Another engine out from an oil injection failure

[C5Engineer 1170]

Yet another guy who ended up out in the weeds after his oil injection system failed. Another reason to premix!! This one was in a Powered Parachute.

 

My instructor and I were flying Friday evening doing touch & go's when I had to experience that deafening quiet! We touched down and was climbing out for another run at the pattern when it became obvious that we were not climbing like we should; I looked down and only saw 59xx RPM's. When we turned cross wind it was down to 5600 and then it went quiet. He grabbed the steering line and pulled us to the right and we went straight in. He pulled for all he was worth and I kicked the bars straight out. It was a bounce or two but not real bad. After we stopped laughing (yes laughing) we packed the chute and tried to figure out what just happened. Everything looked fine until I tried to turn the prop. The engine had seized. We looked at it the next morning and figured out that the cable attached to the oil injector was not moving at all when the throttle was advanced. She had been starved for oil and died. The end of the cable inside the splitter had come out of the brass splitter. That makes no sense and we cannot figured how that could have happened but it did. We tried every way we could imagine to recreate a circumstance that could cause it to come out but could not make it happen. Only I could experience such luck! But the upside is that we both were unscathed and the plane is okay other than being nasty. Now I have to go engine shopping. I hate shopping.

[lv2plyguitar 172]

I think this is why if you are premixing the oil injection system needs to be completely removed.  What if the oil injection pump seizes?  Yes the gear is only plastic but why take chances.  I completely removed the cable from the airplane and took the oil injection pump off the engine.

[akflyer 1427]

So how many have locked up do to cold seize, or operator error and not caused by the oil pump?

The oil pump failing is the least likely way someone is gonna burn up a 582..

[C5Engineer 1170]

Your right Leni. A follow up post revealed he had installed the cable wrong causing the arm to quit moving.

[Mendlerr 4]

I completely removed my oil injection.  Went to premix.

[skysailor 0]

Oh Come On! Just look at the stats of problems related to oil injection versus pilot error. What is this, the first in how many years there is a case of the oil injection system being at fault and then it turns out to be the fault of the installer....? This is not an indictment of oil injection..it's an endorsement!!! Cheers All, Mike

[Turbo 162]

I have heard it said that if the cable breaks you will burn up your engine.  This is not necessarily so - with a small mod to the oil pump.  There is an untapped 6 mm hole on the front side of the pump which could have been used to attach the banjo fitting for one of the OI lines in some installations, but in our case is not being used.  Tapping that hole allows one to bolt on a small L-shaped piece of aluminum custom-bent to limit the downward travel of the cable-attach actuator arm to that corresponding to the second tick on its face, or the slack-cable position.  This way the oil mixture ratio can't go below 70:1, even with a cable failure.  This should allow at least part-power operation to get you down, and maybe even to the next airport.  

Edited 4 Sep 2018 by Turbo

[Jeromef 76]

Sure, but how would you know the cable is broken and you cant apply full power??

[akflyer 1427]

If a cable breaks you got issues.  The throttle cables are under much more tension and stress than the oil injections cable, therefore are probably more likely to break.  The carbs slamming shit has the exact same consequences.  There are a million ways to hurt yourself or die in an airplane, oil injection malfunctions not caused by pilot error (filling the oil tank) are one of the very least of your worries. 

[skypics 89]

I removed my injector, not because of failure worries..although it is another moving part that can fail, but it is not common. I changed because I was using 100% synthetic at 100:1. 

As I recall from my 582 days, the injector was designed to inject at 70:1 below 3,000 RPM to eliminate oil loading on the plugs at idle RPM. Then it changes to 50:1 above 3,000 RPM.

Since I was at 100:1 it was not needed. Plus the engine ran much cleaner. I was running 91 octane mogas at a time when it didn't have ethanol.

John M

[Turbo 162]

If you do much cruising at altitude, and running appropriately leaned, I would think you'd appreciate an oil flow driven by rpm & throttle position, & hence not leaned, over the leaned oil flow (along with fuel) with premix.  Isn't there a seisure risk for under-lubricating a 2-stroke?

