How to clean and lubricate aviation piston engines

Cleaning and lubrication of aviation piston engine is an important measure to ensure its normal operation and extend its service life. The following are specific methods on how to clean and lubricate aviation piston engines:

First, clean the aviation piston engine

The purpose of cleaning the aviation piston engine is to remove oil, carbon and impurities inside the engine and keep the engine clean. Common cleaning methods include:

Running cleaning

Run the engine on basic or standard fuel for 1-2 minutes to clean out undesirable combustion products from the use of additive fuel. This method is especially suitable for electric thermal engines, the use of nitromethane, nitrobenzene and other nitro additives of fuel, operation cleaning can effectively remove the nitro additives combustion products, to prevent its corrosion of engine parts.

lavage

Kerosene or gasoline is poured into the engine from the engine inlet, exhaust or electric plug holes, and then the crankshaft is turned to clean the parts in motion. Repeat several times until the oil runs clear. This method is suitable for regularly used engine routine cleaning, storage time is not long to re-use the engine, and the newly purchased engine crankshaft rotation is normal.

Dip method

Soak the engine in a cleaning oil (such as kerosene or gasoline), turn the crankshaft, and clean the engine parts. It is suitable for the newly purchased engine or the engine stored for a long time to be restarted, when the crankshaft resistance is large or can not be rotated by hand. After soaking for a period of time, slowly turn the crankshaft in the cleaning oil until the engine no longer flows out of the dirty oil and the rotation is flexible, remove the engine, reverse the clean cleaning oil, and then pour in the clean cleaning oil repeatedly cleaning until the poured cleaning oil is clear.

Disassembling and cleaning

Disassemble the engine, soak the parts in cleaning oil, and then brush each part with a soft brush, clean the oil and oil scars of each part, rinse with clean cleaning oil, and put it on the white paper to air dry. This method is suitable for parts in the engine damage or card, collision, grinding and other phenomena, the engine or local components after a long time soaking still can not rotate flexibly, a long time is not used to confirm the existence of rust or oil scars, and the engine speed is significantly reduced.

Second, lubricate the aviation piston engine

The purpose of lubricating aviation piston engines is to reduce friction and wear between the internal components of the engine and maintain the normal operation of the engine. Common lubrication methods include:

Pressure lubrication

After the oil is pressurized by the oil pump, it flows along the special oil path to each friction surface for lubrication. Due to the high oil pressure, this method can transport oil to all places where splash lubrication cannot be applied, such as friction surfaces with small gaps. At the same time, the oil filter and radiator can be installed on the oil circuit to keep the oil clean and the temperature is appropriate.

Splash lubrication

By rotating parts with high speed (such as crankshaft, etc.), the oil is splashed onto the friction surface for lubrication. This method is suitable for some small engines with simple construction.

Mixed lubrication

Modern aviation piston engines generally adopt a mixed lubrication system with pressure lubrication as the main and splash lubrication as the auxiliary. Splash lubrication in the hybrid lubrication system does not use the oil stored at the bottom of the casing, but the oil flowing from the clearance of some parts receiving pressure lubrication or from a special oil hole, with the help of a fast rotating part such as the crankshaft, the oil is splashed onto the friction surface for lubrication.

Matters needing attention

Choose the right cleaning agent

According to the purpose of cleaning and the impurities inside the engine, choose the appropriate cleaning agent. At the same time, to consider the external ambient temperature, when the temperature is too low, it may be necessary to add anti-icing agent.

Avoid corrosion of engine by cleaning agent

When selecting a cleaning agent, make sure that it will not cause corrosion to the metal or non-metal materials inside the engine.

Check and maintain lubrication system regularly

Regularly check whether the components of the lubrication system (such as oil pumps, oil filters, oil pipelines, etc.) are working properly to ensure that the oil can be adequately and stably supplied to the friction surface.

Change the oil regularly

According to the use time of the engine and the manufacturer's recommendations, replace the oil regularly to maintain the clean and lubricating properties of the oil.

Record maintenance information

Record the contents and results of each cleaning and lubrication maintenance in detail to provide reference for subsequent maintenance.