Ok y'all - what is this??

[Supercop0184]

and what's leaking out the side of it? Opinions? Ideas? 

[RLCarter]

could be residual oil from the air filter, but need to see where it is coming from. Did you fly thru visible moisture? 

Edited May 1, 2016 by RLCarter

[Supercop0184]

No no residual moisture. 

[merrja]

how quickly did it appear?  is it oil or oxidized aluminum?

Edited May 1, 2016 by merrja
forgot

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, Supercop0184 said:

and what's leaking out the side of it? Opinions? Ideas? 

If you have a Brackett air filter, it is the excess goo from the filter. I've noticed it on hot days and also right I had a new one installed.

[RLCarter]

Looks like a Challenger air filter (K&N), my bet would be excess oil from the filter, it takes very little along with some chaffing to cause streaks. Is it only on that one side?

[Marauder]

RLCarter brought up a good point, if it is excess goo from the filter, it will be tacky or sticky.

[Raptor05121]

Challenger (aka K&N) uses a reddish oil as the filter element. They are highly ineffecient and allow many particulates through. It looks like the heat has just made the dirty oil really viscous.

[carusoam]

Guess...

often, two aluminum surfaces rubbing together will generate some oxidized aluminum particles.  Add some moisture, a dark grey stripe will appear running away from the source.

This is similar to a smoking rivet, only larger and not as critical.  

To prove this to be true or not true, remove the filter retainer clean and replace.  If you clean out a lot of similar aluminum wear particles, consider using the wear resistant tape that is used on planes for this purpose.

How does that sound?

Reminder, I am only a PP.  not a mechanic.

Best regards,

-a-

[RLCarter]

Check the screw where the biggest majority starts at, it has been replaced (doesn't match the others) to see if it is loose. "Smoke streaks" will drive you nuts keeping them cleaned off, its just the nature of aluminum when it rubs on anything or  visa-versa and then gets wet with ANY liquid, its a ritual on the 172 I fly to wipe them off around the cowl / firewall area after each flight (should add it to the check list). I would remove the filter and clean of all the metal parts involved (including the screws) and go fly it again, if nothing else at least you went flying

[N201MKTurbo]

If it stops doing that it means that you are out of some fluid.

[HRM]

Wipe it off and carry on.

[Marauder]

18 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

If it stops doing that it means that you are out of some fluid.

Love it when an A&P says that!

[DXB]

6 hours ago, Supercop0184 said:

and what's leaking out the side of it? Opinions? Ideas? 

BTW how do you like the Challenger filter?  Any perceptible performance benefit?

[Raptor05121]

1 hour ago, DXB said:

BTW how do you like the Challenger filter?  Any perceptible performance benefit?

They do allow more airflow, at what gain? I'd guess negligible. I did a dyno run on my truck, stock intake versus K&N and got nothing. However, to get increased airflow, they let up to 80% more material and dirt particles past versus a stock filter.

tl;dr- no way in hell I'd put one on my plane.

[Yetti]

It is emitting from that screw.  I have found that silcone spray makes for a good cleaner.  spray down, wipe, tighten that screw.

[gsxrpilot]

Mine does the same thing anytime I get the cowl a bit wet. It's just aluminum oxide coming off.

[bradp]

Looks like oxidized aluminum rubbing.  Did you recently fly through moisture? If so, it's likely a screw or the mating surfaces rubbing. Part of getting dirty when flying IFR?  

-B

[Supercop0184]

No. No moisture. But it sure does look like what Paul shows in his pic. I guess that's all it is probably.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pictreed]

It seemed a little wet so it may be a combination of oil from the filter making the aluminum streak. 

[Sabremech]

On May 1, 2016 at 6:11 PM, Raptor05121 said:

They do allow more airflow, at what gain? I'd guess negligible. I did a dyno run on my truck, stock intake versus K&N and got nothing. However, to get increased airflow, they let up to 80% more material and dirt particles past versus a stock filter.

tl;dr- no way in hell I'd put one on my plane.

Well, unless all you do is taxi your Mooney down gravel roads, the K&N filter is just fine. I'm using them in my cowling mod kit. I've used them in other applications too and have never been able to say the air filter let too many particles through and caused an engine failure. 

David

[mike28w]

  I saw no change in my oil analysis when I changed from a Brackett to the K&N...  Just a data point.   mike

[Raptor05121]

47 minutes ago, Sabremech said:

Well, unless all you do is taxi your Mooney down gravel roads, the K&N filter is just fine. I'm using them in my cowling mod kit. I've used them in other applications too and have never been able to say the air filter let too many particles through and caused an engine failure. 

David

Short of throwing a handful of gravel down the intake, you're not going to get an engine failure because of it. For my truck, I can see it. but for an airplane engine that costs 5x more than my pick-up, I'll use the cleanest air element available.

 

[PMcClure]

The F's have a filter by pass. Most of the time the plane in clean air, not down dirt roads. I would think the demands of filtration are less for cars than autos. 

 

[Marauder]

On May 1, 2016 at 6:11 PM, Raptor05121 said: They do allow more airflow, at what gain? I'd guess negligible. I did a dyno run on my truck, stock intake versus K&N and got nothing. However, to get increased airflow, they let up to 80% more material and dirt particles past versus a stock filter.

tl;dr- no way in hell I'd put one on my plane.

Well, unless all you do is taxi your Mooney down gravel roads, the K&N filter is just fine. I'm using them in my cowling mod kit. I've used them in other applications too and have never been able to say the air filter let too many particles through and caused an engine failure. 

David

A David sighting! How the cowling mod coming along? Need an F to experiment on yet?