The International Cessna^® 170 Association

This is my first post on here so hopefully I'm in the right area. I would like to know if anyone else has had this issue. I have added this post to a couple of different forums. (cessna 172 club and the Cessna pilots society) There is some great information posted on those forums in regards to this incident. Please have a look and check out the comments. If you know anywhere else where this could or should be posted please let me know

In February I went for a flight with my wife ( Who is not a big fan of flying). About 25 minutes into the flight I pushed the throttle in to climb. The plane shook a bit and there was no power to climb. I was able to keep the plane level and land 10 minutes later at a nearby airport. (Qualicum Beach, British Columbia ) Upon shutdown the oil pressure was at zero and the entire underside of the plane was covered in oil. A check of the dipstick showed there was no oil remaining. I had an A M E look at then plane and found the gasket which connects the F&M 300 oil filter adapter to the engine split and failed. I later realized I had my gopro on and posted the video to YouTube. The video is a little boring but shows the shaking of the plane and about the 10 second mark and then later again in the video. Here is the link to the YouTube video.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r2R6OzwC4-g

The engine has been ripped apart and it is toast. Pistons melted, crank failed inspection and the block was no good. The guy redoing the engine said the engine seized after it cooled. He said I probably ran the engine for about 10 minutes with no oil and that the prop probably would have stopped in another 30 seconds.

Please have look to see of you have this same filter and gasket and if you do, have the gasket inspected and replaced. I believe the F+M website says it must be replaced every 3 years.

I tried attaching photos of the underside of my plane, the oil filter adapter and and the split gasket however I couldn't attach them to this. If you want to see them the photos are on the other forums or if you know how to add photos to this I can put them on here.


Fly safe


Paul Douglas
Courtenay BC
Canada

My adapter would turn whenever replacing the filter if I wasn't careful, so I ordered the replacement fiber gasket kit from f & m. It wasnt leaking though so I left it alone until I saw Pauls thread on the 172 forum. When I removed the adapter I was pretty surprised at how brittle the gasket was, you could easily pick it apart in chunks. 7 years and just over 400 hours on it, I suspect it didn't have much life left. Thanks Paul!

Is this "fiber" gasket the asbestos one supplied with the kit as opposed to a gasket made of some other material?

I was just curious since my adapter was installed in 2003 and has an asbestos gasket along with the copper crush washer. I have 600 hours on my engine since installing the adapter and have not had any issues with it to date other than I have to be careful when removing the old filter to not allow the adapter to move. I do have it torqued properly. My only complaint is they should have added a safety wire loop on the adapter itself.

For as catastrophic as this failure can be, I'm going to treat the gasket replacement every 3 years or 300 hours as an AD (even tho it's not) and take care of it every 3 annuals for now on.

Aryana wrote:I already bought a new fiber gasket before Paul's post as I planned on changing mine out this annual. Mine has 179 hours and two years on it, so I figured it was best to do it now since I might hit the 300 hours or 3 year recommendation before my next annual.

I'd also recommend this $14 socket at Lowe's that makes torquing the 1" square nut a breeze. I'm just speculating, but getting the right torque on the adapter which squeezes the fiber gasket is probably pretty important to it's ability to stay in one piece. Too much could be just as bad as too little torque.

http://www.cessna170.org/forums/viewtop ... ket#p95855

I tried the above socket and while it sold as a 1" socket it will not fit a 1" square nut. It will fit onto a square nut that is about 3/4".

I also just replaced my gasket and like Aryana's it had not split but was very brittle. I think any rotation that takes place while removing the filter would eventually damage the gasket.

I have a new filter for my. 170b, but now I am not so sure that I want to install it.

I'm still debating switching back to my Cessna adapter...

It might be better to cut a groove and install an oring.

John

F&M advised yesterday that the gasket & crush washer should be changed per the data previously discussed. They want $15.00 for a crush washer & a fiber gasket

Mine is unchanged since installation.... 15 years and 900 hours.

I suspect that movement from twisting and vibration (improperly torqued during installation and rough handling during filter changeouts) may be the culprit. Visual inspection prior to each flight is an easy matter.

Note that although their ICAW provides instructions to replace the gaskets every 3 years or 300 hours, ...that the ICAW subsequently states "There are no mandatory replacement times for parts described by this ICAW."

Also, no information has been posted or updated to the STC owners who have this FM or El Reno filter adaptor installed previously. Just, FYI.

I would not care for the Continental spin on adaptor as I had one of those on a former engine and it vibrated until the mounting threads were thinned to the point of failure. A re-occuring AD note applies to that particular filter adaptor as the result.

The original screen was gasketed with a common AN900 copper crush washer and never exhibited this problem. The original installation of the FM/El Reno adaptor also used the copper gasket. This was changed due to occasional leaks caused by improper torque and subsequent movement of the adaptor, to the composite gasket now used (and being discussed.)

If the adaptor could be stabilized against movement I would think the original AN900 gasket, since it is metal-reinforced, would be ideal. Just thinkin'....

Arish,
Watch out there is not one drop of oil in that picture, you must be out of oil!

My feeling is that the fibre washer is not going to fail unless there is rotation of the two surfaces between which it is sandwiched.

Will definitely be looking at this though, the original post is definitely cautionary, and as I often fly the same route it feels more personal!

n3833v wrote:It might be better to cut a groove and install an oring.
John

Possibly. You could cut groove in the adaptor body to accept an O-ring (approval aside) but you still have the problem of rotation movement. I'd be worried about fretting on that really expensive accessory case. Any attempt to pin or affix the adaptor to stop rotation would require modification of the accessory case - which is a non-starter.

A gasket is cheap and swapping this one out is incredibly simple. 300 hours or 3 years is really frequent IMO but F&M must have their reasons.

Perhaps the 170 Association could reach out directly to F&M for clarification on the two seemingly conflicting statements in the ICAW: Replace 300 hours and no mandatory replacement parts.