to the functioning of your radiator. If you don't have a duct
built already, it might be worthwhile to mock one up to direct the airflow more
directly into your radiator.
Ed Anderson
Ed Anderson
RV-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
Matthews, NC
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 12:10
AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: idle
speeds
Yes,
unfortunately true. I was having those problems trying to get the
coolant to circulate. I thought I was getting a handle on it. The
system was thoroughly burped. At 2000 RPM the coolant was level at about
140. At 3000 it would cool to about 100. This told me that I was
just circulating a little better at the higher RPM. After about 5 min at
4000 RPM the coolant temp was still only 150 when coolant began to spray
the canopy. I thought for sure I had a big enough catch can. At
first I couldn’t figure out where the coolant was coming from. Until, to
my utter dismay, I discovered it was coming from the oil vent line.
L
I had coolant
dripping from the exhaust and spilling out around the injectors. I was
so disgusted with the whole project I didn’t even want to think about
it. The next day I pressurized the cooling system and found a very slow
leak of coolant into the front rotor chamber (as evidenced by the spray of
coolant into the eye as I peered into the open spark plug hole and turned the
prop – highly NOT recommended).
I still have good
compression all around, I just need to replace the water o-rings. I am
going to use the TES o-rings. But even that won’t help if I can’t solve
this damn circulation problem. I am really at whit’s end. There is
no reason I shouldn’t be making coolant go round and round.
With my work schedule
re-building the engine will only set me back about … 3 months.
Will make it thought to get to the next rotary roundup.
David
Leonard (working on the cowl while I await parts to re-build
the
engine)
Re-build the
engine? Did the cooling problems damage something? Man, I sure
hope that's not what you really meant.
|