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Lycoming oil recommendations updated

We did the “why bother with multigrade” here.

I think most people were surprised at just how cold it must be before 15W50 is recommended. I certainly was. About the only scenario I have encountered (where I fly i.e. Europe) where it would be a good idea is when going skiing and being parked overnight outdoors at say Sion in -25C. But to be honest almost nobody will be starting their engine in such conditions anyway. Plus I have not seen -25C at any airport elevation (saw it at Cervinia in January but that was at > 10000ft). Plus you aren’t supposed to start the engine anyway at -25C AFAIK due to reduced clearances, regardless of what oil you have in there.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Bathman wrote:

But AA wouldn’t a multigrade simply be better with the temperatures that you operate?

Maybe, but we’ve been using the W80+/XPD80 oil “forever” and as I said, we’ve never had any problems that could be traced to the oil.

(Note, I incorrectly wrote W80 in my posts above when I should have written W80+. We run all aircraft on unleaded fuel — Hjelmco 91/96UL — so we need an oil with additive.)

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

All you want to know is there :


LFOU, France

But AA wouldn’t a multigrade simply be better with the temperatures that you operate?

lionel wrote:

And off-base, when club members travel with the aircraft?

Then we try to find an electric outlet for the oil heater… But unless it is really cold, we don’t bother. Lycoming does approve the use of SAE40 single grade ashless dispersant oils down to -18°C. Most of our aircraft uses a Lycoming 360 series engine for which Lycoming only specifies that during “extreme cold weather” it “may be necessary” to preheat the oil. E.g. our C172S POH states that below -6°C, preheat is “recommended”.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Airborne_Again wrote:

we are using engine preheat anyway whenever the average temperature is below +10°C

And off-base, when club members travel with the aircraft?

ELLX

OneEightyTwoTango wrote:

Sae 40 is recommended for 0 Celsius to 32 Celsius however 15w50 or 20w50 works for -18 up to 32 which works fine for most of europe i’d say…

SAE 40 single grade ashless dispersant oils are recommended from –18°C to +32°C (at least). My club (at 60°N) uses such oils – e.g. Aeroshell W80, Total AERO XPD 80 – exclusively. (Except during engine break-in of course.) Temperatures below –18°C are seen only once or twice a year and we are using engine preheat anyway whenever the average temperature is below +10°C. It works very well. We fly ≈1100 hrs/year with four aircraft and have not seen any oil-related problems.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Mmh… “fixing” an oil leak by simply using thicker oil is not really a fix, isn’t it ? :)

There’s always a religion about the oil people use.. in Florida or very warm places on the planet I agree for not using Multigrade oil however in Europe, where you really have like +35 one day and +10 the next day over -5 a week later IMHO Multigrade does make sense…

If you have a preheater and and outlet available however it’s a different story … ;)

There are issues with multigrade and degraded oil seals – as well as a general increase in oil leaks all over the engine.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Sae 40 is recommended for 0 Celsius to 32 Celsius however 15w50 or 20w50 works for -18 up to 32 which works fine for most of europe i’d say…

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