Mike Busch Maintenance Forums

[WLIU]

There are two solid solutions to the Lyco camshaft issue. One is the Ney nozzles that put a spray on the cam lobes. No delay in lubrication at startup. Another vendor drills the cam to be like an automotive cam where there is again pressure lube.

The bad news is that you can only install these mods at engin e overhaul time. I did the Ney nozzles.

I run Aeroshell 100W+ all year round in New Hampshire, but I have a hangar and can preheat every winter start when the temps are below 35F.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[Tom Downey]

What's really needed is for someone to cut a hole in the wall of a scrap crankcase & run a cold spinning test to see how long it takes to get the oil fog.

THat is exactly what Chuck Ney did when he invented the Ney Nozzle which cured the 0-320-H2AD engine problems.

[Joe Delene]

I also have the 'Ney' nozzles in my 0-320. Hope they help in there. They came already installed when the previous owner did the 160 HP conversion/overhaul.

[Bill Greenwood]

Small Lycomings may have certain problems. I think there is or was an oil additive for this, 1506?
My IO-360 went to TBO, no problems other than using a good bit of oil at the end.

Mike's forum was not focused on any one brand engine, in fact his twin Cessna has a version of the same engine my Bonanza does, Continental TSIO 520

[WLIU]

A number of oils now come with the Lyco camshaft additive blended in. AeroShell 100+ is one (the "+" denotes the difference from regular 100). The 15w50's also contain the Lyco additive. The Lyco additive probably helps Continentals also, although their camshafts are better lubed in their location under the crank.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[Eric Page]

It's curious to me that no one has developed a system to pressurize the oil galleries pre-startup. Doesn't seem like it would be much of a technical challenge to develop an auxiliary electric oil pump that could circulate oil through the engine before starting, eliminating the metal-on-metal startup wear. If the pump had an auxiliary power connection on it, it could be plugged into a timer that ran the pump to pressurize the oil galleries for, say, five minutes a day, keeping engine internals well-coated between flights.

Somebody tell me why I'm nuts here.

[Mike Switzer]

Some race cars do have electric pre-oiler pumps. I don't recall exactly why, unless it was because the tolerances were very tight, as the ones I know of were all on engines that ran one race & were replaced.

[martymayes]

It's curious to me that no one has developed a system to pressurize the oil galleries pre-startup. starting, eliminating the metal-on-metal startup wear.

They have. Google "Oilamatic Inc" for details on one option. I've seen a few in the field but for the most part it's not a very popular add on.

[Bill Greenwood]

Eric, I have a pre oil system, (not Oilamatic) on one of my engines, after preheating for a few hours to overnight, I run the pump about 2 min before starting. The preheat is via electric pads that are glued onto the outside of the oil pan, thus it heats the oil, and as you run the pump you can see the oil temp register on the gage on the panel. I use Philllips 25w-60 for that plane. If I had just straight weight thick oil, like w120 or w100, it would not flow that well if cold. I live at 8000 feet in Colo and even this summer morning, Aug 3 the temp is 45 degrees at 7 am, so an early morning start up is pretty cold. Human skin doesn't like this ultra dry climate too well. I once lived in San Diego where the humidity averages about 50 to 60 per cent, great for your skin. Can't say much for the air pollution there, and the air is salty near the coast.

My Bonanza has a Tanis preheater, so it heats the cylinders when I plug it in the night before. It certainly is not as good as starting in warm weather or being in a warm hangar.

It is very dry in Colo, sometimes way too dry, like 10% humidity, so I don't see corrosion as much of a problem in an engine, but that is just opinion, like most people.

[1TJ]

There are two solid solutions to the Lyco camshaft issue. One is the Ney nozzles that put a spray on the cam lobes. No delay in lubrication at startup. Another vendor drills the cam to be like an automotive cam where there is again pressure lube.

The bad news is that you can only install these mods at engin e overhaul time. I did the Ney nozzles.

I run Aeroshell 100W+ all year round in New Hampshire, but I have a hangar and can preheat every winter start when the temps are below 35F.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

Ney Nozzles only spray pressurized oil when it is above 70-80 degrees.
And the cam will turn 250-1000 revolutions before oil flows from Centrilube cams holes.
Neither addresses a true dry start.

Ed

Edward Kollin
Technical Director
Aircraft Specialties Lubricants