Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

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drak130
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Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by drak130 »

Hello All,

Finally getting some frost on the pumpkin and as a result my oil temps are in the 145-155 range. I see that most folks recommend blocking off a portion of the inlet in the aft baffle to cut down on the volume of cooling air. I have two holes and was curious which one most folks block off. I am assuming duct tape is okay?

Cheers
Tim
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maules.com
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Re: Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by maules.com »

Block small one first.
Silver construction tape is better here than duct tape.
But more important is to eliminate cold outside air ingress to cabin, at wing roots, door catches, doorseals, and tailcone aft bulkhead (underfloor, over headliner) and landing gear.
Jeremy
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andy
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Re: Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by andy »

Agree with Jeremy. Before Maule Flight rebuilt my MX-7-180 in 2010, the cabin had numerous air leaks around doors, windows and wing roots. I remember one flight in 2006 with outside air temperature -5F where I could see my breath inside the cabin. Re-taping wing roots and installing new door and window seals raised the cabin temperature by at least 25 degrees. It's still a good idea to block off part of the oil cooler inlet screen to get the oil temperature high enough in cold weather to eliminate moisture but warmer oil can't overcome the drafts created by cabin air leaks.
Andy
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drak130
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Re: Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by drak130 »

You guys called it!

Blocked off the smaller inlet and took her up. Temps up to 165-175. Felt around the windows and doors and did not find any leaks. Felt around the wing root area and did not feel any air but noticed that it felt cooler. Undid the headliner zipper, bingo...all kinds of cold air blowing around on both sides above the headliner.

When doing the fuel calibration I took the wing root fairings off and removed some of the duct tape that was up there to get to the wing bolts. Maybe did not do a good job of putting the tape back but before I redo everything, is there any tried and true techniques? Silver tape vs Duct tape, shove some insulation in there?

Thanks y'all
Tim

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Re: Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by drak130 »

Never mind...just found previous post on same topic.

Tim

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Re: Oil Cooler adjustment for Winter Ops

Post by andy »

You can use either type of tape but make sure that it provides a good seal. I think regular duct tape might work better than foil tape since it has more adhesive.
Andy
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