What Oil Do You Run?

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rwtucker
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by rwtucker »

Rich wrote:Aircraft oils are never detergent compounds, but "Ashless Dispersant". They are formulated to hold contaminants in suspension but not "clean" existing deposits to avoid the issue of switching from straight mineral to "normal" oils. A break-in period could easily be 50 hours or more, plenty of time to form deposits.
Thanks for setting me straight Rich. I had thought that ashless dispersant and detergent were the same thing. So, without the dispersant, contaminates can form on the metal surfaces more easily but switching to AD would not remove existing deposits and therefore that, at least, is not a basis for not switching to AD after prolonged use of non-AD oils. Correct? It was a few years ago but when I replaced a fried barrel on my TSIO-360, I was told that the new barrel would break in just as well with AD oil and that they recommended against using so-called break in oil. It did break in fine as they said. So, is the purpose of the break in oil to intentionally leave deposits of contaminates, which facilitates wear, which seats rings more quickly?
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Kurt h
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Kurt h »

Lou wrote:
Sandy wrote:Does it matter if you mix oils?
Yes, it does. For instance, you cannot mix Phillips x/c with Aeroshell. Folks who know more than me can explain which oils are incompatible. This is one of the reasons I changed to Aeroshell 15W50, because it seems to be more common in Canada, and you don't need additive.
The newer aviation oil standard SAE J1899 requires piston oils be interchangeable. Here is an AOPA link on the subject:
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... powerplant
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Rich
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Rich »

rwtucker wrote:So, is the purpose of the break in oil to intentionally leave deposits of contaminates, which facilitates wear, which seats rings more quickly?
Heck, I don't know. We get all kinds of recommendations based on differing geezer wisdom :scratch:
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rwtucker
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by rwtucker »

What I don't kow about this topic would fill volumes. But common sense says that different brands of oil have a differential impact on engine behavior . . . or they do not. If they do, the impacts may be different (some better on cams, some suspend contaminates better, some better with disuse corrosion, etc.). A study such as the one I wireframed above would answer some of these questions to 90-95% confidence, at least for our powerplants. I'm not saying it would be worth the effort. Fun, maybe, but possibly more than we could effectively take on as a loosely affiliated group. The only thing I can say with my N=1 dataset is that at ~500 hours, my compressions are close to 80/80, my oil analyses show very low levels of wear, and a borescope shows spanking clean unscored cylinder walls. This, even though my DA40 is not flown frequently and sits in a hangar, unused for 4 months every year. Since I went directly to Exxon and Camguard at 28 hours, my experience proves nothing beyond suggesting that the oil combination appears to be doing a good job for my engine.
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Sandy »

Kurt h wrote:
Lou wrote:
Sandy wrote:Does it matter if you mix oils?
Yes, it does. For instance, you cannot mix Phillips x/c with Aeroshell. Folks who know more than me can explain which oils are incompatible. This is one of the reasons I changed to Aeroshell 15W50, because it seems to be more common in Canada, and you don't need additive.
The newer aviation oil standard SAE J1899 requires piston oils be interchangeable. Here is an AOPA link on the subject:
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... powerplant
Thanks, Kurt,

That is what I thought the answer should be.
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Gearle »

Kyle wrote:I use Aeroshell W100 with Camgaurd based on recommendations from Savvy, an A&P, and another DA40 pilot. Note that I'm based in a warm climate and would rarely, if ever, have the need for a below-freezing start.

Rob,
I wonder what it would take to get Blackstone or one of the other oil labs to release their oil data for specific aircraft types or engines. They would already have all the data you would want for an oil type study. It could be easily aggregated by oil type for a given engine or aircraft type if the data was available. Or maybe they do this already and I just don't know about it, seems like a natural step for them to take given all the data they have.
Same here, I live in Texas, but I started a year ago using the Phillips 15/50 mainly because it was cheaper. Over the last year I have been dealing with a plug fouling issue on a lower cylinder, and I have read enough to believe this is the very thin oil in 90+ degree heat leaking past the rings. Although I just had an annual which replaced it with Phillips 15/50 again, I am slowly putting in aeroshell 100 every time the engine needs oil. My next oil change will be Shell 100.
I also have been using cam gone for about a year now.
My airplane is a 2003 DA 40 with 1400+ hours; my oil analysis in the last 12 months was perfect.
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by ThomasD »

Aeroshell 15w/50
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Rick
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Rick »

Gearle wrote:I also have been using cam gone for about a year now.
What will you do once you have successfully gotten rid of them? :D
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Gearle
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by Gearle »

Rick wrote:
Gearle wrote:I also have been using cam gone for about a year now.
What will you do once you have successfully gotten rid of them? :D
ha ;) yes, Siri attacks again, Camguard.
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Re: What Oil Do You Run?

Post by smoss »

Well, after running Exxon Elite 20W/50 for the past 5+ years with good results, it has now been officially discontinued. After reading this report from Blackstone:
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f641390cb ... _AC.01.pdf
it appears that there really is no big difference, with AS100W Plus maybe having a small advantage. While I live in Las Vegas, and would love to run that in the summer, my typical oil changes never coincide with the temperature changes, such that I would be stuck with 100W while traveling to freezing mountain places in spring or fall, unless I changed my oil very frequently. I know a lot of folks run the 100W all year, any problems with taking your birds to cold places?
Steve
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