Proper oil level for CC340

[N867SP]

Sorry, I should have been more specific, 6-10hrs industry rule of thumb average oil usage in horizontally opposed air-cooled aircraft engines. Less is better, to some extent, I typically add 1qt per 20hrs in my IO-360-L2A. I've never added a single at to my o-340 in the year I have owned it...well that might be due to the fact that it's still mounted to the pallet it was shipped to me on!




Pete
CCK-1865-0078
️N9PW
Severna Park, MD
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[randylervold]

Ok....this is a dumb question I'm sure but.....is the oil level (on the dipstick) not the best way to measure consumption?

Sorry Paul, yes indeed oil level on the dipstick is the way to measure consumption, I think I misunderstood your comment. Sounds like your engine is breaking in a bit earlier than most if your consumption has stabilized. The other way to know is that your cylinders will typically run 20° cooler than they were when new at the same power setting. Notice any temp differences?

[Paul]

Not a dumb question at all. I had the same thought as I read the above response. Consumption would be oil use age over time. Typical consumption would be 1qt every 6-10hrs, so you would need to monitor oil level, via dipstick to quantify this. Just a guess but majority of breaking will take place during the first 10 hrs and continue to taper off from there. Previous thread about recommended oils mentions the accelerated change interval during break-in as a guideline of break-in durations. These shortened change intervals are designed to remove wear metals that build up more rapidly during break-in.


Pete
CCK-1865-0078
️N9PW
Severna Park, MD

Sent from my iPhone 7 using Tapatalk

Thanks Pete. The accelerated change interval during break-in makes good sense. At this point in time, I'm thinking that like Randy said, I'm well down the "break-in" road. She runs so smooth and the oil is super clean. And after 3 or 4 hours of run time I'm not seeing hardly and drop in oil level on the stick.

[Paul]

this comment caught my eye because in 350 hours on my O-340 I've added just one quart of oil and that was in the first ten hours or so. I've never needed to add more oil between 25 hour changes. I use the recommended Phillips 20/50 oil putting in 5 Quarts and a half pint of Camguard. In 25 hours I'm down to 4 quarts.

A lot of my hours are at fairly low power settings. Although my EX isn't hp limited as a non-LSA I probably run it like it is.

Dan

That's exceptional engine performance, Dan. I like that half pint of Camguard recommended in a post from a couple years back. Looking forward to the same tight performance out of my CC340.

[Paul]

Sorry Paul, yes indeed oil level on the dipstick is the way to measure consumption, I think I misunderstood your comment. Sounds like your engine is breaking in a bit earlier than most if your consumption has stabilized. The other way to know is that your cylinders will typically run 20° cooler than they were when new at the same power setting. Notice any temp differences?

Randy, I've flown 4 times and in all that time my oil temp has held very steady at 150 plus or minus 2 degrees. We've had a little cooler weather here....mid 60's...maybe that has something to do with the temps stabilizing at that level.
And it could be the manufacturer run-in had a big contribution towards break in.
thx
Paul
CCEX #47

[N867SP]

Paul,

Have you done a download from the CGR-30P yet? This will give you great graph data to map the CHT's and see how they are trending. I upload my data from the JPI in my other aircraft to Mike Busch's Savvy site (no fee), their interface is very user friendly and if you see something that concerns you, they will review (fee) and give you second opinion.

The CHT's are what you want to monitor, more so than oil temps.


Pete
CCK-1865-0078
️N9PW
Severna Park, MD
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Scott c]

Paul, can you tell me what oil consumption you are experiencing now? Also wondering what your chts are and oil temp? Has sb004 been done?

[Paul]

Paul, can you tell me what oil consumption you are experiencing now? Also wondering what your chts are and oil temp? Has sb004 been done?

Scott, my engine is extremely tight. With about 65 hours on the engine and 24 since my last oil change I've only added 3/4 of a quart. My oil level shows up at about 4.5 quarts after a change and it slowly went down to just under 4 which is when I added the oil to bring it right back up to about 4.75 on the stick. To be honest I think I could go a full oil change cycle without adding any oil at all.

My CHT's have been very stable, in cruise, at around 360 to 375 degrees. On climbout, I watch the temps closely and they will climb above 400 degrees, up to 410 or so and that's as high as I'll let them go. I closed my cowl vents about a month ago to watch how that effected CHT and oil temps. While our highs were in the 80's I didn't see any rise in engine temps. Now that we're starting to see 90 degrees at times here in the desert, I'll be opening them up up one notch at my next oil change.

Yes, I installed the new probe, in accordance with SB0004 (prior to first flight) and my oil temps have been rock solid between 148 and 152. Oil pressure also holds very steady at between 68 and 70 degrees.

[Dan L]

. To be honest I think I could go a full oil change cycle without adding any oil at all.s.

that is the way my engine is. When I change oil I put in five qts and a pint of Camguard. With 365 hours on it now I have yet to add a quart of oil between changes except for one added in the first ten hours.

[Scott c]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the information.