Exxon 20W50

[Dennis O'Connor]

Did you notice the blurb in AOPA EPILOT that Exxon has, and has been having,
deposits of grey crud in their bottles of oil, but they say it is just fine
and there is no need for them to replace it, or to pay to tear your engines
down...
Besides, there is a lot less of the crud in this months production run than
last months since they actually cleaned their pipes... Of course, they
don't know what it is, but they assure you that it is harmless and the oil
meets some spec or other...

Harrumph, this writer does not know of any spec for aircraft oil that allows
visible crud in the bottom of the bottles!

Denny

[Dave Stadt]

"Dennis O'Connor" > wrote in message
...
> Did you notice the blurb in AOPA EPILOT that Exxon has, and has been
having,
> deposits of grey crud in their bottles of oil, but they say it is just
fine
> and there is no need for them to replace it, or to pay to tear your
engines
> down...
> Besides, there is a lot less of the crud in this months production run
than
> last months since they actually cleaned their pipes... Of course, they
> don't know what it is, but they assure you that it is harmless and the oil
> meets some spec or other...
>
> Harrumph, this writer does not know of any spec for aircraft oil that
allows
> visible crud in the bottom of the bottles!
>
> Denny

Aeroshell had a similar problem couple of years ago. They were NOT up front
about it until it got blasted all over the WEB and in print.

[Pat Barry]

Dear Dave:

My maintenance business was affected by the Aeroshell Oil problem since we had
bought the 15W50 oil during the problem period. The problem, as I learned when I
called Shell, as that a transfer pump between a vat and the bottling line was
shedding metal fragments, but that the fragments were less than ten microns
which would not harm an engine since they were smaller than fragments that
dislodge during normal engine wear and stay in circulation until the next oil
change - however they had chosen to make a full breast of the problem, and they
announced it to the media, which is where I learned about the problem.

I called the aircraft owners who may (only may) have gotten infected oil and
they asked me to change the oil immediately and to check for damage. Only one
twin engine aircraft was found to have been filled with oil that was produced
during the suspect period, and Shell offered to pay the entire cost of oil
change, including filter and any investigative services we chose to do. We
changed the oil and filters, and borescoped the engine and did oil analyses, and
found normal operation, and returned the plane to service, and we have monitored
it since and found no problems at all. Everything is normal.

Shell could not have been more cooperative, and when the check arrived for the
cost of the oil change and the other work I saw it was from their liability
insurance carrier. In any case, I have to hand it to Shell because they could
have ignored it, but not wanting a Mobil Oil debacle like they had in Australia
(which led to having to overhaul some hundreds of engines due to fuel
contamination) they chose to deal with the problem - an admirable action!



Dave Stadt wrote:

> "Dennis O'Connor" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Did you notice the blurb in AOPA EPILOT that Exxon has, and has been
> having,
> > deposits of grey crud in their bottles of oil, but they say it is just
> fine
> > and there is no need for them to replace it, or to pay to tear your
> engines
> > down...
> > Besides, there is a lot less of the crud in this months production run
> than
> > last months since they actually cleaned their pipes... Of course, they
> > don't know what it is, but they assure you that it is harmless and the oil
> > meets some spec or other...
> >
> > Harrumph, this writer does not know of any spec for aircraft oil that
> allows
> > visible crud in the bottom of the bottles!
> >
> > Denny
>
> Aeroshell had a similar problem couple of years ago. They were NOT up front
> about it until it got blasted all over the WEB and in print.

[Dave Stadt]

"Pat Barry" > wrote in message ...
> Dear Dave:
>
> My maintenance business was affected by the Aeroshell Oil problem since we
had
> bought the 15W50 oil during the problem period. The problem, as I learned
when I
> called Shell, as that a transfer pump between a vat and the bottling line
was
> shedding metal fragments, but that the fragments were less than ten
microns
> which would not harm an engine since they were smaller than fragments that
> dislodge during normal engine wear and stay in circulation until the next
oil
> change - however they had chosen to make a full breast of the problem, and
they
> announced it to the media, which is where I learned about the problem.
>
> I called the aircraft owners who may (only may) have gotten infected oil
and
> they asked me to change the oil immediately and to check for damage. Only
one
> twin engine aircraft was found to have been filled with oil that was
produced
> during the suspect period, and Shell offered to pay the entire cost of oil
> change, including filter and any investigative services we chose to do. We
> changed the oil and filters, and borescoped the engine and did oil
analyses, and
> found normal operation, and returned the plane to service, and we have
monitored
> it since and found no problems at all. Everything is normal.
>
> Shell could not have been more cooperative, and when the check arrived for
the
> cost of the oil change and the other work I saw it was from their
liability
> insurance carrier. In any case, I have to hand it to Shell because they
could
> have ignored it, but not wanting a Mobil Oil debacle like they had in
Australia
> (which led to having to overhaul some hundreds of engines due to fuel
> contamination) they chose to deal with the problem - an admirable action!

Actually Shell did nothing and admitted nothing until after the word got
out. If you knew who to ask they would quietly tell you over the phone what
batches were in question. They then made an announcement and posted to
their WEB site only after it looked like the story was going to blow sky
high. As I remember the reimbursement required a number of hoops to be
jumped through.