Starting Radials
From what I've gathered, both from personal experience and some discussions with others, there are two approaches to starting radials with respect to oil in the cylinders. On an R-2600 the engine needs to be pulled through 4 revolutions (I've done so myself many times!) to get rid of the oil in the cylinders. The reasoning behind this is that the flywheel in the starter will take no account of any hydraulic lock and will continue to try to turn the engine even with the hydraulic lock. On an engine with a directly driven starter (no flywheel/mesh system) you can pull the engine through several revolutions on the starter to clear the oil as in a hydraulic lock situation a shearpin in the starter system would break before the engine will (from what I've been told this is the situation on a DC-4 engine). I think that on a Yak-52 installation some similar system exists which disconnects the starter when it meets with too much resistance.
Anybody else with more info?