I live in a high-moisture environment and am concerned that synthetic oil may not provide adequate rust protection.  If you live in a dry environment, you could fix the OI lever at the 70:1 position, fill the oil tank with synthetic, and be able to tank up at any airport, without bothering with premix.  And you'd have no cable to worry about!

Edited 14 Sep 2018 by Turbo

[chopndrag 226]

I'll stick with having a jug of 2 stroke in my baggage compartment amd knowing that pesky injection system can't fail if it's not there. I saw 3 503 motors detonate in the past couple months. Only thing they had in common was running oil injection and the bps 2 stroke oil . Not sure which made it happen but I run the bps stuff and have no issues . I am going to take Rotax Ricks suggestion and run the waverunner stuff from walmart quicksilver pwc after I burn through what I have now. It's cheaper and our 582 is almost like a jetski motor. 

[Dusty 126]

Many years ago I had a lubrication related failure in an air cooled non rotax engine.the shop that did the rebuild told me never use an oil specifically designed for liquid cooled engines in an air cooled engine.

Oil technology has probably moved on,but just a word of caution.

The 503 is generally a bullet proof engine(they don't make enough power to hurt themselves

[chopndrag 226]

That's why it's baffling to hear 3 at the same airport go. They were all running oil injection and the bps oil . No clue what made them do that but I'm sticking with pre mix and the quicksilver pwc oil Rick uses . 

[skypics 89]

When a 582 powered my Avid Flyer I used 100% synthetic oil at 100:1 ratio with the oil pump removed. I used to get 300-500 hours TBO.

I wouldn't recommend using a leaning device on a two-stroke since less gas also means less oil lubrication.

John M

[C5Engineer 1170]

The gas is mixed at 50:1 whether your burning 2 gph or 7 gph.  Using that logic it would sieze at idle. I’ve flown 450 hrs with my Hacman and 100:1 mixture. At 10-12,000 ft a 582 will run so rich it’ll about choke itself out. On some of my Idaho trips I’ve spent 3 hrs up at 10K cruising. Leaning lowered fuel flows by 1.5 gph. 

Edited 5 Oct 2018 by C5Engineer

[Bandit 286]

When a 582 powered my Avid Flyer I used 100% synthetic oil at 100:1 ratio with the oil pump removed. I used to get 300-500 hours TBO.

I wouldn't recommend using a leaning device on a two-stroke since less gas also means less oil lubrication.

John M

I am mixing my gas oil 44:1 for years with a manual mixture control and never had any problems. 

[Turbo 162]

Sorry guys, but in all honesty I need to eat my own words!  I just re-inspected my spare oil pump.  As designed, the pump will revert to 50:1 full oil flow if the cable should break.  The designers cleverly made it as foolproof as possible.  There is a scribed line on the housing, and two, one large and one small on the steel arm connecting to the cable.  When the larger mark on the arm is aligned with the scribed mark on the pump housing, you're at 70:1, the idle setting.  By the time the arm has moved to where the smaller mark aligns with the scribed line on the housing, you're at 50:1.  A cable breakage allows the torsional spring to pull the arm to way beyond where the large mark on the arm would align with the scribed line on the housing.  At this point the eccentric is disengaged, and pump piston stroke is again maximum, so you're back at 50:1.  My idea of a lever stop is a dumb one.  I took it back off when I realized this!

[nlappos 413]

Says those Austrians at Rotax are almost as smart as we are!

[Turbo 162]

And the crew at Mikuni!

[RFPhtmfxr 23]

That's why they wear the white coats with the pocket protector, and make the big bucks.

[Turbo 162]

Hey, all technical progress is made by us nerds!

[Fly-n-Low 181]

I am going to keep mine. And I thought it was spring loaded to go full oil if the cable breaks.

BTW no way I'm gonna go 100:1!!!

And the liquid vs air cooled. I run Merc oil in my Stihl saws no problems. And then I have air cooled oil and a liquid cooled Rotax? 

[Turbo 162]

Gotta love those oils rated both tc-1 and tc-w3.  They are good in either application!  Thanks to Chris B. for that informational tidbit!  Incidentally, I was at a shop that services snowmachines, and the mechanic there said he had seen evidence of scuffing with Amsoil at 100:1.  Maybe the particular case was one in which the cooling wasn't as good as we typically get with our application.  Don't know enough detail here.