Burning Excessive Oil

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Downeast25
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Burning Excessive Oil

Post by Downeast25 »

I would love to understand and hear your opinion on an issue I believe I am having. I picked up a 2007 DA40 XL this week. It is fresh out of an annual. The prior owner tells me he never had a problem burning oil and held 6-5.5 quarts at all times. I flew 6.1 yesterday total and burned 2 quarts. Last night when I put her away she was below 5 quarts again. Is that unusual and can you suggest what the problem may be?
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theRDWRER
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by theRDWRER »

How long are you letting the plane sit after running before measuring how much oil is in the pan?
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Downeast25
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by Downeast25 »

Good question. The other day I checked right after flying and it was at 4.5 quarts. The next morning the reading was the same. I do not think the low indications are because the oil has just not settled in the pan.
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by CFIDave »

As you may know, in a DA40 if you fill the engine above 6 quarts, any amount over 6 will soon be blown out leaving a mess all over the plane's belly. It's normal for the oil to settle to about 5.5-6 quarts after an oil change.

I'd consider 2 things:
1. Was the oil actually burned or leaking past the piston rings? You might pull a bottom spark plug to see if it shows any evidence of oil contamination.
2. Did the oil end up being blown out the breather tube? How dirty was the plane's belly after flying?
Last edited by CFIDave on Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rich
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by Rich »

This is excessive and unusual. It's burning or leaking. The tendency for IO-360's to blow oil down to 6 quarts rapidly is a well-known quirk, but if it rapidly goes down below that it's not "normal". Lycoming may actually say it's not critical yet, but as a practical matter, who wants to add a quart of oil every tankful of fuel?

For reference, I had my engine essentially top-overhauled last year for unrelated reasons. Between leaks and burning it was using a quart about every 7 hours. Since the work was done, oil consumption is so low I can't measure it. It may be as low as 25 hours per quart.
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by Rich »

Also check that you have the right dipstick. Lycoming actually has several different length dipstick/filler tube pairs listed for IO-360's. If the plane had an annual done at a shop that was working on other planes at the same time, maybe the dipsticks got swapped.

Here's an interesting SB from Lycoming:

https://www.lycoming.com/sites/default/ ... ent%20.pdf
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by rwtucker »

To add a few thoughts:

There seems to be some variation in the "throw out/blow out" level mentioned by CFIDave. I tracked and charted my usage very carefully for the first year. The sweet spot for me is 5 quarts. I marked a line on the dipstick. With six quarts, I lose a full quart in about four 45 minute flights and see most of it on the belly. At five quarts, I get an insignificant loss with the same flights and nothing showing up on the belly. The only time I go above five quarts is as a precaution on long flights that include lots of un-survivable terrain below.

An added benefit for me is that my oil is more likely to come up to the desired temperatures. With six quarts, it seldom hit the mark even with a partial block of the oil cooler.

The only downside I can think of is that the combustion contaminates are a little more concentrated. Against the advice of my IA friends who say I am wasting money, I change oil at ~25hours so I don't worry much about contamination.
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by rwtucker »

Rich wrote:Here's an interesting SB from Lycoming: https://www.lycoming.com/sites/default/ ... ent%20.pdf
I'll say! Can't wait to see what number mine is. I calibrated my 5 quart notch empirically so I'm not worried about that but it will be interesting to see if there is a difference between the sticks.
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by Fly17 »

The increased oil consumption usually testifies to wear of rings of pistons that could occur during the operation of the engine long time on the maximum turns or when replacement time on hours of an engine operating time approaches. Why the owner sold the plane and how many hours before replacement of the engine. By your plane there is FADEC. If yes, that it is possible to look at all information on the engine including what oil consumption the former owner of the plane had.
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Re: Burning Excessive Oil

Post by krellis »

We have owned 2 Lycoming powered DA40's and flew hundreds of hours on both. Neither of them would maintain oil levels above 5 quarts - even the second one with an air-oil separator. We would put the required 6 quarts in for IFR flight, go fly for 45 minutes - or 4 hours - did not matter. The oil level would be at or below 5 quarts upon landing. And we always had the oily belly.

So while you may indeed be "burning" oil at a high level, you may only be blowing it overboard.

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