engine trouble

Minor oil leakage seems to be a nagging problem with IO-360s. Our old
engine (in an Arrow IV) always leaked some oil for the last 1000 hours
before we swapped it for a factory rebuilt. (At that point, the engine was
actually beyond TBO, and leakage was not a major consideration in deciding
to do the engine swap.) Every year during the annual our mechanic would
chase down the leaks and do what he could to minimize them. One important
step was retorqueing the case bolts.

At worst, our oil consumption ran about 1 qt/6 hrs, including leakage. At
that rate (which included "real" oil consumption as well as leakage), we
were advised that our leakage was not serious -- really more of a nuisance,
so we lived with it.

One thing we learned with the old engine was that leakage was MUCH worse
when the oil level was above about 6.5 qts.

My recommendation: Sure, go ahead and have your A&P do use whatever simple
means are available to minimize leakage, but unless it gets severe (1 qt
per 4-5 hrs) I wouldn't go beyond that.

-Elliott Drucker