Aeroshell 15W50

[A and C]

A few months back I switched two Cessna 152's that I own to Aeroshell 15W50 oil and the oil consumption is very low , in fact almost to low to be true.

If any of you are using this oil could you please give me an idea of your hourly usage.

Both these engines are quite new with less than 500 hours TT and used in a club training enviroment.

[vector4fun]

A & C,

This may not help much, but at my annual inspection last week of Sept, I replaced the valve cover gaskets on my Lycoming powered C-172, then added 7 qts of Aeroshell 15W50. I haven't needed to add since, still showing 6 1/2 qts. (app 6 hrs flight time since.) Strange to me too, since I normally used a qt every 4-5 hrs before replacing those gaskets....

[Hairyplane]

I have 2 Gipsy powered vintage machines. One runs on 15w50 and the other on 100 straight.

Consumption on the former is IRO 1 litre every 2 hours and the latter twice that.

The only real way to test it of course is to operate the same engine on both oils and compare. However, suffice it to say I am very happy with the multigrade despite it being more expensive.

Buying oil by the box ( 12 (?) x 1 litre) is a lot cheaper. Buy it by the 20 litre barrel and invest in a trolley and pump - huge saving.

My R44 ( Lyco 540 injected) is running in on straight 100 and glugs a litre every 2 hours....

HP

[SkyHawk-N]

I use Aeroshell 15W-50 and rarely need to top it up.

It may be of interest to some that the LW-16702 anti-wear additive required by AD 80-04-03 R2 (Textron Bulletin 446D) for Lycoming 0-320-H, 0-360-E, LO-360-E, TO-360-E and LTO-360-E engines is not required if you use this oil. Apparently the oil has an additive which provides the same anti-wear protection as LW-16702 and the FAA approve this as an alternative method of compliance. Does anyone know what the CAA say about this?

[Wrong Stuff]

Figures for a Lycoming IO-360-A3B6 for the two series before and after changing to 15W50. 8 qts added at oil changes, thereafter oil usually added on reaching the 6 qts level, or a bit before if the next flight's a long one. Note that W80 bottles were 1 litre whereas 15W50 were 1 quart. Also, the profiles of flights vary quite a bit with a mixture of short local hops but also quite a few long airways trips:

Aeroshell W80 oil change at 480.0
1 litre added after 9.9 hrs, 14.0 hrs, 3.0 hrs

Aeroshell W80 oil change at 512.8
1 litre added after 8.0 hrs, 8.1 hrs, 8.0 hrs, 11.5 hrs, 5.2 hrs, 5.5 hrs

Aeroshell 15W50 oil change at 567.7
1 quart added after 20.6 hrs, 9.0 hrs, 3.6 hrs

Aeroshell 15W50 oil change at 607.0
1 quart added after 16.7 hrs, 10.1 hrs, 4.8 hrs, 6.6 hrs, 6.4 hrs

Those are all the figures I've got. Further oil change due now.

Looking at the figures now, there may be a litre missing in the first set - 14 hrs looks remarkably long.

[S-Works]

On my new engine I use aeroshell and have not needed to add oil between the 50hr checks. During the first 50hrs on straight oil I only put 1l in.

[l_reason]

I would really like to know if the 15W50 is much better then w100. I have a C85-12 continental in my Luscombe. In the summer I use it about 20 hours a week so this could save me some coin! I don’t think the engine is using much oil but it sure likes to dump a bit of yellow foamy oil out the crank case breather once I shut it down. Does one type of oil resist foaming better then the other?
PT

[A and C]

The CAA would not have anything to say about the use of 15W50 oil because if the oil is stated as an alternative method of AD compliance then that is just what it is.

I am now going to have to go back to the club and find out what is going on as the rate of oil use is far below that stated and I need to find out why.

The use rate on the aircraft that I have direct control over is more in line with the posts above.