Hello Net Well, here goes a new twist to by plane saga's. A few week ago the tower reported to me that I was smoking like an old Chevy. At first I though that my rings were not yet seated well and I kept flying. Shortly after that I started to see a lot of oil on the right wheel cover and finally after I parked one day, the oil started dripping out of the exhaust pipe. Today, 61 degrees here in Michigan, I pulled the turbo. The T wheel was coated with oil and the exhaust pipe from the engine was clean. I had priced a seal and bearing kit at about 80 to $100. My bearings seemed OK. It appears that the oil seals have been blown. I went online to research and could not come up with any definitive reason. On one site the submitter of a thread stated that he had blown his oil seals, and that his car was making 50 to 60 psi oil pressure. No one would tackle his query and for the most part no one confirmed that there is a limit to the pressure that turbo oil seals can take. One respondent suggested that if 30 psi is Normal that 60 psi would blow the seals. The reason that this is important to me is that until my oil is hot, my takeoff pressure can and has reached 70 psi on my direct read gauge I have been using 10 W 40 oil and selected that because of the high temps that I experienced earlier. I now have to consider whether or which oil I should use after I replace the turbo seals. As I removed the turbo, I also got an Oh Sxxt, when I noted that the impeller has taken an impact and that it will have to be replaced. With the revflow wide open as in take off, there is nothing to stop some pretty large objects from reaching the impeller. This will cause me to make some changes, such as only using cowling air until airborne or placing some type of screen in the opening of the revflow. Someone at the gathering was using a screen for his carb opening and I can't remember who it was. If anyone knows or has suggestions, please sing out.
Orma Southfield, MI N110LR celebrating 20 years Flying, flying and more flying http://www.kr-2.aviation-mechanics.com/
