Lycoming Engine Preservation?

I bought a new experimental Lycoming O360-A1A from Van's and it arrived at the end of 2006. It is "filled" with preservation oil, cylinders included and has a warning label cautioning against turning the engine over to avoid hydraulic damage to the rings and/or removing the protective oil from the cylinder walls. The label also states that the engine preservation is good for 60 days. I have avoided fitting the carb or exhaust since that will drain some of the oil out of the ports prematurely.

Fitting cowls and baffles, and generally getting things finished will probably take me to the end of 2007 so I'll be well past the "official" 60 day period before I drain all the preservation oil and fire her up. Does anyone have experience of how long the preservation really lasts? The engine is on the plane which is stored in an unheated garage and the crank hasn't been rotated even a fraction of a degree.

Jim Sharkey

Tanis

You are not alone. I had my engine for about a year before installing it. I used the tanis system preservative. Some engine experts might give you a better idea, but it worked for me. 200+ hours of fun and good compression, performance, etc.

Here's a link to the stuff I used:

http://www.tanisaircraft.com/preventingcorr.html
Be careful when you spray the stuff in the cylinders, it really smelled, burned my nose, and is probably highly toxic.

I forgot to mention, it ain't cheap, but then again neither was your engine.

I never turned the engine over either, but was surprised to see how little oil was actually removed when I opened it all up.

As to how well everything remains, it depends on the climate. I live in Utah, where the humidity is on the low side. During an Oshkosh event, I asked a Lycoming rep about storage & time. Considering the location of where my engine was stored, he wasn't concerned at all.

There was a point, to where my engine had set about six years, and still un-turned. It had had an AD issued back in 1997 or 98 for a wrist pin check; but Lycoming said to leave in the box, and wait until it was mounted. However, getting it mounted took several more years than I had planned, thanks to a new house, etc.

I had two A&P's from the nearby airport come over & pull all four cylinders; and at the same time, we looked the guts of this engine over for any signs of rust. It still looked as if it was built yesterday. Even though all those years had passed, Lycoming still paid the approx. $650 bill for the inspection, considering they were on "strike" back in 98', and didn't want the engine returned anyway. As it turned out, the wrist pins were the good ones.

So.............much depends on the climate. High humidity and next to the sea, can make a difference!

L.Adamson RV6A

Also use Engine Saver Dehydrator

http://www.flyingsafer.com/2039.htm

Know what you're getting with pickling

I recently bought my 7A project from a previous builder who already had an engine. He bought it from Air Salvage of Dallas 30 months ago, and they indicated to the previous owner that it would be pickled and set up for long term storage. When I got it, it was in the original crate in shrink wrap. I removed the shrink wrap to look at the governor, and in doing so I pulled the dipstick to make sure everything looked good, only to find NO OIL in the engine, NO DESSICANT PLUGS in the engine, and the exhaust ports WIDE OPEN. When I queried Air Salvage about why the receipt says the engine was pickled but in reality it wasn't, their response was that their "pickling" is just to squirt some corrosion-X into the engine and shrink wrap it. Air Salvage added that "re-pickling is recommended after 6 months".

I contacted the previous owner regarding this issue and he was as shocked as I was that the engine had not been properly pickled. He was told that it was, and the recipt from Air Salvage had indicated that it was. Had he truly been informed that their pickling would only last 6 months, he would certainly have taken appropriate steps to do the job right.

Many builders may not realize that pickling is a detailed process that is covered by the manufacturer in a Service Letter or equivalent maintenance procedure. Lycoming's procedure is here:
http://www.lycoming.textron.com/support/publications/service-letters/pdfs/SL180B.pdf

and Continental's procedure is here:
http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/SIL99-1.pdf

There is an excellent article by Mike Busch regarding an engine whose life was severely limited by just 8 months of storage without proper pickling:
http://www.savvyaviator.com/email/savvy-2004-02/

Each procedure calls for the use of special preservative oil, dessicant type plugs in each cylinder, and sealing the engine from intrusion of outside air, depending on where you live and your local humidity as alluded to in earlier posts.

Air Salvage's claim that plastic wrap is good enough to keep outside air out of the engine is cute, but when you think about it, it doesn't really work. Unless the shrink wrap COMPLETELY SURROUNDS the engine and is AIRTIGHT, air will flow freely around the plastic into the engine with every rise and fall of the barometer, leading to condensate forming on the internal engine parts and ultimately corrosion.

So make sure you understand what you're getting when your shop tells you that your engine is "pickled". The Tanair packages are nice and they are the right way to go, but I think many shops forego the $200 expense and just squirt some WD-40 or Corrosion-X in there and call it "pickled". It ain't.

Is your engine "pickled" or "ghetto pickled"? I hope my engine is OK, but 40 miles from the coast in the Northeast, in an unsealed container for 2-1/2 years - I have my doubts. At the very least, it will require a full teardown inspection prior to flight, not something which was planned...

Noah Forden
Rhode Island
RV-7A finishing