We have completed our teardown and test flight of Cessna 20U's engine, and we have discovered that there was no damage to her engine internals as a result of her oil filter failure. Another round of thanks & kudos to the pilot who caught this in time, saving himself some undue excitement :)
We have discovered that the oil filter did not burst, but actually cracked due to vibration stress -- even though the filter was only appx 30 hours old. We have switched to the "short" style filter, and upgraded to a stronger walled filter, which we believe will prevent this problem from recurring. Additionally, we have bypassed the oil cooler to reduce pressure strain on the filter, "just in case"
20U Pilots: please use extra vigilance in monitoring oil pressure, both on taxi, run-up, and in flight. Good thing you were already doing that, right?
For pilots of our other aircraft, wondering if this could happen to you -- the answer is "of course - keep an eye out", but 20U is the only plane which uses a "remote oil filter" -- meaning the filter is attached to the firewall, under the battery box, and connected via oil hoses. The other planes in the fleet use a "spin-on" filter attached directly to the engine.
Remote oil filters save mechanic knuckles -- compare with the spin-on below.
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In other news,
Cessna 20U has a repaired pilot's seat cushion. We were unable to determine if this was related to the oil pressure situation. :)
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Chilly and breezy about -- bundle up, but the skies are awesome lately with the rains!
Blue Skies,
- Mike
