nrp wrote:


Roller lifters may help the cold start canmshaft situation but it is
not going to help the cylinders etc. Others talk of oil getting to
bearings etc but it is the expensive parts of an engine that must rely
on incidental fog type lubrication.

Comments?
nrp

It's a dilemma. The cold oil won't fling or fog well, and if we
raise the RPM with really cold oil we risk cavitating the pump and
getting little or no oil at all. We use Aeroshell 15W50 to try to get
the lower viscosity in cold weather without losing the lubricity when
hot. Seems to work OK, but the airplanes are also in a heated hangar
every night and the cowls are blanketed between flights when outside.
I think an airplane parked outside year-round (or in an unheated
hangar) should have, besides an insulated cowl cover, both a crankcase
heater and a fan heater under the cowl, and another fan heater inside
the cabin. The case heater will thin the oil, the cowl heater will warm
the jugs, battery and mags (impulse couplings sometimes stick when
cold), and the cabin heater will warm the gyros so the bearings don't
go out so soon. Of course, some folks don't have access to electricity,
or have to show up two hours earlier to plug things in.
As I get older I begin to understand why so many seniors leave
Canada to go to Florida or Arizona for the winter. The cold just makes
life so much more difficult.

Dan