Oil Cooler Failure

senerjpsenerjp
in General Discussion
I had a catastrophic failure of an oil cooler on my Dakota (O540). Not sure when it happened, I landed and said goodbye to friends and went to get back in the plane to find a large puddle on the ground.

How often does an oil cooler fail? I had no indication but only had 3 qts left in the sump when I shut down. Scared the $%^&(* out of me.

Comments

  • thumbsupthumbsup
    I've seen oil cooler failures on other aircraft. When was the last time it had been replaced or flushed. Did you notice the oil temp rising or pressure dropping? I'm really surprised that you didn't have the prop gov robbing pressure from the system to maintain pitch. It is a scary thought what can fail without warning. I just had a flight in an Arrow where the #3 clyinder broke an oil control ring causing me to lose close to 3 qts of oil in just over an hour. Made a precautionary landing after the oil pressure started dropping and the needle looked like a windshield wiper. Glad you made it safely to the ground.
  • Dave MatlockDave Matlock
    What few times I've had a chance to look at a cooler that failed, it was one of the boss areas. (Not using a back-up wrench when tightening fittings or hoses). If you need a cooler I have a nearly new (Less than 200 hrs.) Stewart Warner from a 235 I was going to sell on e-bay when I had enough items to make it worth the time.
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