Proper oil level for CC340

[randylervold]

Heretofore there has been no information in the POH about proper oil level for the CC340 though we have passed along instructions verbally to our dealers and to customers directly and I believe there is something in the Maintenance Manual provided with every aircraft. That is being rectified: language is being written and will be included in the next rev that all owners will receive. Until then though I thought I'd pass some info along.

As most of you know we fabricate and install our own oil sump rather than using the incredibly heavy Lycoming-style sump. Our sump is welded up from aluminum sheet, aluminum tube, and some laser-cut flat aluminum for the flange. The sump also is designed to hold less oil (further weight reduction). A standard Lycoming/ECi 4-cylinder engine likes to run a a 6 qt level. Yes, conventional wisdom is to fill it with 8 qts, but it will blow the top 2 qts off pretty quickly and settle in at 6. Since our sump holds 2 qts less the target oil level should be 4 qts. So, you can safely let it run down to somewhere below 4 qts and then add one. Since the sump holds less oil checking and maintaining your oil level becomes more important.

There is no question that increasing the oil quantity helps lower oil temp by spreading the heat over a larger quantity of oil. Adding a quart may lower your oil temp 10°. So, in hot ambient conditions consider running oil level a half to full quart higher.

[Pete D]

Bear in mind as well that if you are running a oil filter adapter that will take just under 1 quart of oil to fill the filter and adapter. So on an oil change I would say you want to put 5 quarts in, run it, and adjust level by adding as needed....

Pete D

[RanRan]

Bear in mind as well that if you are running a oil filter adapter that will take just under 1 quart of oil to fill the filter and adapter. So on an oil change I would say you want to put 5 quarts in, run it, and adjust level by adding as needed....

Pete D

Are there quart markers on the CC340's dip stick?

[randylervold]

Bear in mind as well that if you are running a oil filter adapter that will take just under 1 quart of oil to fill the filter and adapter. So on an oil change I would say you want to put 5 quarts in, run it, and adjust level by adding as needed....

Pete D

Whether one has the oil filter or not I'd put 5 qts in at an oil change, the screen housing, cooler and lines, etc., hold some oil that will be drained in a change.

[randylervold]

Are there quart markers on the CC340's dip stick?

You betcha.

[Paul]

Randy and Pete, has anything changed since 2012 as far as recommended oil levels?
I believe the POH now shows 4.5 to 5 quarts.

And is it possible that with the combination of the run-in by ECI or CC plus 3 hours of runtime on the engine that my CC340 is broken in? As near as I can tell, it appears my oil level stabilized at 5 quarts and I'm not losing anymore.

BTW, what a great running engine

[randylervold]

Randy and Pete, has anything changed since 2012 as far as recommended oil levels?
I believe the POH now shows 4.5 to 5 quarts.

And is it possible that with the combination of the run-in by ECI or CC plus 3 hours of runtime on the engine that my CC340 is broken in? As near as I can tell, it appears my oil level stabilized at 5 quarts and I'm not losing anymore.

BTW, what a great running engine

Paul,

4.0 is still the target operating level. Add a qt at 3.5 which will take it up to 4.5. If you are operating in really hot OAT conditions then run it a half qt higher as more oil will lower oil temps, but the oil cooler has surplus cooling capacity so you're not likely to get high oil temps.

Regarding break-in you're looking for oil consumption to stabilize, not oil level. BTW, congrats on your first flight Paul, that's gotta feel good! We're here to help so just let us know if we can help.

[Paul]

Paul,

4.0 is still the target operating level. Add a qt at 3.5 which will take it up to 4.5. If you are operating in really hot OAT conditions then run it a half qt higher as more oil will lower oil temps, but the oil cooler has surplus cooling capacity so you're not likely to get high oil temps.

Regarding break-in you're looking for oil consumption to stabilize, not oil level. BTW, congrats on your first flight Paul, that's gotta feel good! We're here to help so just let us know if we can help.

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

[N867SP]

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

[Dan L]

Typical consumption would be 1qt every 6-10hrs

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