Hot #2 cylinder

[drifter001]

Question for y’all. Was flying today and got distracted by a P-40 taking off in front of me which made me forget to open my cowl flaps (no excuses, I should’ve double checked my checklist). On climb out, my #2 cylinder got up to 450  when I leveled off and caught the cowl flaps being closed so opened them and  temps started dropping. Probs wasn’t that high for more than a few seconds. Engine ran fine the rest of the way home and a run up after landing returned normal results. Didn’t see anything weird through the oil door either. Am I overthinking it or should I have an A&P check and run the engine and maybe even run a compression test?

 

thanks on advance 

[jaylw314]

1 minute ago, drifter001 said:

Question for y’all. Was flying today and got distracted by a P-40 taking off in front of me which made me forget to open my cowl flaps (no excuses, I should’ve double checked my checklist). On climb out, my #2 cylinder got up to 450  when I leveled off and caught the cowl flaps being closed so opened them and  temps started dropping. Probs wasn’t that high for more than a few seconds. Engine ran fine the rest of the way home and a run up after landing returned normal results. Didn’t see anything weird through the oil door either. Am I overthinking it or should I have an A&P check and run the engine and maybe even run a compression test?

 

thanks on advance 

Lycoming's limit is 500F IIRC.  Not that that's a healthy temp to run for extended periods of time, but if there's a clear explanation and you caught it pretty quick, I'd just chalk it up to a learning moment.

[Ragsf15e]

24 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

Lycoming's limit is 500F IIRC.  Not that that's a healthy temp to run for extended periods of time, but if there's a clear explanation and you caught it pretty quick, I'd just chalk it up to a learning moment.

I agree.  I think your poh limit is 475.  Don’t want to do that often, but you’re fine.  Still surprised you got that hot.  Was it full rich for takeoff and climb?  Hot outside?

[jaylw314]

48 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

I agree.  I think your poh limit is 475.  Don’t want to do that often, but you’re fine.  Still surprised you got that hot.  Was it full rich for takeoff and climb?  Hot outside?

LOL, thanks, 475F sounds more right than 500F, especially after looking it up   Not exactly a number I see often!

 

[Ragsf15e]

40 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

LOL, thanks, 475F sounds more right than 500F, especially after looking it up   Not exactly a number I see often!

 

Yeah, i agree!  I took off from Denver once and had leaned for takeoff, but was a little too lean and was at 440 before I was at pattern altitude!  Haven’t repeated that mistake!

Slow speed, warm temps, thin air, lean mixture can add up quickly!

[EricJ]

A combination of an engine monitor and a voice annunciator helps a lot for stuff like this.   I forgot the cowl flaps on takeoff and climbout once and my AV-17 voice annunciator got an alarm from the engine monitor due to the CHTs and let me know there was an issue.   That single event probably way more than paid for that whole system.   I don't know if I'd have noticed in time to avoid damage otherwise.

Glad yours got managed okay.   While 450F is hot it isn't in the realm of requiring any action, other than trying to avoid doing it again. 

[drifter001]

1 hour ago, Ragsf15e said:

Yeah, i agree!  I took off from Denver once and had leaned for takeoff, but was a little too lean and was at 440 before I was at pattern altitude!  Haven’t repeated that mistake!

Slow speed, warm temps, thin air, lean mixture can add up quickly!

That’s exactly what happened to me. It was warm out, was on the return flight home so engine was already warm and was waiting behind the p40 for a king air on short final

[Ragsf15e]

27 minutes ago, drifter001 said:

That’s exactly what happened to me. It was warm out, was on the return flight home so engine was already warm and was waiting behind the p40 for a king air on short final

Seeing a real P40 would definitely distract me too.  Awesome history.  

[drifter001]

Thanks for all the responses, everyone. Y’all definitely gave me a sigh of relief. Definitely a learning experience on my part as well

[carusoam]

Remember…

1) The POH has a limitations section that shows all of the red lines…

2) You can get a copy of a more recent POH for your plane around here…

3) The more recent POHs have more data in them…. That still applies to the older versions of the same plane…

4) Operating CHTs at high temps is more of a wear rate issue… 

5) Operating above the redline should be avoided….

6) If CHTs get really hot… the OilT might get hot as well…. Another redline issue…

7) Update your checklist for T/O is over… gear, flaps, fuel pump, cowl flaps… cruise climb…

8) cowl flaps are probably supposed to be open before engine start….   

PP thoughts only, my plane doesn’t have cowl flaps to even mess with…

Best regards,

-a-

[Shadrach]

15 hours ago, drifter001 said:

Thanks for all the responses, everyone. Y’all definitely gave me a sigh of relief. Definitely a learning experience on my part as well

An over heating event won’t typically cause catastrophic failure unless allowed to develop into detonation. I agree there is no need for immediate action. I will say that if you’re not using a borescope to inspect the cylinders at annual, this year is a good time to start.