Phillips XC 20w-50, Lycoming O540

[wings&wheels]

This is a 540 ci, air/oil cooled flat 6 cyl aircraft engine running on leaded avgas, for those unfamiliar.

Oil analysis from the Dakota. 35hrs on oil, 358 on engine since Penn Yann overhaul in 2014. We switched to Phillips from Aeroshell in 2008.

Wear metals coming down, looks good. We had an intake valve hang open this year and that was lapped in situ this past annual.

 

[fantastic]

Never seen Blackstone okay 0.5% insoluble's before & that is usually a higher range for them. Leaded fuel so this must be an older airplane. Good Viscosity for the low hours. Can't say I've seen many airplane engine UOA. Thanks

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

Looks pretty solid. What drove the switch to Phillips? I'm behind a Lyc. IO-360 now and the POH recommend aeroshell 15W-50, but i'm fighting some sticky valves @ 500 hours SNEW and am wondering if the phillips is any better at holding lead in suspension.

Regarding your UOA, I was running a 30 year since overhaul O-470 for awhile at 135 ppm Iron and it's still going strong with no failures 300 hours later. I sold the 1959 C-182B it was in 3 years ago so I haven't seen a recent UOA.

@fantastic most brand new piston airplane engines made today still specify 100LL (leaded fuel) if the compression ratio is much over 8:1. I have a 3 year old airplane with a 9:1 engine and still have to use leaded fuel. Unleaded 100 octane fuels are just now coming out but it is a real mess getting them through regulatory approvals and establishing a supply chain. Rotax and MB/Diamond as well as a few others do make new aviation piston engines that spec either autogas or Diesel(Jet) fuel, but if I had to guess they comprise less than 10% of piston aviation engine sales in the US, which is dominated by Continental Aerospace and Textron's Lycoming.

 

[fantastic]

@fantastic most brand new piston airplane engines made today still specify 100LL (leaded fuel) if the compression ratio is much over 8:1. I have a 3 year old airplane with a 9:1 engine and still have to use leaded fuel. Unleaded 100 octane fuels are just now coming out but it is a real mess getting them through regulatory approvals and establishing a supply chain. Rotax and MB/Diamond as well as a few others do make new aviation piston engines that spec either autogas or Diesel(Jet) fuel, but if I had to guess they comprise less than 10% of piston aviation engine sales in the US, which is dominated by Continental Aerospace and Textron's Lycoming.

Very interesting! Does that also depend on an air cooled engine to spec leaded fuel?

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

Very interesting! Does that also depend on an air cooled engine to spec leaded fuel?

sort of, the air cooled engines are older designs for sure even though they still make thousands of them brand new every year. Price has been out of control since 2020 - averaging about $60k for a new lycoming/continental 4 or 6 cylinder non-turbocharged I think. The newer Rotax and Mercedes derived Austro engines are air cooled and spec autogas/diesel respectively. The rotax can use leaded fuel too but it’s not preferred.

 

[wings&wheels]

Looks pretty solid. What drove the switch to Phillips? I'm behind a Lyc. IO-360 now and the POH recommend aeroshell 15W-50, but i'm fighting some sticky valves @ 500 hours SNEW and am wondering if the phillips is any better at holding lead in suspension.

Regarding your UOA, I was running a 30 year since overhaul O-470 for awhile at 135 ppm Iron and it's still going strong with no failures 300 hours later. I sold the 1959 C-182B it was in 3 years ago so I haven't seen a recent UOA.

My A&P said that he was seeing issues with aircraft using Aeroshell 15w-50 that weren't flown regularly. I preferred a semi-synthetic, but deferred to him as he has a very successful shop and sees a lot of aircraft from the local flight school, charter operator and individual owners. I have been happy with results from the Phillips to date.

 

[varlajo]

Here's another example of same Phillips X/C 20W-50 oil in a smaller, 4-cylinder Lycoming aircraft engine.