Sport Pilot Talk

Wm.Ince wrote:Ya' gotta' ask yourself, what is the purpose of "burping the engine" in the first place?

Then . . . second question is . . . is there an alternative way of accomplishing what burping does . . without turning the engine over?

Using the starter for this purpose is a non-starter for me. That would be just asking for trouble. Very hard on the starter (think about starter cycles) and would probably decrease its longevity. No thank you.

Agreed. Bumping the starter when you don't want it to start is, as you said: "asking for trouble".

BTW, burping does nothing to protect the engine, there is plenty of residual oil in the engine to protect it on start up. It is only to get an accurate oil reading. I check my dipstick, if it's more than a quarter inch or so on the flat of the stick (the "acceptable range") I go fly. If not I burp and re-check. The level will only go up from where it is on a cold engine.

Think about this: burping the engine REMOVES oil from the engine and returns it to the external tank to be measured. Still think that burping could somehow protect your engine? If so, from what? Excess lubrication?

MrMorden wrote:

Wm.Ince wrote:Ya' gotta' ask yourself, what is the purpose of "burping the engine" in the first place?

Then . . . second question is . . . is there an alternative way of accomplishing what burping does . . without turning the engine over?

Using the starter for this purpose is a non-starter for me. That would be just asking for trouble. Very hard on the starter (think about starter cycles) and would probably decrease its longevity. No thank you.

Agreed. Bumping the starter when you don't want it to start is, as you said: "asking for trouble".

BTW, burping does nothing to protect the engine, there is plenty of residual oil in the engine to protect it on start up. It is only to get an accurate oil reading. I check my dipstick, if it's more than a quarter inch or so on the flat of the stick (the "acceptable range") I go fly. If not I burp and re-check. The level will only go up from where it is on a cold engine.

Bingo!