The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I am looking for a recommendation on florescent dye to find an oil leak. What have you used and what do you like and were did you get it from.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Dave

We use Tracer brand oil dye here at the shop with their black light and it works great for finding oil leaks - however we use it in the automotive field and I have never tried it on the plane. I imagine it would work. I am assuming that you have a small leak and you are trying to find the source? You may have to run it with the dye for a short period of time to have the dye stain show up. We often put a bottle in the engine and have our customers run the vehicle for a week and then check it out. I am not sure what air flow around the engine on a plane will do for this type of test but the staining of the dye should still help. I have tried other brands of oil dye and have found Tracer works the best.

Good luck and let me know if this helps.

Paul
N3458D

In February,1951, I was in Toranto,Canada, to pick up the first Beaver the Air Force bought for service test. The factory mechanics used a unique method of final check for oil leaks on the engine. The engine was washed down and allowed to dry. It was then sprayed with white calcimine and again allowed to dry. The engine was then run up and any oil leak showed through the calcimine just like doing a dye check on non ferrous metals.
As you probably know, all the Beavers were built with used, rebuilt engines, but that was the driest running P&W R-985 I ever flew. I dont think it leaked a drop all the way from Toronto to Fairbanks, Alaska.

blueldr wrote:The engine was washed down and allowed to dry. It was then sprayed with white calcimine and again allowed to dry. The engine was then run up and any oil leak showed through the calcimine just like doing a dye check on non ferrous metals..

Magnaflux spot check developer SKD-S2 works great for this. You don't need the whole kit, just the developer. http://aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/magnaflux.php It goes on clear and then dries to a white powder, so it is easy go overboard when putting it on. You don't need to use much. I have also used foot powder spray in a pinch (the kind that dries to a powder). Works OK, but the developer does a much better job.

Go to any NAPA Auto Parts store & they have what you need. Cheap!

I was going with what John said you don't need the whole system to find leaks. Even using the penetrant and devloper without the black light works many times! Frank what does NAPA have that you were talking about! I'm intrested!!!
brad

bradbrady wrote:I was going with what John said you don't need the whole system to find leaks. Even using the penetrant and devloper without the black light works many times! Frank what does NAPA have that you were talking about! I'm intrested!!!
brad

In my experience there is no reason to use the penetrat or the black light. I just spray the developer on a clean engine. I use mineral spirits and a garden sprayer to clean things up, being sure to let it dry completely. I spray on the developer around any suspect areas and let it dry into a white powder. Put the cowl back on, fly around the pattern, pull the cowling again and even small leaks will jump right out at you where the powder turns dark and wet. I spray again with mineral spirits to clean off the powder.

Brad, my AI told me about NAPA. They carry small bottles of dye that you put in your oil, run the engine & then, using a black light, it will show any leaks. They show up as gold or yellow. The dye doesn't hurt the engine he says. Only problem is the black light. I don't have one and the ones most AI's use are $200 +. I don't know if some of the cheap black lights like the kids use will work or not. Would be interesting if someone could find a source of inexpensive ones for us guys that aren't going to use them but once a year or so. If you need the part number on the dye let me know & I can get it from my hangar on Sat.

ole
i thot everyone had
one black lite bulb
for the bedroom!!
dave

A black lite is a black lite. Any should work

A black lite is a black lite. Any should work

Wow, I am going to stick my neck out and disagree
We have tried different types of black lights over the years and the one we bought from Tracer works great - really shows the dye well - others are somewhat lacking. I don't know of it's the wattage of the bulb (sucker gets really hot - don't ask me how I know this, just trust me on that ) or if they make them with different diffusers that have a different light waveform, but there is a diff.
If you know of an auto shop that has one and will let you borrow it, ask them. Just don't drop it as these bulbs have the ballast built in them and are very expensive to replace (another lessoned learned the hard way).

Paul
N3458D

Black lights used for dye penetrant inspections by most inspection method standards must put out a minimum of 100 foot candles of illumination at 1 foot and the black light is 3650 angstroms. (Specific wavelength). Cheapo bulbs may not put out enough light and possibly not at the correct wavelength. Don't know about that bit but it sounds good.

But we're talking about lighting up oil or dye so a good quality black light bulb oughta do the trick.

That NAPA dye mentioned earlier is NAPA's part number 765-2661 & is a one ounce bottle. I think it sells for around $6.

One trick I use is to spray the engine down with mineral spirits, let dry then spray some good old Dr. Scholl's foot powder (in the aerosol can)
around the suspect area. Fire it up, take it around the pattern once - any oil leaks are immediately apparent. Russ Farris

Russ Farris was right on target.. I have tried tried the foor powder in the (aerosol can) and found the smallest oil leak every time...Rick