Aircraft engine oil demystified

In our Inside the Hangar feature, we talk about the confusing range of aircraft engine oil options available and how they differ.

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[philcrosby]

An excellent learning session. Been flying 40 years and no-one has explained this in such clarity before. Thanks Jon and Aiden.

[captanc]

Good timing with this video - we are currently using the mineral 80 on an overhauled PA-28 engine, normally use W15W-50 the rest of the year (Norway). In the deep of the winter it still gets pretty thick though, so we use engine oil pre-heaters. Without the pre-heat the engine still starts, but it's probably putting a lot of extra strain on the oil pump, etc.

I have your checklist on my wall at home and run through it normally the day before flying, as well as the same day. I only added two items to it - one is to send an sms to the engine pre-heater (winter ops), the other is to file a flight plan (maybe not so common in UK for VFR flights but I always use one when landing away, and also they are mandatory for night VFR when away from the local aerodrome - so good to have on the checklist).

Cheers!

[MH]

Another informative and entertaining video. Nice work and thanks to all the chaps at aero anglia.

[pitchnpower]

What a treat of an explanation. Good on chaps!

[chippyjohn]

There are advantages to multigrade oils even if not in freezing conditions. They protect the engine better at start up due to lower initial viscosity. Good for if you do regular frequent cold starts, also good if in an emergency you need to apply a lot of power right after start up.

[dr_jaymz]

There's a huge amount of time and effort goes into molecular engineering of oils so they can maintain their properties, film strength and protect the engine under all operating conditions. Then we can throw all that knowledge away and use oils with a specification from 75 years ago. Because even a shiny new cirrus has an engine whose lines were first drawn before any of us were born. Here we are 2023 still chuffing out huge amounts of lead, altering the mixture and using magnetos like its 1923! I love the simplicity of it all.

[MelanieMoxon]

Interesting, thanks, we use W15W-50 in the Condor's 0-200, in fact I think all the aircraft I have flown, bar two; the A-65 engined D112 and the O-200 engine in the C120 I flew which used W80, have had some variation of the 15-50.

[marsgal]

Interesting demonstration!

When I lived in suburban Vancouver (with a climate identical to southern England) I ran W80+ all year. Here in Kamloops some people run 15W-50 all year. Others run W80+ in the winter (down to -5C) and W100+ in the summer (up to 40C). Now that my new engine's break-in is complete I'm leaning toward the latter, limited flying hours and all that.

[miablo]

A most excellent and informative piece. Looking forward to the next one.

[fretfreaks]

Great video and happy birthday Aidan!😆

[sebsie]

Super, super. Thank you so much for this interesting video. I follow your channel quite a long time and I like it. Your are heartly welcome in Berlin and I would be surprised to meet you. I wish you luck and very nice and healthy flights

[smokeybarr]

Every day's a learning day! Great idea for a feature. Aidan always does a great job of explaining technical stuff too.

[andyjgreen]

It’s a pitty there doesn’t seem to be an outlet for Phillips 20W50 here in the UK.

[kevchilton]

Excellent information Jon, thank you. Keep them coming 👌👍

[TheLincolnshireFlyer]

Love this series Jon. Really enjoyed it. Look forward to the next one 😊

[kestrel]

Love these episodes Jon please carry on.

[keithdmiller]

Great idea for a series of video's Jon, all I need to do now is remember one of those burning questions 🙂

[Torkie]

A great video Jon and really informative. Interesting to know the differences and great content. Look forward to more and hope that all is well. Andy T

[chippyjohn]

W80 is actually an SAE 40 oil and W100 is an SAE 50. 80 and 100 are just names.

[pbvincent]

Brilliant - especially if this is going to be a regular feature.