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Oil Sump Heater Removal


Matt M

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My Mooney has a oil sump heater installed on it. I recently tried it out and it appears it’s not working. Oil temp doesn’t increase and element is cool to touch. Vendor is sending me a replacement unit. The heating element had self adhesive on it and they told me I could simply pry it off with a putty knife once the orange RTV silicone that surrounds the unit is removed. What’s the best way to remove the RTV silicone from the oil sump? I see Permatex makes a RTV silicone dissolver, but it didn’t get high reviews.

Matt

Edited by Matt M
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I haven't found any chemical that will dissolve RTV, and I've tried everything. I have found that the white magic stain eraser sponges work pretty well to mechanically remove it. Scrape as much as you can with plastic or metal scrapers then rub the last bits off. Any chemical that will soften the RTV will probably take the paint off of your engine,

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Check for broken wires before taking the heater off...

Heaters are typically a simple resister... glued to the engine...

They can’t wear out very easily.

Use an abundance of caution when working with 100LL... dry winter air has a tendency to build static electricity... 100LL still evaporates really well at 20°F...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

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Actually these heaters can burn out quite easily if they do not have a good thermal contact to the heat sink (oil sump.) if the glue fails and part of the heater pad lifts then that part gets very very hot and fails. I prefer the Reiff sump heaters since they are encased in metal and use JB Weld to bond them to the sump.

Larry

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Thanks for the info. I will have to check out the product that aircraft spruce sells. As you can see from the attached photo they used a lot of RTV on the element. I need to get it all off so the new one will adhere to the oil sump. Luckily the company is replacing it under warranty. The manufacturer said they probably bent it a certain way during installation damaging the element. I am not sure the heater has ever been used since it's been installed.

IMG_4214.jpg

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