Squawk 7700 you are about to be hijacked by corrosion

What is it? Why do I care? Please don’t bore me with science – I have 60 seconds.

There are many types of risk relating to corrosion, but the ones that matter to you are the ones that cause damage and become wallet busters. In particular, we want to focus on ENGINE corrosion in this post.

An engine that sits for months over the winter will corrode if some mitigation does not occur. Today’s oils are amazing, but mother earth wants to return that camshaft to the earth as soon as possible. Preventing the onset of any corrosion can be easily managed by doing the following:

1. If you won’t be flying, we preserve the engine for the winter. This means we put special oil in the engine and run it for a short period of time. With the addition of wax and other special chemicals the oil sticks to the surfaces that need to be protected.
2. You can install a heat system that keeps the temperature warm and promotes the evaporation of moisture.
3. You can fly it monthly for at least long enough to boil off all the water in the oil and in the engine – usually at least 30 minutes should do it.
4. One of the best ways to mitigate corrosion due to inactivity is to add an additive to your oil at every oil change and increase the frequency of oil changes. Each 6 months or 25 hours is a good idea – leave the filter for each 50 hours.

OR do all or some of the above.

Oil has all the chemicals associated with combustion mixed in. They are corrosive and so a little exposed steel can corrode quicker and deeper than you might expect.

For more information contact us.