Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of the
way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler had
been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading about
20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the oil
temp guage, wiring, or sender.

Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and probably
replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there is
a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
the guage if necessary?
--
Regards,
Mike

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 18:11:32 -0700, "Mike Noel"
> wrote:

>Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of the
>way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
>valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
>cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
>done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler had
>been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading about
>20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the oil
>temp guage, wiring, or sender.
>
>Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and probably
>replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
>the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there is
>a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
>the guage if necessary?


I need to do the same thing with my bird. I don;t have all the
answers, but am planning on using engine oil instead of water. It
will allow me to bring the temp up to 250, or 300 so I have a better
idea of what temps may be affecting the sender.

If you have a sender you can swap with try that so you know which part
is defective. If you don't (like me) I plan on swapping the sender
first cause it's cheaper than a gauge.

HTH.
z

Boiling water won't hurt the sender, and you know that's exactly 212 deg.

zatatime wrote:
> On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 18:11:32 -0700, "Mike Noel"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of the
>>way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
>>valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
>>cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
>>done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler had
>>been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading about
>>20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the oil
>>temp guage, wiring, or sender.
>>
>>Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and probably
>>replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
>>the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there is
>>a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
>>the guage if necessary?
>
>
>
> I need to do the same thing with my bird. I don;t have all the
> answers, but am planning on using engine oil instead of water. It
> will allow me to bring the temp up to 250, or 300 so I have a better
> idea of what temps may be affecting the sender.
>
> If you have a sender you can swap with try that so you know which part
> is defective. If you don't (like me) I plan on swapping the sender
> first cause it's cheaper than a gauge.
>
> HTH.
> z

Rip > wrote:
> Boiling water won't hurt the sender, and you know that's exactly 212 deg.

Only at an absolute pressure of 29.921; but there are lots of
charts/caclulators on the Internet to correct for pressure and altitude.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 18:11:32 -0700, "Mike Noel" >
wrote:

>Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of the
>way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
>valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
>cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
>done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler had
>been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading about
>20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the oil
>temp guage, wiring, or sender.
>
>Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and probably
>replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
>the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there is
>a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
>the guage if necessary?

Unless things have changed substantially, the sender/gage setup on the
older Pipers is a real pain. The sender & gage p/n/vendor/working
resistance has changed over the years, and Piper didn't useta be much
help in sorting it out.

The first step would indeed be to get a replacement crush gasket and
yank the sender and boil it. If the boiling water trick (don't forget
to ground the sender) reveals an indicating problem, the easiest thing
to do is contact Air Parts of Lock Haven.

http://www.airpartsoflockhaven.com/

Again, it's been a few years, but they were quite helpful in sorting
out the mess. It is possible that the wrong sender has been installed
at some point, or that the "right" sender for your gage is no longer
available. In either case, they can calibrate your gage and "match" it
to either a new sender, or your sender if it is functional.

TC

Rip wrote:

> Boiling water won't hurt the sender, and you know that's exactly 212 deg.

Not up here at altitude you don't :)

Oil also lets you check the vernatherm while you have the stove out
(mine proved to be defective) without tossing that particular hunk of
metal into a water bath...

Thats just the summer heat.
I fly a turbo arrow, currently in las vegas, moving to phoenix in about 3 weeks.
my mechanic says as long as I dont redline the temps its not a problem, but at
different altitudes I do pull the power back a little and level off to cool the
engine down some.

Mike Noel wrote:

> Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of the
> way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
> valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
> cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
> done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler had
> been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading about
> 20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the oil
> temp guage, wiring, or sender.
>
> Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and probably
> replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
> the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there is
> a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
> the guage if necessary?
> --
> Regards,
> Mike
>
> http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html

"Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
> Now that summer has come to Arizona, my oil temp is running about 2/3 of
the
> way between 180 and red line. My mechanic checked the oil cooler bypass
> valve and said it was OK, so I had decided to send in the oil cooler for
> cleaning and service. Checking the engine log for the last time work was
> done on the cooler, I found an entry about 5 years ago saying the cooler
had
> been cleaned, then the next entry said the oil temp gauge was reading
about
> 20 degrees too high, but there is no entry for corrective action to the
oil
> temp guage, wiring, or sender.
>
> Looks like I need to check the gauge system myself for accuracy and
probably
> replace something. Do you just drop the sender into hot water and compare
> the panel guage reading with a couple of cooking thermometers? If there
is
> a discepancy, is it the sender that should be replaced first, then replace
> the guage if necessary?
> --
> Regards,
> Mike
>
> http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html
>
>
Hi Mike
You can check the calibration of the gauge with a precision resistor in
place of the sender for virtually no effort past finding the appropriate
resistor.
I can check what it was in my Seminole but I don't have the book at my
office and that was years ago and YMMV.
The right engine on N2196B always appeared to have a higher oil temp.
I spent much more on mechanics than it cost me to find out the gauge was
wrong; I still have an oil cooler in my garage.
If the gauge looks right then immerse the sender in oil on a hot plate with
a real thermometer and check it accurately.
Blue skies!
H.

H. Adam Stevens
CP AS&MEL IA
ex N2196B PA44-180
and a damned nice bird she was