Oil Cooler Winterization Plates: Is Yours On?
Hi everyone,
If you haven't already put your oil cooler winterization plates on (and you live in a part of the country that's below 50 degree F), put on your plates. Try and keep your oil temp up to around 180 degrees F.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
Comments
Had mine on for a while.
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Hi Jim, I put mine on Saturday. My oil temp went up to 140 degrees at the probe. That's as good as it gets.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
The theory going is I will get my plane back soon. I have Phillips 66 Victory 20/50 in my 50ish SMOH engine.
I have one of these,
Does anyone block off the oil cooler air inlet with this part?
We live near Columbus, Ohio, neither warm nor frigid but cold. .
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
If it's under 50 degrees F then you need one. Watch your oil temp at high cruise. It should be as close to 180 as you can get. On my Arrow I come in at 140 and my temp probe is on the front of the engine which may affect the reported temp. That's normal on my plane.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
I have an Arrow II with this oil cooler block off thing.
I am told no one uses them. So do Lycoming drivers use these?
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
Good question. On my Continental turbo arrow III I use them all the time, as I did in my 3 Senecas. So what's your oil temp? It's supposed to be around 180 degrees F although my 2 temp sensors indicate 140 to 150 in the winter with 2 oil cooler winterization plates installed.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
I have never put mine on in relatively mild Portland Oregon. Generally I am flying south to someplace warm (above 50). I am leaving a heated hanger and would be in ~ ISA temps at altitude. Generally I am rushing about over 65% power and have not had any issues with temps in cruise.
Are they mostly used for flying local at low altitudes on cold days? Is it a cold soaked plane on a very cold day will struggle to get the temps up for takeoff? Have I lived a sheltered life???
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
Hi Eric,
When it gets below 50 I put them on. Here in Wisconsin it's below 50 alot, lol. But I just watch the oil temp in the air. If I can't maintain about 140 I put them on. When I land if I remove the oil cap I'll see lots of steam vent off. If I don't have them on I won't see that. Getting water out of the crankcase is important here where it's cold.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
Does anyone have have a reference for the average upper atmosphere ISA variation winter vs summer? At altitude I am not so sure it is that much different (and the mass of air available for cooling is much less too) seasonally.
I am looking for a dataset to graph it... My suspicion is the the surface temps have the most seasonality.
I always pop the oil caps after landing and will get some vapor year round. I think it is more pronounced in cold air given the temp delta. If you hold your hand over in the summer you might not see a cloud but it is still "wet" when first opened
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
In the summer in wisconsin at 10k feet it can be 50 degrees F. In the winter, -20 or colder. The jet stream really comes down in the winter here.
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
I am a bad pilot, I am in denial, I don’t need bifocals with no correction, I can just take my glasses off to see the gauge. It’s in the green what else do I need to know? I am to the point I take a picture with my phone to read things.
When it is -20C the needle is between nothing and 180*, -30C it is closer to nothing. Now next time my Arrow commits aviation it will have JPI Junior Flight Engineer station installed. I will know my oil temp, EGT, yep got that, cylinder head temp, Yep got that. Turbine inlet temperature that’s on the wish list, unless I can get a ProCharger supercharger on the IO-3?0. Piper Arrow II, supercharged, super genius, with a picture of Wile E. Coyote on the engine cowl and the Road Runner on the prop sinner. I must have a beep beep horn.
Back to the oil, I think we will fly in a week or 2, long range forecast for my area, Ohio, is cold but wet. We will see some dry days so we will fly in the next 21 days I hope. I will fly it oil cooler open. If we do a long January or February flight up high I will block off the oil cooler and report back.
As they said when most of us were kids, Stay tuned film at 11.
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
You are too funny, lol. How's Cheryl?
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
Found this interesting article, At 5,000 feet the temp is fairly uniform year round in the pacific NW. Although the max range is about 30C the average ~ 10 degrees. This is absolutely influenced by the jet stream but not a polar jet.
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2017/03/when-is-air-aloft-coldest-and-driest-on.html
Here is Minneapolis over Winter (average temps over 60+ years) = -12.5 C at 700 hPa (~ 10k feet)
Here is Summer. About 17.5 degree delta between summer and winter at 10k. Obviously the surface temps are going to have a much larger spread
Here is the University site I pulled from:
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
Am guessing that I am in the lucky club.
Just went on a multi State cross country. Departure ground temp was around 40*F and at 8,500 it stayed at 32*F for the entire flight. Cruise power just under 50%. Fuel burn just under 10gph. Oil temp ranged from 180* - 182*F per both the OE gauge and JPI without blocking plates for the oil coolers. Interesting is that observed Summer temperatures are also in the 180* - 182*F range (for the same power).
So maybe the 6 jugs make a difference?
Jacob,
You may also be in the lucky club but the oil cooler has a regulator. ;) It will bypass/partial bypass less than 180 and will fully open at 180.
In the cold climates it is possible that the bypass is not enough and the oil cooler is over cooling the oil so that temp is less than 180. This can cause extra friction and trap water in the oil.
