Titan 370, 371, 375

I'm in the break-in period on my ECI Titan 370 engine. I can't reach peak temp without over heating the CHT's. I'm using the Lycoming limit of 400 degrees, when I talk with Titan, they say to use 435 during the break in but my oil temp is already at 220 degrees.

Anyone else having any issues with this engine?

chrisi456 said:

I'm in the break-in period on my ECI Titan 370 engine. I can't reach peak temp without over heating the CHT's. I'm using the Lycoming limit of 400 degrees, when I talk with Titan, they say to use 435 during the break in but my oil temp is already at 220 degrees.

Anyone else having any issues with this engine?

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What are you considering "over heating" to be? 400? That is not over heating according to Lycoming. If you look into the Lycoming recommendations they discuss the issue of not letting the CHTs exceed 500 deg.

Another question would be, what are you attempting to achieve in your break-in? Most engine manufacturers state simply "run it hard" for the first X hours. As long as you are not exceeding the MAX temps then run it hard and as recommended. If TITAN recommends 435 then why not follow their advice? As for the 220 deg oil temp, again I do not think that is a "never exceed" temp. That is barely the boiling point of water. I fail to see harm in heating the oil hotter as long as it is a controlled situation.

Of course, all of this is just my .02. No expert here, just a fellow RV builder.

Higher oil temps mean the oil will break down more quickly but you will be changing it in 10 or fewer hours anyway.

Follow ECI's guidance and you should be fine but also double check your baffling for possible leaks/improvements.

Raymo said:

Higher oil temps mean the oil will break down more quickly but you will be changing it in 10 or fewer hours anyway.

Follow ECI's guidance and you should be fine but also double check your baffling for possible leaks/improvements.

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Also, remember that if you do NOT follow their advance and you DON'T get a good break in, you cannot realistically go back to then and complain about the engine drinking oil or whatever.

On my Lycoming on a Piper that I had, I had the warning set at 450 degrees!

I think that I hit it ONCE on a HOT day, LOADED, with a STEEP CLIMB. Lowered the nose a bit and all was well. The engine has run fine for many hundreds of hours.

OPINION: Many people "baby" their engines during the first few hours for various reasons. But this is the very time that many say you should "fly it like you stole it!". I think that ECI (and others) will say something along the lines of VERY HIGH manifold pressure during this period and the rings will seat properly and yoiu will have a great engine. THe temps are EXPECTED to be high in the beginning and when all of a sudden they "drop", you know that all is well.

Just some opinions for thought.

James
(on my third ECI based engine <multiple planes>)

Thanks for your inputs, I have about 16 hours on the engine, 19 including dyno. The aircraft is in the Denver area for Phase I flying, I can only get 71 to 73% power out of it but I have to run it very rich not to exceed limits. I plan on boosting it up to 435 when I get back to Denver to continue the break in. Or run in as Titan says which is 25 hours after the dyno run.

Doesn't lycoming say to run at max of 400 degrees CHT to support the life of the engine? I know Titan says 435 and not to exceed 475, just seems pretty hot to me. I'm a new guys seeking all your experience.

Thanks

chrisi456 said:

Thanks for your inputs, I have about 16 hours on the engine, 19 including dyno. The aircraft is in the Denver area for Phase I flying, I can only get 71 to 73% power out of it but I have to run it very rich not to exceed limits. I plan on boosting it up to 435 when I get back to Denver to continue the break in. Or run in as Titan says which is 25 hours after the dyno run.

Doesn't lycoming say to run at max of 400 degrees CHT to support the life of the engine? I know Titan says 435 and not to exceed 475, just seems pretty hot to me. I'm a new guys seeking all your experience.

Thanks

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Once your engine is broken in, your temps are most likely to be in the mid to upper 300's (say 350-380). SO in cruise, you would in fact want it to be below 400 degrees. There are likely to be times on climb out when hot and heavy, you may see 400+ degrees untill you level off and throttle back a bit.

Press on!

James

chrisi456 said:

Doesn't lycoming say to run at max of 400 degrees CHT to support the life of the engine? I know Titan says 435 and not to exceed 475, just seems pretty hot to me. I'm a new guys seeking all your experience.

Thanks

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After break-in, yes. During break-in, do as Titan says or it may not break in correctly.

There is some really good advice on this thread. If you do not exceed 475F CHT or 245F oil temperature you will not harm the engine. These are the redline values for your engine. That does not mean we recommend for you to continuously operate at these temperatures. Ideal temperatures on a normal engine after run-in under cruise conditions are CHT?s 350-400F, oil temps 180-210F.
For maximum service life, CHT?s should be maintained below 435?F during high performance cruise operation (75% power and above 100- 150F rich of peak). CHT?s should be maintained at or below 400?F for economy cruise power settings (75% power and below leaned to peak EGT). These are recommendations to achieve long service life after run-in, not ridged red line do not exceed values.
In Cruise it is normal for CHT,s to increase as you lean until about 50F rich of peak, if you continue to lean CHT's will decrease as the EGT?s approach peak.

All the info above is spot on.

I will add that one thing that can impact your CHT'S is your timing. Check your mags and if you are running electronic ignitions make sure they are configured properly for your engine!

chrisi456 said:

....I can't reach peak temp without over heating the CHT's....

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Maybe it would be better to run rich during the break in period and not mess with peak (assume you mean peak EGT).

The objective is seat the rings and that requires high power, not a good time to do peak EGT operations.