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Chris, in hot humid weather when I had my intake manifold
off for six week, I came back and cranked to find absolute NO compression out of
either rotor. Dropping the exhaust and looking through the exhaust port I
could see what appeared to be a light sheen of rust on the rotor. This
happened right after my HALTECH (pre EC) fuel injection system had failed
locking the fuel injectors wide open and raw gasoline poured out the exhaust -
probably cleaning any of the oil that would usually linger on the insides of the
engine.
It took me about 4 days by spraying penetrating oil and
poking with a brass bar to work the apex seals loose again - ALL BUT ONE.
It finally took a tear down of the engine and a punch to remove the remaining
apex seal. The moral of the story if you are going to leave the engine
open to a humid environment for any period of time. I would pour some marvel
mystery oil, ATF or something similar into the chambers and rotate the engine
every 2 weeks.
So you are probably OK - those seals will stick, most
often running the engine will break them loose, but better they are loose before
running the engine in my opinion.
Ed
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 11:37 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Got Pressure! and really scary
moment
Got pressure! That is not a question, that is a statement. I
put the engine back on the plane today and I have oil moving freely and in
a constant stream coming from the front of the engine when I crank
the engine over.
I currently have sent all my hoses off to a friends shop in AZ to
have them pressure tested. So it will be a bit before I can try starting it
again.
I did have a pretty scary moment. While I was cranking the engine
over and seeing a good stream of oil, I noted that I was only getting four chugs
of air coming out of the rotors instead of six. YIKES. I took a
breath and looked in the spark plug holes in the second chamber where I could
only feel one puff of air coming out. I could visible see all three apex
seals, but who knows. So, I got some penetrant
and sprayed it onto the seals and poked them a bit with a small long
probe. They all seems springy and intact. After this
little procedure , I could hear and feel the six chugs I have come
to know.
If I get out there tomorrow, I will check to see/hear if all the chugs are
still present. I will keep my fingers crossed.
Chris
Houston
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