Ezflyr
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
I installed an EZ Heat engine preheater on the C-85 engine in my J3 Cub this Fall. This preheater consists of an electrically heated pad attached to the oil tank. I’ve used it twice this winter, plugging it in approximately 12 hours before flying. I have insulated cowl and prop covers, and the aircraft is hangared. On each of the two starts following this preheating, I’ve notice a pretty good quantity of white smoke in the exhaust that dissipates after a few minutes of running. I’ve definitely never seen this before on a normal start in warmer weather. I surmise the white smoke is caused by the engine burning a bit of oil on startup? Everything else is totally normal, and the engine starts fine and runs great! The oil looks and smells normal, and the oil consumption appears normal.
I’m not sure if I should be concerned or not? At the moment, I don’t even understand the mechanism of what might be happening, and that is troublesome by itself!
Thoughts?
Happy 2021 to all!
John
I installed an EZ Heat engine preheater on the C-85 engine in my J3 Cub this Fall. This preheater consists of an electrically heated pad attached to the oil tank. I’ve used it twice this winter, plugging it in approximately 12 hours before flying. I have insulated cowl and prop covers, and the aircraft is hangared. On each of the two starts following this preheating, I’ve notice a pretty good quantity of white smoke in the exhaust that dissipates after a few minutes of running. I’ve definitely never seen this before on a normal start in warmer weather. I surmise the white smoke is caused by the engine burning a bit of oil on startup? Everything else is totally normal, and the engine starts fine and runs great! The oil looks and smells normal, and the oil consumption appears normal.
I’m not sure if I should be concerned or not? At the moment, I don’t even understand the mechanism of what might be happening, and that is troublesome by itself!
Thoughts?
Happy 2021 to all!
John
