Tailwinds are always nice, but somedays they're just a friggin Godsend !!

[irishfield]

Went cross country today to go icefishing, about 70 miles away. It took awhile to get there into about a 15k headwind. On the way back I was 50 KNOTS faster ground speed and it was a damn good thing that I was. Landing was bad enough.. with high winds not favouring the strip and taking everything I had to get her in, down and to the hangar. That's when I found that the 25 minutes I saved from the heavy tailwind saved my ass! Pictures don't do it justice... but I did have 3 quarts left. Had 7 when I left this morning.

Lesson learned for me and maybe others. I noticed a very light sheen of oil on the case by the oil filler tube yesterday. I wiped it down.. looked for cause.. tighted a return oil line clamp and checked the security of the filler tube considering a very recent thread on that. Couldn't see anything else suspect and I even had a good light in there.

Pulling her in the hangar this afternoon.. oil pouring out of the lower cowl door onto the ground. Belly coated from tip to tail.. wishbone covered in oil.

The oil pressure line was cracked at the nut... I just touched it and it fell apart. I was showing 78psi all the way home but it wouldn't have been for much longer by the looks of things!

..and YES that will be the last compression fitting used on my airplane! (it did last 16.5 years though)

[Ruffair]

Wow, Good luck was with you.

Last saturday I pulled the J3 out, and started her up, standing in the door I was looking for oil pressure, didn't have any. Now that's strange, so I
looked out to the motor and see oil puking down the tail pipe so I shut it down.

the line that comes out of the case is a hose, about 6 inches then goes into the oil pressure line to the cockpit... The hose was split and
when I took a wrench to it, it fell apart.

Is good to have these kind of failures on the ground huh...

[irishfield]

And here I was considering adapting it to a hose out to the mount, then hard line..

[Scooter7779h]

Had the GPS reading groundspeed 152, indicating a 100 today. Takeoff was a plane length. Power, pull flaps on first snowdrift.

[cruiser]

Hose seems to be like magnetos in that they do not get enough preventive maintenance. Go hose all the way to the firewall with a AN832 bulkhead fitting. Jim

[Steve Pierce]

West Texas blew in here yesterday with high winds all day.

[creighton_cassutt]

I had the same thing happen years ago. the brass hose end broke right there. I had the side door open and my passenger (on her first flight ever) yelled fuel is all over me!!!! I turned around to see her covered I could see something streaming outside. I stuck my hand in it... it was oil. pressure was zero. luckily i was on a 44 degree entry for downwind. I with 2 guys on final. I had the runway made with a cross wind runway available as well. I reached up turned off the mags and the carbon warp drive prop stopped right away. I landed mid field as others went around and almost coasted back to the hanger. I felt like Bob Hoover. It still had 3 quarts left in the sump. Lucky

Creighton

[Ruffair]

Hose seems to be like magnetos in that they do not get enough preventive maintenance. Go hose all the way to the firewall with a AN832 bulkhead fitting. Jim

I agree.

Having had a fuel hose, from gascolator to carb, spring a leak, in the hangar rather than over the sea of cortez, and an oil hose leak
after start rather than some where in flight, I am making it a point to change those items prior to breakage.

[Patrol Guy]

On a o-300 C-172, I saw the oil pressure bouncing (don't remember the numbers) but it ended up near zero and I was in bad country with no open fields. Made it across the Ohio River into a West Virginia airport. I had less then 1 quart left. I had left the filler cap off.

I Filled it, and the pressure came back to normal. I ended up flying it 500 more hours before I sold it (still running good) with 2400 hours on the bottom end.

[supercub24a]

thats why P/n 71061-000 is installed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! with ristricter orfice
Steve C

[irishfield]

Don't get too quick there Steve... I brazed that fitting shut and redrilled as tiny as I could back in 1994 when I built the airplane... it still puked 4 quarts thru that and a cracked tube in 35 minutes or so @ 78psi.

[supercub24a]

Wasn't saying that you didn't have a restrictor valve was saying that they make that P/N hose with restrictor valve and that the aplication for the PA-18 called out in the parts book
Steve C

[irishfield]

Okay.. thanks for the clarification and part number. Why I put the thread originally in the experimental forum as most get a motor and no fittings etc. I forgot the restrictor fitting part of the post so good that you brought it up. Many just throw an AN or brass fitting in there and hook up, with no thought or knowledge that it should be restricted.