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Permalink Reply by John Austin on October 30, 2023 at 4:15pm

Which Gen engine do you have and is it a 3300?  I believe that 59F temp is obsolete. The latest manual I've found that covers all 3300's except Gen 4 is JEM3302-7, dated 2016, and gives a minimum take-off oil temperature of 122 F and does agree with the continuous 176-212F.  IF your oil temp gauge is accurate, I'd think that if you can't even get to minimum take-off temperature, you might be accelerating wear in your engine!  Are your temps normal for summer operation? I'd get this resolved sooner rather than later. Perhaps a consult with Nick at Arion (the Jabiru dealer) might be in order if you're not getting anywhere with this soon.

Do you have an oil cooler?  Have you tried partially or totally blocking it off?  You could use good 'ole duct tape to find how much blockage is necessary to get those temps up and then make a winter block-off plate.

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by Sam Cyphers on October 30, 2023 at 7:19pm

Hi John, yes its the 3300 and I think you are correct in the "IF your oil temp gauge is accurate" because I just dont believe it is. Is there a method for testing this? Or just replace and hope its all correct? 

I do have an oil cooler, and I will try to block it off, but I'd rather have a controllable method instead of a system where I have to remove the cowling every time. 

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on October 31, 2023 at 7:45am

It's rare that we have extreme cold weather in East Tennessee, but before I installed a TOCA (thermostatic oil cooler adapter), I made a simple plate that covered part of my oil cooler.  No cowl removal was necessary - I had a spring attached to the plate and it hooked on each end to brackets riveted to the frame around my cooler.  I could take it on or off in a few seconds. I put the red silicone material on the backside of the plate so it wouldn't fret the cooler fins.

Another option, as mentioned above, would be to install a TOCA.  This bypasses the oil cooler until the oil temperature is up and it gets the temp up more quickly.  Steve Rance in the UK custom made these - I don't know if they're still available or not.  Here's a forum discussion with his email, etc.  I "think" there might be another commercially available TOCA -   perhaps some Googling will turn one up.

But before going much further, I'd suggest you test your oil temperature sensor. Check it when the engine is cold and it should read near the ambient temperature at the time.  Then remove the sensor and leave the wiring attached, boil some water on a hot plate or camp stove and immediately remove the water, take it over to the engine, and drop the sensor in to be sure it reads near 212F.

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by Sam Cyphers on November 12, 2023 at 9:42pm

Hi John that plate cover is absolutely genius! Im going to try that as it seems like a quick, but reusable fix! The TOCA option is interesting and I'll track that down if I can, but your solve is perfect and I can make 2 or 3 depending on temperature. And thank you for the advice on the temp sensor check. Boiling water is a perfect method and I do suspect it could be off. Thank you sir! 

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Permalink Reply by David Gallagher on November 15, 2023 at 11:55am

My cold weather solution is much less elegant.  Personally I do not like flying under 30F.  So between 30 and 40F, I have a piece of cardboard that is about the height of the cooler and about 25% the width.  See my edit of John's pic.  I shove this in on one side before fire-up.  In my 15 years of doing this, maybe 10ish times per winter season, it has never moved out of place or departed the airplane during a flight.  Even if it did, I do not perceive any adverse safety of flight issues given its size and makeup.  If it's a cool morning out to breakfast, but warmer on the return, I will remove it for the flight home.  However, on those days I forgot to remove it on the return flight and outside temps got up around 50-55F, I never saw any oil temp high issues.

Dave Gallagher

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