Oil Leak on top of the engine -- follow up

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.

If any one of them had been anything but perfect, I was going to have
him tear the exhaust (and other stuff) off so that he could reach the
bottom through bolts. However, since the top 12 or 16 bolts were all
perfect, I will trust that the bottom ones are tight as well.

By the way -- to those who said that "all newly built (or rebuilt)
engines should have all the cylinder and through bolts checked for
proper torque, 'x' number of hours after a rebuild", I have been unable
to find any local A&Ps who have ever heard of this.

One local gray head stated that "In 35 years, I have never seen a new
plane rolled in the shop after 30 hours to have the cowls, exhaust
system, and baffles removed so that we could check the torque on the
through or cylinder bolts. Not even once."

So, what to think? All I know is the oil leak is gone, the other bolts
were to specs, and the engine continues to run great. I'm gonna fly
the pants off it, and not worry about it again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destinatin"

On 11 Feb 2005 13:01:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.

If any one of them had been anything but perfect, I was going to have
him tear the exhaust (and other stuff) off so that he could reach the
bottom through bolts. However, since the top 12 or 16 bolts were all
perfect, I will trust that the bottom ones are tight as well.

By the way -- to those who said that "all newly built (or rebuilt)
engines should have all the cylinder and through bolts checked for
proper torque, 'x' number of hours after a rebuild", I have been unable
to find any local A&Ps who have ever heard of this.

Sounds like you'll need to look elsewhere. Maybe taking my suggestion
of calling a real engine shop.

One local gray head stated that "In 35 years, I have never seen a new
plane rolled in the shop after 30 hours to have the cowls, exhaust
system, and baffles removed so that we could check the torque on the
through or cylinder bolts. Not even once."

Sounds like you'll need to look elsewhere. Maybe taking my suggestion
of calling a real engine shop.

So, what to think? All I know is the oil leak is gone, the other bolts
were to specs, and the engine continues to run great. I'm gonna fly
the pants off it, and not worry about it again.

Good luck with it and keep a sharp eye on the leak situation. Only
takes 1 loose through bolt to kill the engine. As I said before, if
you survive it, you'll have plenty to write about. Once again, KEEP A
SHARP EYE ON ANY LEAKS!

Maybe the loose bolts are payback from the ****ty weather you gave us? :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Mooney 201 4443H

Jay Honeck wrote:

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.

If any one of them had been anything but perfect, I was going to have
him tear the exhaust (and other stuff) off so that he could reach the
bottom through bolts. However, since the top 12 or 16 bolts were all
perfect, I will trust that the bottom ones are tight as well.

By the way -- to those who said that "all newly built (or rebuilt)
engines should have all the cylinder and through bolts checked for
proper torque, 'x' number of hours after a rebuild", I have been unable
to find any local A&Ps who have ever heard of this.

One local gray head stated that "In 35 years, I have never seen a new
plane rolled in the shop after 30 hours to have the cowls, exhaust
system, and baffles removed so that we could check the torque on the
through or cylinder bolts. Not even once."

So, what to think? All I know is the oil leak is gone, the other bolts
were to specs, and the engine continues to run great. I'm gonna fly
the pants off it, and not worry about it again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destinatin"

Oh no! Someone has broken the code!

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 21:40:37 GMT, Jon Kraus
wrote:

Maybe the loose bolts are payback from the ****ty weather you gave us? :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Mooney 201 4443H

Jay Honeck wrote:

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.

If any one of them had been anything but perfect, I was going to have
him tear the exhaust (and other stuff) off so that he could reach the
bottom through bolts. However, since the top 12 or 16 bolts were all
perfect, I will trust that the bottom ones are tight as well.

By the way -- to those who said that "all newly built (or rebuilt)
engines should have all the cylinder and through bolts checked for
proper torque, 'x' number of hours after a rebuild", I have been unable
to find any local A&Ps who have ever heard of this.

One local gray head stated that "In 35 years, I have never seen a new
plane rolled in the shop after 30 hours to have the cowls, exhaust
system, and baffles removed so that we could check the torque on the
through or cylinder bolts. Not even once."

So, what to think? All I know is the oil leak is gone, the other bolts
were to specs, and the engine continues to run great. I'm gonna fly
the pants off it, and not worry about it again.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destinatin"

On 11 Feb 2005 13:01:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.


so somebody loosed a few bolts to move the engine sling and forgot to
tighten them?
Stealth Pilot

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 00:26:20 +0800, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

On 11 Feb 2005 13:01:00 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

After finding the case bolts on top of our 500-hour Lycoming O-540
loose enough to cause a minor oil leak yesterday, today I had my A&P
check the torque of all the through bolts and cylinder bolts that could
be reached without dismantling the engine.

As I watched him check, one by one, they were all thankfully perfect.


so somebody loosed a few bolts to move the engine sling and forgot to
tighten them?
Stealth Pilot

Na, Jay's competition stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night and
thought they were mechanics. They loosened the bolts to cause him
grief and take his mind off of the business!

Na, Jay's competition stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night and
thought they were mechanics. They loosened the bolts to cause him
grief and take his mind off of the business!

Competition? Nah. We don't have to worry about that, cuz no one in their
right mind would try to create what Mary and I are doing here...

;-)

You know, it's sorta funny now, but when the junior A&P in the shop -- a guy
who loves a good conspiracy theory -- and I found that first loose bolt, he
actually muttered "Sabotage?" under his breath.

I *think* he was joking, but I wasn't laughing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"