Any tricks to pulling oil screen on IO-360?

[1964-M20E]

6 screws and a removable foot well would make it much easier.  Need to investigate it as a minor mod. 

[tony]

16 hours ago, AGL Aviation said:

 I'll see if I can't score a brief how-to video and post it


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that would be awesome if you could do that!!

[AGL Aviation]

that would be awesome if you could do that!!

We have a Mooney coming in for prebuy next week. If we have a suction screen equipped plane come in before that, I'll do it then. It only takes 20 minutes for the entire process (removal, thorough inspection, and reinstallation). We always pull them at annual inspection and as requested for oil changes.


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[flyboy0681]

 

 

Is this what you are all talking about?

[Bob_Belville]

4 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

 

 

Is this what you are all talking about?

Yeah, looks like that one had not seen the light of day for quite a while. 

[flyboy0681]

1 minute ago, Bob_Belville said:

Yeah, looks like that one had not seen the light of day for quite a while. 

This is what it looked like at the tear down after I lost oil pressure. At the time I had no indication that anything was amiss until a few minutes before landing, when the oil pressure gauge started fluctuating, although it never went into the red. 

[M20F-1968]

Once you get the hardware off, how much room is there to pull the screen aft and remove it in an F model?  (Asking the same question a different way, how long is the screen and how much room is there between the engine and the footwell?)

John Breda

[carusoam]

Aka ‘finger screen’ because it is similar in dimensions as a finger?

PP wondering outloud...

-a-

[Bob_Belville]

Pulling the screen out is not the problem. Working the nut and the safety wiring is the PG rated part of the process. 

[Vance Harral]

18 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Has anybody ever found something on the suction screen and didn't also find something in the filter?

Like others have mentioned, we've found a non-trivial number of carbon particles in the screen over the years, with nothing at all in the filter.  The most we found was the first time we pulled the screen, after several years of not realizing it was recommended to do so at least occasionally.  Mixed in among the carbon particles that first time was a stringy piece of plastic that we're pretty sure was the "tear off" portion of the cap from a bottle of oil.  About had a heart attack, as it all looked pretty awful.  But after determining none of it was ferrous, and all of it was brittle, came to think of it as somewhat typical for an old engine that hadn't had the screen pulled in a while.  It's been about 8 years and about 700 hours on the motor since then with no issues.

While I don't think it's necessarily critical to pull the screen at every oil change, or even every annual, I wouldn't let it go indefinitely.  Based on the rate at which carbon particles build up, I can see the whole system clogging up and preventing proper oil flow after a few years, even in a healthy engine.

[Vance Harral]

1 hour ago, M20F-1968 said:

Once you get the hardware off, how much room is there to pull the screen aft and remove it in an F model?  (Asking the same question a different way, how long is the screen and how much room is there between the engine and the footwell?)

We have a 1976 F model.  It's very tight if the screen stays press-fit into to the bolt as you're pulling the bolt out.  Which it always has for us, and that's a good thing.  If the bolt separates from the screen, you'd have to wedge your pinky in the hole to get the screen out, and there's little room for that.

On our airplane, if you just pull the bolt/screen pair straight out, the bolt head hits the foot well just before the screen clears the pan.  I need to either angle it slightly just as the tail end of the screen is coming out of the pan, or separate the screen from the bolt once it's about halfway out.  I've never been successful at the latter, as I can't get my hands in there, and I'm unwilling to put tools on the screen.  I just have to "bend" it out (I try not to actually bend the screen, of course, but the tail of it may flex every so slightly).  I don't mean to make it sound overly difficult, it's not.  But it is a bit of a tight fit for both removal and reassembly.

[jaylw314]

19 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I'm not saying that I'm going to stop pulling it at annual, but so far everyone has said that whenever they find stuff on the suction screen they also found stuff in the filter or pressure screen. 

So, I'll rephrase my question. 

Has anybody ever found something on the suction screen and didn't also find something in the filter?

I do remember one of Mike Busch's AOPA articles where he talked about a case where all the fragments were collected in the screen and none made it to the filter.

I also remember an NTSB report where a bunch of plastic from a few oil bottle caps where trapped by the oil screen.

Unfortunately, I can't find references to either.

[ArtVandelay]

I drain the oil through a funnel that has a screen to catch anything not making it to the filter. I do this instead of pulling the engine screen on every oil change.

[Guest]

How many of you with 231/252 pull your suction screen?  How many even know that you have a suction screen?

Clarence

[Stephen]

24 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

How many of you with 231/252 pull your suction screen?  How many even know that you have a suction screen?

Clarence

Sounds like a poll to me.  

[MARZ]

What’s the number for the crush washer?

[AGL Aviation]

Pulling the screen out is not the problem. Working the nut and the safety wiring is the PG rated part of the process. 

PG??
Everbeen to our shop?!


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[AGL Aviation]

PG??
Everbeen to our shop?!


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(Totally kidding there, btw) Its not THAT bad.


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[tony]

22 hours ago, AGL Aviation said:

We have a Mooney coming in for prebuy next week. If we have a suction screen equipped plane come in before that, I'll do it then. It only takes 20 minutes for the entire process (removal, thorough inspection, and reinstallation). We always pull them at annual inspection and as requested for oil changes.


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I have a 68 F model and I only see about a 1/2 clearance between the firewall and the nut.  Cant wait to see the video.  Thank You.  

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Mike Ropers said:

What’s the number for the crush washer?

MS35769-21 for your Lycoming. The same for the TSIO 360 series.

Clarence

Edited May 31, 2018 by M20Doc

[M20F-1968]

I too have a 68 F and would love to see a video on how the suction screen is successfully pulled and removed.  Getting it back in could also be a trick provided it was not damaged getting it out.

John Breda

[Bob_Belville]

Dr. John, I was at @AGL Aviationyesterday. Tamara is planning to provide the promised video when they pull the next screen.

Lynn did tell me that Fs are about the same clearance from the firewall as my E. There's enough room to slide the screen in and out. The only time he remembers having too little room to get a screen out was on a Cessna Cardinal with a 180 hp O360. He had to loosen the engine mounts.

Lynn sees a lot of vintage planes that have not had the screens pulled regularly. He says he's seen some that appear never to have been out of the engine. There is no bypass for the suction screen and if it is sufficiently blocked the oil cannot circulate.  

[RLCarter]

The 1st time I pulled mine I cheated, Engine was hanging from an A-frame getting the motor mounts replaced, 2nd time wasn't near as easy but it wasn't all that bad.

[Bob_Belville]

3 hours ago, RLCarter said:

The 1st time I pulled mine I cheated, Engine was hanging from an A-frame getting the motor mounts replaced, 2nd time wasn't near as easy but it wasn't all that bad.

Yeah, lots of goodies on the back of that engine are a piece of cake until the engine is on its mounts!

[HRM]

On 5/30/2018 at 7:37 PM, AGL Aviation said:

(Totally kidding there, btw) Its not THAT bad.

Then you need to visit my hangar. You will hear newly invented expletives that have yet to make it to the urban dictionary.

I haven't removed the oil screen on my E, but will do so at annual--so there should be some new ones based on the discussion in this thread.