oil on prop

[greg51]

after a 3 hr flight home I noticed a small amount of oil at the base of one prop.. Is this normal or should I get this looked at?

Edited June 8, 2017 by greg51

[orionflt]

have you had any maintenance done recently? annual?

it could be a the fwd crank shaft seal starting to leak, nothing to get worried about but some thing you should put on your list to get taken care of.

defiantly get it looked at to confirm where it is coming from.

Brian 

[neilpilot]

Was the prop greased recently?  It's not uncommon to see some excess right after maintenance.

[greg51]

it was right after an oil change ....annual was 6 months ago

[orionflt]

Probably the lip seal, Like i said, get it looked at to be sure but you will be fine to fly it. I have seen aircraft go for years like that, just need to occasionally clean the engine to get rid of the oil. changing it out requires pulling the prop but it is not a difficult job, doing it during an annual would be the easiest thing to do.

Brian

[neilpilot]

27 minutes ago, orionflt said:

Probably the lip seal, Like i said, get it looked at to be sure but you will be fine to fly it. I have seen aircraft go for years like that, just need to occasionally clean the engine to get rid of the oil. changing it out requires pulling the prop but it is not a difficult job, doing it during an annual would be the easiest thing to do.

Brian

I once had the lip seal go from "no known leak" to "oil on the windshield" on a XC flight years back.  I ended up delaying my return by a couple of days and had an A&P install a new seal.  Guess what I'm saying is your OK to fly it BUT you just might see that leak get much worse.

[orionflt]

you are absolutely correct!

Brian

[Yetti]

Taking all safety into mind.   put a finger on the seal.  Then turn the prop with the other hand.  See if you feel movement.  If it is spinning it will oversize the hole.  They make an oversized seal.   The seal is glued in with some super sticky glue.  Getting it over the prop flange without cutting it is a trick.

[tony]

6 hours ago, greg51 said:

it was right after an oil change ....annual was 6 months ago

I would guess you spilled oil and didn't get it all cleaned up, so when you went flying some showed up at the base of the prop.  Was the oil also found on the front of the cowl?

[N201MKTurbo]

Take your Coleman stove out to the airport with an old sauce pan. Boil the seal for about 5 minutes before you stretch it over the crank. It will go over a lot easier.