Electric Oil Temp/Pressure Gauge

[blueldr]

They used to have liquid systems on the old Dizzy Threes. In winter,the oil would congeal in the long haul to the cockpit so they put bleed valves by the instruments and back filled the lines with kerosene. When I was stationed in Alaska, back bleeding of the the oil pressre lines was part of the crew chiefs
pre flight job. Later on they used diaphram transmitters which had engine oil to the engine side of the transmitter diaphram and kerosene from the instrument side of the transmitter to the cockpit. These transmitters usually screwed up and were a real bitch to bleed, so the crew chiefs would rupture the diaphram and go back to daily bleeding of kerosene through to the engine.

[GAHorn]

Monitoring oil pressure/temp will be the least of the pilot's concerns in a total electrical failure.

They sure are nice when the power is on.

Total electrical failure is no problem at all with a portable radio and/or gps.

[cessna170bdriver]

Monitoring oil pressure/temp will be the least of the pilot's concerns in a total electrical failure.

They sure are nice when the power is on.

Total electrical failure is no problem at all with a portable radio and/or gps.

Or a map, maybe...

[GAHorn]

Touche' !

LIndbergh found Paris with not much more than a compass and a clock.....and a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

[blueldr]

I have it on good authority that Lindberg tried to get a GPS and an electric oil pressre gauge, but budget constraints, etc.-----

[minton]

Installing a more flexable oil line outside of the firewall is a good idea. Cover it with a "Fire shield" material. Check the inside copper line and ensure it has a coil in it thus ensuring enough length and vibration "Insurance". Ensure that the AN fitting mounted on the assy. case has the proper "orifice" drilled in it. This is required to slow down the oil flow if the downstream line breaks.

Some of the "fixes" being discussed have a few "FAA" issues that have been tossed around as if anyone could accomplish them without A&P oversight OR a field approval being required. The parts being "PMA'd or TSO'd isn't an approval. Be careful, Next annual you might be removing them.

No matter what fixes you attempt, talk it over with those who deal with the "legal" side of things before you spend your time and money.

[Zreyn]

If a frog had wings...........in case of a total electrical failure you could prolly get some where to gitter on the ground before you lost oil pressure, fuel pressure (in case you had installed an electric fuel pressure gauge to get the fuel line out of the cabin) & eng. power (in case of an electric tach) c'mon guys where's the logic in thinking one type is more reliable than the other?

[Zreyn]

None of the other "Aeroquip" lines in the acc. section have fire shield on them.Does this mean I got to go back to SPRUCE again today?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

The logic is that converting to electric doe not eliminate an oil leak from a broken line. If may reduce it by the fact there is less line to break and maybe few joints. But in order to do so you have introduced an electrical system which in itself has several failure modes. Have you really made the system less prone to failure?

In my experience no. We have electrical sending unit failures and wire failures routinely in the aircraft I fly. In fact they leak a lot. Yes oil lines break as well just not as much it seems.

[GAHorn]

None of the other "Aeroquip" lines in the acc. section have fire shield on them.Does this mean I got to go back to SPRUCE again today?

Perhaps that was a tongue-in-cheek comment but if not.... Fire sleeve serves a couple of purposes. It usually is applied to fuel and hydraulic lines which are theoretically less expendable during an emergency and more importantly, capable of adding considerable fuel-to-the-fire during a fire-event.
Primarily it serves to protect the line within the sleeve from fire/heat/abrasion. The previous (copper) line did not suffer from fire/heat/abrasion. It suffered from embrittlement.
If one did encounter a fire within the engine compartment which might endanger that oil pressure sense-line, I doubt that it being fire-sleeved would provide much additional safety, if any, during the remainder of the flight. As minton already infered, the engine crankcase fitting should already have a restrictor to prevent large oil losses in the event, so not much oil would likely be available for fire support , therefore not much fire suppression would be provided by fire sleeve.
Fire sleeve also has a downside: It prevents visual inspection of the line during preflights. (Of course, without an A&P cert, my opinion has no value.)

[Zreyn]

That was indeed a tongue in cheek remark,point being that imho flex lines in the acc. section don't need fire shield.It's full of flex lines already & no shield.In fact both the oil & fuel pressure indication lines on my particular A/C are flex lines,maybe they were changed when the eng. conversion was done,I don't know they have always been that way since I have owned it I just change'm every ten years.As far as your opinion not counting cause you aint no A&P, let me tell you George that you are the first person that even knew what a hill holder is that I have been in any form of contact with since my Studebaker got smashed by a semi in 1959 much less knew how it worked so I personally pay much attention to what you & everyone else here on this forum has to say. My remark about which type of gauge is more reliable as far as I could tell didn't reflect an opinion as to which I thought is more reliable.If it did please allow me to correct that.I don't have an opinion on that at all.I think a lot of data would have to be gathered to form an opinion.I have worked on both kinds all through my working years & couldn't say.I read these forum's regularly & have learned more than I can tell you guys,I only wish I had gotten a computer earlier.I would engage more often but my typing skills wont let me keep up with the discussions.

[LBPilot82]

hopefully not too far off topic here but is everyone still using solid copper fuel lines forward of the firewall? Mine are about 20 years old and I''m getting ready to install my new engine. If I don't replace them with a flexible line, I figure I should at least replace them with the same.

[GAHorn]

You probably realize, Zreyn, that fuel pressure sense line you've just mentioned is an excellent candidate for fire sleeve. If it should fall victim to an exhaust leak and rupture, then not only would it likely spray fuel, under pressure, all around inside that cowl. You'd need a crash-helmet handy if you wanted to improve your chances during the emergency landing.

minton's cat

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

LBPilot82 yes I used new copper lines and I would again. But in the interest of full disclosure I have a supply of free copper to use and anything else I would have to buy. I don't have a problem buying something if I thought it superior but in this case I personally don't and went the easy free, in my case, route.

[Zreyn]

Yep,I wear one of equal protective quality as the one pictured when ever I make emergency landings or ride my HD FXR.