Big oil leak

vcollazovcollazo
in General Discussion
Today one of my partners and I flew the Navajo to Blairstown, 1N7, to practice instrument approaches and buy cheaper fuel. When we shut down the right engine, we saw a lot of dark smoke coming out of it. When we got out and looked, the right side and bottom of the engine were covered in oil. I can't say enough good about Jeremy and Austin from the local maintenance shop. Even though we were from out of town, they dropped what they were doing to take care of our plane. After taking off the cowls Jeremy spent about 10 minutes looking around the oily mess and found the problem. The round rubberlike seal between the valve lifter tube and the cylinder head on the exhaust valve of the #3 cylinder was ripped/split. We lost over a quart of oil in about 40 minutes of flight time. The engine has about 900 hours since overhaul. I had never seen this before. Is it a fairly common problem or very rare? Should we be concerned about the other 23 seals like it on the lifter tubes? The engine is a Lycoming TIO540. By the way Blairstown, NJ, is a beautiful airport to visit. They have a small cafe with good service and food, the runway is 3100 feet paved with beautiful woods around it, pretty lake and hiking/bike trail nearby, cheap fuel, and major maintenance and avionics service.

Comments

  • vcollazovcollazo
    i said valve lifter tube, but I think it's actually the valve pushrod tube.
  • vcollazovcollazo
    Tom,

    Thanks for the info.
  • Piper TechPiper Tech
    I wouldnt be too concerned about the other ones for now.....things happen. If it does happen again soon, you should look into why the engine is creating so much carbon/soot. Maybe the fuel injector is faulty or spark plug is not sparking hot or regularly enough, ignition system not timed correct. At this point it is probably just a fluke, but you should do as the other poster suggested and get a borescope to take a look at the piston and valve.
Sign In or Register to comment.