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From: "Joe Hull" <joeh@PilgrimTech.com>
To: "'Rotary motors in aircraft'" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: RE: Oil level sensor
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 13:52:40 -0800
Organization: Pilgrim Technologies
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In-Reply-To: <list-811085@logan.com>

> Here is a company that makes an oil level sensor that can be used
> both
> on Lycoming engines and Mazda Rotary engines (with a little
> adaptation
> of the oil pan).  It can trigger a signal much sooner than the
> sensor
> that is built into the 13B engine.
> 
> http://www.aircraftextras.com/LowOilSensor.htm

That item really looks like it would do the job. But, a couple of
questions only one of which I can answer without a probe to test with:
1. is there 3.5 inches of space between the fill plug and the
"sandwich plate" that is part of the Conversion Concepts motor mount.

2. I'm not sure where the oil drains back into the pan in relation to
the fill plug with the adapter plate in place. I'm not going to drop
my pan to figure that out right now. But my concern is that if a
trickle of oil - say the last quart in the engine happens to come out
of the oil gallery and dribble on the probe - then it will think there
is a full pan.

Other than those questions - it really looks like a good product. Oh,
and even if I had a probe - I'm not sure I'd want to test it on my
engine. In order to really find out if it works on a running engine
that is losing oil you'd have to run it out of oil and if it didn't
light up as advertised...well bad things happen.

Joe Hull
Redmond (Seattle), Washington
Cozy MkIV #991 (working on Engine & Electrical & Finishing)
http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/JoeHull/index.html