We are still going through our new Pa-39 by flying it hard and often as I work on my instrument ticket and noting the problems that arise from flying after years of little use. One of the things I've picked out is that all the chafe tape has aged and has started to fall apart. Some is cotton weave and some is stick on foam. Anybody had any good or bad luck with either kind? Also, for those out there that haven't replaced your intake tube rubber hoses recently, please check them on your airplane. Its scary what gets by at an "annual". I speak from experience

The white cotton stuff is traditional and effective. I have been having good results with the Teflon chafe strip tape that Aircraft Spruce sells for the past few years.

Karsten,

Ditto Jim's comments on traditional cotton and teflon tapes. I like the teflon especially because is comes with its own glue vs the cotton glue which has to be applied and can get places you don't want.

Very happy to hear you are flying the snot out of the 39 - best thing for all Comanches. BTW even our 'well-maintained' 39 requires stuff replaced due to age. Compared to when the plane was in Chicago, the rubber elements in the heat of Texas need replaced more often.

Hope your IFR training is going well.

i have tried the teflon anti-chafe tape that Spruce sells. I think I am going to go back to the original stuff as the fabric has more thickness, hence more padding, and you can better put a rivet or two in it to help keep the ends down. The adhesive that comes on the back of the teflon tape isn't holding up all that well. I haven't yet tried re-gluing it with 1300L. It that works, I might be better disposed towards it as a solution.

I have been replacing rubber components for 8 years. Right after getting Maggie, I replaced all the engine rubber seals, etc, on the engines. After 40 years it is time. I find that the intake tubes, being close to the exhaust stacks on the IO-320, are only good for 6-8 years and I am now on my second set. They are cheap and when the leak it raises havoc with the smooth running of the engines.

Also, test the manifold drain valves by blowing into them and seeing that the check valve closes. If not, they are a nice little intake leak.

Kristin, thanks for the heads up on the manifold drains. I will check that out when I put the new intake rubber components on that I ordered. Usually the rubbers fix intake problems on carburated sky hawk engines that Im used to working on, but I have to remember that this is a fuel injected beast.
While I have all you folks on board here, can I ask what kind of oil consumptions you are seeing with your lycomings? Like I said our bird hasn't done an awful lot of flying as of late, ours flew about 3-5 hours per year the past 5-8 years. Since we've had it Ive flown it about 25-30 hours and I noted fairly high oil consumption.After its first oil change (10 hours) it got a little better and Im assuming sticky rings and chrome cylinders aren't helping me but Im curious to see what active birds are getting (particularly with chrome jugs). Our other twin comanche (that we are actually in the process of trying to sell,steel jugs) was no where near what this one is burning. Any input is greatly appreciated, even from you single comanche drivers lol. -Karsten

Karsten,

I only have experience with our 39. The only time we've had 'trouble' is when the Twin sat as we took care of family members in ill-health. We paid for that down time with higher oil consumption for a period of time and some rust in the engine at O/H.

Lycoming as you likely already know recommends but doesn't require O/Hs every 2000 hours or 10 years whichever comes first for private GA operations.

Our 700 hour engines usually get 18-25 hours per quart. practice flights + higher oil consumption - long x-c lower oil consumption. We do our best to fly every week - even if it is just a hour's worth of our triangle course.

Pat, do you happen to know what kind of cylinders are on your comanche? We have had several skyhawks through the years and they all ran about 15-20 hrs per quart. Right now Im getting about 4 hrs to a quart on the comanche. We just switched from multi weight to W100 oil per my IA's recommendation. I have yet to really see what affect this has. What level do you generally keep showing on the dipsticks?

Good point - by the school of experience, we keep our oil at 6 on the dipsticks. Both dipsticks have been re-scored and re-labeled after an oil change. All markings were erased - two quarts added and marked, 2 more etc. Even before the sticks were re-done - kept them at 6.

Lyc says engines are good down to 2 qts. I've had shops fill them to 8 and boy do those 1st 2 qts leave the airplane quickly.

We have run 15W50 for as long as I can remember.

Hope this helps.