Oil Change frequency for turbocharged Mooney

[Danb]

Hey Al, I have oil analysis regularly unless the mailman loses my oil, once, the only issue with my oil one time I had higher stuff in the engine, I had a back operation and didn’t fly much for four months, everyone since have been good. On trips I fly at 30/2300, 1575 Tit, Cht’s under 380. Around town usually around 26/2300. I always pay attention to tit’s never go above 1600. Don’t have gami’s considering getting them. Oil filter always clean.

[pkofman]

Mooney Bravo TLS Probably overkill  and a waste of money but every 3 months irrespective of flight time . Maybe im throwing money away. Engine has 550 hours and still treating me well..

Pete

[louisut]

16 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

Fellow rocket owner here. I do it every 50 hours or four months. Your consumption sounds about right. 

Another Rocket owner here. Continental's Operator's Manual (last revised Aug 2011) for the TSIO-520-NB (with filter) specifies 50 hour oil changes. We also change every four months regardless of hours per Mike Busch's rule-of-thumb.

We use 10 qts Phillips 20W/50 w/ 1 pint Camguard. This is convenient because it leaves two quarts of top-off oil between changes. Oil analyses so far have come back clean. Remember that the Rocket-specific exhaust pipe AD is due every 50 hours too.

Edited April 30, 2020 by louisut

[donshapansky]

In my experience with Continental engines  first and then Lycoming engines on an Aerostar if the oil is getting dark to black in 10 -15 hrs. you have blow - by (rings are stuck or worn). Worn valve guides do not affect oil color. The Aerostar I bought after the Rocket had 75 hrs. since IRAN, it had not flown much in the past 3 years. I noticed the right engine was using some oil and left was not using much at all. The oil was dark in a few hrs. on the right engine not so on the left. At annual the shop called and saw the plugs on 3 cylinders were dark and the leak down rates had fallen into the mid 60's/80. So we pulled the 3 cylinders and sent them out. It turned out the cylinders had lost the " choke" shape. They resized the cylinders and replaced 2 valve guides. After that both engines oil stayed golden to the next change. These were TIO-540-J2BD 350 hp. engines from the Piper Navajo. 45 " MAP @2575 rpm flowing 45 gph at full power.  I was always amazed at the acceleration on takeoff and climb, it would climb at 190 KIAS and 1000 ft./min. to well over 12.000 ft.

[carusoam]

Once the exhaust starts to escape past rings, into the case...

Oil gets dark very quickly...

oil smells like exhaust...

Oil can get foamy, as seen after a flight....

Single O360 experience only,

Best regards,

-a-

[Mooney_Allegro]

Oil changes for the plane are between 25-30 hours and no more than 4 months time.  I've been using Phillips 66 X/C 20W50 with Camguard.  I cut open the filter at every oil change and if I have any questions with the filter, I send the filter element to ALS Tribology in Phoenix for analysis.  I use to use Howard Fenton in Tulsa (recommended by Blackstone), but Howard died unfortunately. 

 For the oil analysis, I send samples to both AvLab and Blackstone.  Yes, it's overkill, but I like the comments by Blackstone.  I don't use the US Postal Service any longer for oil samples, as the postal service has lost two of my samples, the most recent late last year.  This was with a tracking number.  Instead, I use FedEx 2 or 3 day air and it always gets there.  

The engine burns about 1 qt. in 10-12 hours roughly and the oil analysis results have been good.  Everything has been in the green.  Hopefully it will stay that way.  My oil does get black fairly quickly, but so did my previous 1998 J model.  I do unscrew my oil cap & pull it out slightly after I'm finished flying to vent as much vapor as possible.  By the time I'm done cleaning all the bugs off (20 min.), I screw the cap back on.  I've read that this practice may help with corrosion prevention (limit moisture), but I don't know for sure.  

[donshapansky]

After the top OH I went back to GAMI and we finally got the jetting tighter and TIT remained below 1600 F and many cases below 1550 even running at 83% power (33"@2450 rpm). I think that in the next 250 hrs. I never ran ROP again because the fuel savings were 7 gph with no loss in speed at the high power settings.

The Aerostar was always run ROP because it would not run LOP without exceeding 1650 F TIT unless we ran really low boost. But when both engines were running properly without the cylinder issues they both showed no oil discoloration . If the rings and cylinders are healthy I don't think the oil will turn dark very quickly. Sometimes the cylinder leak down may not show the ring problem as readily as you might think. That was certainly the case with the Rocket, it had been based in Florida when I bought it with only 50 SMOH, looking back I think there were some stuck rings even at that small amount of engine time. If you are based in Florida the humidity levels are a killer for corrosion. I remember working with Conair in BC, they worked with a lot of radial engines, if the airplane was out of service for more than a week or so they would treat the cylinders with preservative. 

[cferr59]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:38 PM, 201Steve said:

io360 here. I whole heartedly believe the oil filter could easily go 100 hours. It holds 1/4 quart maybe when cold. I would  put good money on zero difference in an otherwise identical lifetime comparison with one changing filter every swap, and one changing filter every 2 or 3 swaps. With a quick drain valve, it wouldn’t even need to be de-cowled and you could change just the oil in 5 minutes of labor. That said.... it’s my airplane and I enjoy treating it like a baby,  so I change it with the oil.

Does the TIO540 use a different filter?  I agree that there is no way that the filter on my O-360 holds a quart. 

[carusoam]

Always consider how much oil is left up in the oil cooler as well...

Best regards,

-a-

[Cody Stallings]

Speaking of Rockets:

My 520 when using Phillips, the oil will stay Clean an Gold with maybe Half quart of consumption in 25Hrs.

 

Running it on 100W now, Uses one quart every 11 flight hours an the oils gets dark in Color in 12-15 hrs.

Compressions are good an Oil Reports are showing no issues to speak of.

Going to switch back to Phillips next oil change for obvious reasons, then the fact you can still buy an actual case of Phillips still

[Richard Knapp]

12 hours ago, Cody Stallings said:

Speaking of Rockets:

My 520 when using Phillips, the oil will stay Clean an Gold with maybe Half quart of consumption in 25Hrs.

 

Running it on 100W now, Uses one quart every 11 flight hours an the oils gets dark in Color in 12-15 hrs.

Compressions are good an Oil Reports are showing no issues to speak of.

Going to switch back to Phillips next oil change for obvious reasons, then the fact you can still buy an actual case of Phillips still

What weight was the Phillips, and what brand 100W did you try? Thanks!

[Cody Stallings]

9 minutes ago, Richard Knapp said:

What weight was the Phillips, and what brand 100W did you try? Thanks!

20/50 Phillips an Aeroshell 100W

[tmo]

Phillips also make single weight oils, which are said to be good.  Just saying, I know you know.