Hydraulic Fluid Into A Jet Engine
 

Hi everyone

Recently one of our ground mechanics mistakenly tried to replenish engine oil by adding hydraulic fluid..
He spotted his mistake and reported it..the engine was changed,and i understand that the engine s to be flushed..end of story
My question is..what if his mistake went unnoticed..how would it affect engine operations..and how would it be possible to clean the engine
Thanks for all inputs

hydraulic oil in the engine
 

I once had hydraulic oil transfer to the engine via the pump shaft seal, resulting in an overfilled condition in the engine oil tank.

I contacted P&W (it was a JT3) and they informed me that there was nothing in the engine (i.e. rubber shaft seals) that was likely to be affected, and they advised me to drain and refill the engine three times, with a run between refills.....no problems were encountered after this proceedure.

The JT 3 was pretty agricultural, and I am not sure if modern engines would be so forgiving, best thing is to check MM and if problem not covered, call the manufacturer.

Thanks a lot tony that was very helpful...i will check MM ..actually i think..and i could be totaly wrong that a modern jet engine is capable of taking harsh abuse including this scenario
just wanted to know from first hand experience if there was any immediate reprecussions for this scenario...thanks for your input

It would depend on what type of hydraulic fluid was used. If it was 5606 (red stuff), no big deal. If it was skydrol (purple stuff), it would be a big deal. Skydrol is nasty stuff and degrades rubber seals pretty quickly. It shouldn't do much damage within the engine but you will notice oil leaks from fittings that have O rings within a few days.

Thanks a lot nappy headed ho....just what i needed...and it was skydrol:mad:

Thanks ASFKAP
Actually it was a B 727-200 ADV with JT8D-17R engines...actually i was informed by a line maintenance engineer who's a friend of mine that the engine was drained and flushed as per boeing technical directives..what do you know..honest mistakes happen all the time
thanks again for the input