Canuck
David Megginson
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 7,077
- Reaction score
- 3,867
It's been years since I've done my own oil changes. I'm beginning to scale back my consulting work a bit now in the 10-year home stretch to retirement, though, so I'm planning to start again next spring. I'll get a refresher from my AME (A&P to Americans) the first time, of course.
So here's my question: if you have a PA-28 where the cowl fully opens on both sides (not just a little oil door), do you bother to uncowl for an oil change? I didn't in the past, because I could easily do everything through those big side doors -- I'd just clamp a garden hose onto the oil drain and run down it into a bucket. Lots of room to swing a wrench and change the oil filter without uncowling.
I think many shops just uncowl any plane by reflex, because the big side cowl doors on the PA-28-161 and similar aren't that common in piston singles. Are there any benefits to fully uncowling just to change oil and filter (or even to rotate plugs)? What do you and your partners do with your PA-28-151, @cappy48 ?
Thanks, David
So here's my question: if you have a PA-28 where the cowl fully opens on both sides (not just a little oil door), do you bother to uncowl for an oil change? I didn't in the past, because I could easily do everything through those big side doors -- I'd just clamp a garden hose onto the oil drain and run down it into a bucket. Lots of room to swing a wrench and change the oil filter without uncowling.
I think many shops just uncowl any plane by reflex, because the big side cowl doors on the PA-28-161 and similar aren't that common in piston singles. Are there any benefits to fully uncowling just to change oil and filter (or even to rotate plugs)? What do you and your partners do with your PA-28-151, @cappy48 ?
Thanks, David
