Oil Change
Updated 11/3/2010
Here's a quick bit of info regarding my latest oil change on the -10 at 70 hours. You can see in the first photo that I have the special quickdrain hose available for one of the valves, (I believe it's the curtis valve) for the lycoming sump. I am able to install the hose with the engine hot, if I wrap my hand in a towel, and it's a latching hose that snaps onto the quick-turn valve. I have tried the Kelly Aerospace filters (just removing one) and find they seem a little "thinner" than the Champion. I pulled this one off and am trying a new one...the Tempest oil filter, that supposedly has a stronger can and nut, and has a built-in magnet. They are fairly priced at Skygeek.com, especially if you buy a 6-pack like I did.On the 2nd photo, you'll see a small plastic tupperware pan that I trimmed that fits right under the oil filter. It makes it easy to drain the filter with no mess at all. I'm very curious as to how those 90 degree B&C filter mounts will work. I can only imagine them dripping all over, but I'd love to hear feedback on if people have good luck with them. On this one, the nut is a bit hard to get at, but I think I'll buy a stubby socket wrench for the hanger which will make it easy. I did just hear that if you have the B&C SD-20, you will be unable to get the B&C right-angle oil filter adapter to fit. Supposedly they are working on a fix for this. Not sure if it's 100% accurate, but something to check out if you're looking at going that route.
The other shots are just random shots of the engine area I took while things were apart. Everything has been very good in the engine compartment. On this weeknd's trip, I ran 10+ hours without adding any oil since this oil change, so my oil burn is settled in very nicely.
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A quick note on oil analysis...
I've decided to do oil analysis after each change, starting at my next change. At the time of this writing, I just passed 110 hours. I'd like to see the trends over the years. Prices range all over the place, usually averaging $12-24/sample but I found a pretty good deal. $70 for 10 test kits. You can pay $92.50 and get free return postage for each sample included, which is what I did. The details are below. I've used them for my 10 previous samples now as of 10/2010, and they give you an email and .pdf report of the results when you're done. It's been a very handy thing to watch the trends.