Greetings,
I have experienced a sudden onset of oil pressure fluctuation. Normally, I would read a steady 4.8 kpa in cruise @2900 rpm. In today’s flight, I saw rapid fluctuations in oil pressure during cruise. It would drop to 3kpa in about 1-1/2 seconds. If I lowered the rpm it resumed back quickly to 4.8. Resuming hold @ 4.8 kpi, but it occurred again. I checked the oil level and it was at the minimum line of the dip stick. After adding oil, I saw fluctuations after climb out when I throttled to cruise configuration of 2900 RPM with CHT’s at 250 F and EGT in the 1250’s F. It also fluctuated when I encountered turbulence, it was small movements as compared to the aforementioned. It eventually maintained a steady 4.8 kpa for the rest of the 15 min flight. Any recommendations on what I should look at; oil pump, electrical, possible metal fines causing blockage, pressure relief valve, etc?
2200 serial number 22A981.
Thanks!
Alex R.
Hello Alex,
The best way to check is to use a mechanical guage in the engine to confirm the pressure issue. That seems a bit hard as the pressure drop sounds intermittent. So I would change the oil pressure sender first. It is not unheard of for them to fail after some time in service.
I had a similar problem. New oil pressure sender fixed the problem on my GEN 2 3300. Nick at Arion Aircraft sells a kit to mount the VDO sender on the firewall which is reported to mitigate the problem.
BTW - mine was spiking up from about 50 pounds to 75-80 pounds.
John McGlynn
