I have about 300 hrs on a Lycoming overhauled IO360-C1C6 engine in my Arrow III. Oil consumption is about 1qt every 5 to 7 hours. I typically operate at 75% power. Should I consider this normal consumption level?
Is it burning it or blowing it out? If you run an IO360 with much over 6 Qts in it the amount over 6 will blow out the breather. Try keeping it at 6 qts and perhaps that will solve your problem.
This is true. Actually on my Lycoming IO-360 on my Arrow (180), when I change the oil and filter with eight quarts, the oil indicates 7 quarts on the dipstick after run-up and leak check. I don't know if this is peculiar to my specific engine but if I ran it indicating 8 quarts, there would actually be nine in there. That would definitely be a good reason to blow it out. Maybe this is common, maybe it has a dipstick calibrated for a non oil filter engine. I don't know.
GM Wrote:
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> This is true. Actually on my Lycoming IO-360 on my
> Arrow (180), when I change the oil and filter with
> eight quarts, the oil indicates 7 quarts on the
> dipstick after run-up and leak check. I don't know
> if this is peculiar to my specific engine but if I
> ran it indicating 8 quarts, there would actually
> be nine in there. That would definitely be a good
> reason to blow it out. Maybe this is common, maybe
> it has a dipstick calibrated for a non oil filter
> engine. I don't know.
my IO-360-B1E 180 HP does the exact same thing, change the oil & filter, refill with 8 qts and the oil level reads 7 qts. The only thing that I can think of that is the reason for this.....the dip stick must have been layed out/designed (oil level marks) before the spin-off filters were released. We all know that it would take at least ten years to get uncle sugar (FAA) to approve new oil level markings!
My 180 HP does exactly the same - it blows out enough oil to bring the indication down to 6 quarts. But those markings are really arbitrary. I just add a quart any time it shows less than 6. I don't care how many quarts are actually in there.
When I first got my IO360-C1C6 powered Arrow IV I would add oil all the time to keep it full. I was getting worried about the high oil consumption that it had. Then I read a post about not going over 6 qts on the stick. Oil consumption has dropped quite a bit now that I keep it between 5 and 6 quarts showing on the dipstick.
I have about 500 hours on a factory reman I installed in my Arrow II. I keep the oil between 5 and six quarts. It burns about 1 quart every 12 - 15 hours.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I still have trouble getting more than 7 hrs even when operating at the 6 qt level. Looks like I do have excessive oil consumption. Compressing is good, mid 70's on all cylinders. Any suggestions on what might be causing the oil burn?
Go to the lyc web site and check out oil consumption. I think you will find it to be within the limits. I think it is about 1/2 qt every hr as the max, but don't quote me. Had a real problem with mine before overhaul, but I now don't have to add any oil between oil changes every 25 hrs, that was 400 hrs ago.
Our Arrow has always burned/spit out a good amount of oil. The engine now has 2100 hours on it. We fill to 6 quarts, and expect to add a quart every 4 hours. its been that way for a long time. We are, however, overhauling the engine in August (not due to oil consumption)
I have the carburated version of the 360 in a 1979 archer with over 1600 hours, and I always add 7 quarts of oil and filter at oil change time... I only add additional oil when the level goes below 6 quarts on the dipstick...Added 1 quart yesterday at 13 hours + .
I most always run the engine at 75%, thats wide open to me, hope this will help...