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When I drained my oil in preparation for the flight
to the Rotary Flyin, I decided to do it a bit different. My oil cooler is
the lowest point in the system and I decided that since the oil thermostat
housing was on the bottom of the cooler that draining it from there would be the
smart thing to do.
So I proceeded to unscrew the plug - but, it wasn't
until everything shot into the oil bucket that I realized that the innards had a
strong spring incorporated. So SPLASH! everything into the oil bucket -
not problem I fish out the components and then realize that the thermostat
pellet will fit either way. Of course, I did not have my Mazda engine
manual since it was only a simply oil change.
In my minds eye I recall seeing the spring hit the
bottom of the bucket before I heard the heavy "Clunk" of the thermostat
hit. So I finally decided that the spring must have come out of the
housing first(forgetting that light travels faster than sound). After all
I had a 50/50 chance of being correct.
So I replaced the thermostat back in the housing
and screwed the plug on. Fired up the engine - and noticed that while oil
pressure was fine - the oil temperature did not budge off the bottom of the
gauge even after a couple of minutes of running but that the coolant was already
up to 120F. Hummmm.
Decided not to put the cowling back on until after
going home and consulting a manual. Sure enough I had installed it
backwards.
So went back out to day reverse the thermostat and
oil temps once more responding normally.
This got me to thinking that I fly without a
coolant thermostat and wondering whether oil temps would lower if the thermostat
was removed or wedge permanently closed. I know you can not just remove it
or the oil will by-pass the cooler.
My question to those (Lynn?) who have more
experience is what effect would removing the oil thermostat on oil
temperature??
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