If the oil temp is below set point then you can try and raise it by increasing the % HP, steeper climb, etc. If the oil temp is above setpoint then action must be taken as the oil cooler is only fractionally more efficient at higher temps and you are out of cooling capacity. A more shallow climb, or richer mixture usually helps. You should only see this type of scenario on a hot day in a climb or very high temps aloft.
If the oil temp is high on a normal day in cruise check the oil pressure next. Generally this would be a bad sign for serious issues if all the engine controls are in the right place for cruise. I would look for streaming oil next - or maybe you were unlucky and left the oil winterization plates in place.... ;)
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
I use my oil cooler winterization plate in the winter in Pennsylvania with my Arrow iii. It does keep the oil temperature at 180* except at very cold temps (0*F OAT) and low power settings. When it’s very cold I run higher power settings and the oil stays at 180. Last winter when I flew to Florida, I kept the winterization plate on and had to fly higher speeds during climb out to keep the temperature below 200*.
Here is a video about winter kits for Vulcan, Alberta, Canada. I need to make the lower cowl plate because the oil does not get above 150 with oil cooler covered. PA28-140.
https://youtu.be/ozaAXkSxQiM
Thank you Eric. Excellent input!
Had a sense that there was somewhat of a thermostat capability as keeping the temperature neatly at 180 - 182, no matter what the outside air temperature or power setting, does indicate a regulator.
I had hands-on with the last couple oil changes and am highly confident that there currently are no blocking plates for the coolers.
Truly understand the function of a blocking plate. For me, am wrestling with whether to install a set as flights regularly cover Northern and Southern States where blocking plates can help with part of the flight, but in turn prove questionable for other parts. With that, thoughts on installing just one blocking plate instead a plate for both coolers?
Personally, I would leave them off if my flights covered warm and cold areas. In the cold areas you should pre-heat and polar jets aside the delta between summer and winter at altitude seems a smaller range in temp vs surface temps.
It seems you are mostly doing cross country flights vs local flights. If I was flying local sightseeing/short hops in cold weather then putting the plates on would make sense to me.
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
Cheryl is going crazy. We just got 3 cords of wood. I fell, hurt myself worse than she knows, having lived together for 20 years she knows when I start doing deep meteorology I am in pain. I showed her the next 2 storms coming at the US. On Tuesday she goes back to DaJet to Dispatch Aircraft the world over. She did not like the mega storms I showed her. If you are not in SoCal or east of the little hills on the east side called the Appalachian Mountains life is gunna blow, then freeze.
As for me, my hip is bad, likely a bone bruise, broke my butt and have a little skull fracture, I am doing my best to avoid being admitted to OSU hospital, again. My doc says as long as I don’t see double I can stay home.
Our teen daughter had to have a new wardrobe today, no one mentioned winter is a cooler month than July, she had nothing to wear. I suggested taking her to Tractor Supply and Rural King, I need jeans, both rolled their eyes. Her horse starting growing his winter coat on August 1, when I noticed it, he looks like a saggy buffalo today, I suggested when Junior adds fur she needs to make sure she has winter clothes, Rural King has their calving season clothes out, rubber boots and worn out insulated blood stained overalls. I am told that is not the fashionable look in high school today.
Back to the oil, kinda, there is a line of people wanting to fly the Arrow so we will get some numbers. I spoke with my doctor today, I am grounded, again, he will not allow me to drive either. Something about head injuries. He knows no human will kill me, I have been shot twice, broke my neck twice and had my cruiser fire bombed, my doctor is betting gravity gets me, I am 6’6”, it’s a long way down.
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
Is yours Lycoming powered?
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
I have never had a oil cooler plate for my Turbo Arrow III and have not been able to find one. Where do you get one?
So far I use aluminum tape to block off half of the cooler. Not ideal but the only option I have come up with.
Hi, that works! I took a piece of scrap aluminum, bent it into a U shape, drilled a hole to match the hole on the oil cooler wall and put in a bolt. Nothing to it!
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
Same as Scott. There is a pattern for the oil cooler block off plate in my maintenance manual. I transferred it to a sheet of aluminum, cut and bent per the diagram and installed it. Have been using it for a good 15 yrs now.
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Thx. Will look for the diagram.
It sure is amazing how we can take simple things and make them complicated.
From the designers of my PA-28-180:
"Oil cooler winterization plate to be removed when ambient temperature exceeds 50 F"
Walk up to your aircraft, check the ambient temperature. If it exceeds 50 F, remove the winterization plate which should otherwise be installed.
Done. Now enjoy your flight!
Making something simple complicated eh? How about we discuss a free lunch! 🙂
Jacobsja!
Let me know if you ever plan a trip to KENW! Lunch is on me! 😊
Regards,
Mike
Every year I put this article on the forum and never have I seen so much discussion on something as simple as a single piece of aluminum, lol. :)
Scott Sherer
Wright Brothers Master Pilot, FAA Commercial Pilot
Now i know what i want for Christmas!
John O’Leary
Turbo Arrow IV (KRKP)
CFI CFII CFIMEI (Gold Seal), ATP(MEL)
Wright Bros. Master Pilot