Eyeball vent stuck open

[0TreeLemur]

Normally I fly with the knee-height eyeball vents open.  If hot, they blasting me and my co-pilot.  If not, they blast the avionics.  On a recent multi-hour flight with OAT -9C they needed closing.  The pilot's side vent closed.  Co-pilot's side stuck open.

It seems that there's probably one right way to lubricate the internal mechanism and many wrong ways.   What's the right way?   I want to avoid lubricating the eyeball joint itself - just the internal mechanism.

Thanks!

[PT20J]

The problem with lubricating them is that the lubricant attracts dust and that gums them up. The best way to fix them is to remove them and take them apart and thoroughly clean them and then don't mess with them. I might try spraying them with contact cleaner which may get out some of the gunk and won't leave an oily residue.

[1980Mooney]

10 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Normally I fly with the knee-height eyeball vents open.  If hot, they blasting me and my co-pilot.  If not, they blast the avionics.  On a recent multi-hour flight with OAT -9C they needed closing.  The pilot's side vent closed.  Co-pilot's side stuck open.

It seems that there's probably one right way to lubricate the internal mechanism and many wrong ways.   What's the right way?   I want to avoid lubricating the eyeball joint itself - just the internal mechanism.

Thanks!

"DeJa'Vu all over again" to quote Yogi Berra - was just discussed in this same Forum....

 

 

[IvanP]

Disassembly, thorough cleaning, and reassembly without any lube is, in my opinion, better than using any kind of lubricant on these. I had to do this recently on my plane and found quite a bit of gunk that was accumulated there over the years. 

Edited December 5 by IvanP

[1980Mooney]

3 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Geez.  I guess I’ve been lucky over the past four decades not to have a problem.  

I like @PT20J's advice "don't mess with them".  Less is More.  No lubricating and No cleaning.  And no problem over 25+ years.

 

[0TreeLemur]

I suppose (hope) that the knee vents are easier to get to than the overhead eyeball vents!?!    We removed one of the overhead eyeballs last month to repair it.  The thin wavy washer (forgot name of, son knew it) came out of its slot, causing the whole thing to stop working.  It required surgery.  Opposite of stuck.

I like Skip's contact cleaner idea.  Might break up some gunk.

[0TreeLemur]

3 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

"DeJa'Vu all over again" to quote Yogi Berra - was just discussed in this same Forum....

 

 

Yeah, but I didn't think mine was a dumb question...

[EricJ]

You can spray some lube in there to help loosen it up, whatever lube is your personal preference or is handy, (yes, even WD-40), get it working, and then rinse it out with mineral spirits or brake cleaner or contact cleaner or whatever.    Those will evaporate and take whatever lube you put in with them.    If you use a lot of lubricant, expect more effort to rinse it out.

Using a dry lube, like Tri-Flow, will make it less likely that any that's left behind will accumulate crud.   Starting out with a solvent may make it possible to avoid the lube altogether.

My knee vent was stuck when I first got the airplane and I sprayed something in there, but I don't recall what.   Whatever it was, it's been fine ever since.   I'm not sure it's all that critical if you're careful.   If you spray smelly stuff in there, it might take a little bit to stop smelling.   That's the smell of independence. 

[0TreeLemur]

37 minutes ago, EricJ said:

That's the smell of independence. 

I gotta say having the freedom to travel through the air and not have to deal with TSA and sit in a can with 100's of people is pretty freakin' awesome!

In case of bad weather, I had bought two refundable round-trip tickets to Santa Fe on Untied for $770 ea.  Awfully glad we didn't have to use them.  It seems like every time I get in on an airline over the past few years I come home with some crud.

 

[PT20J]

49 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Using a dry lube, like Tri-Flow, will make it less likely that any that's left behind will accumulate crud.   Starting out with a solvent may make it possible to avoid the lube altogether.

Tri-Flow is actually light weight oil with some Teflon mixed in. It’s not really a dry lube. If you spray some on a piece of metal and let it sit a while, you can feel the oily film. 
https://www.triflowlubricants.com/product/tri-flow-superior-lubricant-aerosol/

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, PT20J said:

Tri-Flow is actually light weight oil with some Teflon mixed in. It’s not really a dry lube. If you spray some on a piece of metal and let it sit a while, you can feel the oily film. 
https://www.triflowlubricants.com/product/tri-flow-superior-lubricant-aerosol/

Hence still flushing with a solvent, but Tri-Flow sez it's paraffin and a light oil that shouldn't attract crud, so they call it a dry lubricant.   It even says so on the bottle! 

https://www.triflowlubricants.com/product/tri-flow-superior-dry-lubricant/

[PT20J]

13 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Hence still flushing with a solvent, but Tri-Flow sez it's paraffin and a light oil that shouldn't attract crud, so they call it a dry lubricant.   It even says so on the bottle! 

https://www.triflowlubricants.com/product/tri-flow-superior-dry-lubricant/

That product is dry - it’s different than the more common Tri-Flow product in the spray cans. It does’t spray because it has a lot of solids that would clog a nozzle. I’ve used it to lube vinyl sliding windows. It works well, but leaves a lot of residue. I think LPS-1 might be a better choice.