Splitting a Slick mag

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

After seeing the discussed on Franks face when I showed him my engine compartment with a "few small oil leaks" I decided I needed to clean the oil out of my engine compartment and off the belly of the aircraft and see if I could plug a few of the leaks. Well some detergent and a hose would do a nice job a pressure washer would be much better I thought.

I have a new set of Slick 4300 series mags with about 75 hours since installation. Seems they didn't take to kindly to the bath they got and they don't want to work right. I've let them dry out for several days know and they've actually gotten worse.

So I guess I need to remove them, open them up and swab them out. Anyone ever open up a Slick 4300 series? Anything I need to know. It is just a matter of removing the 4 screws that hold the mags together and separating the halves?

Please respond quickly cause I'm going to tear into them tomorrow morning (7/6/09) because even though I'm not planning to fly for several weeks, I go buggy when I know my plane is not able to fly.

[jrenwick]

After seeing the discussed on Franks face when I showed him my engine compartment with a "few small oil leaks" I decided I needed to clean the oil out of my engine compartment and off the belly of the aircraft and see if I could plug a few of the leaks. Well some detergent and a hose would do a nice job a pressure washer would be much better I thought....

Sorry Bruce, I can't help you with the mags, but next time, why not use a cheap solvent sprayer from the Chinese tool store on your air hose, with a pint or so of mineral spirits or Stoddard solvent? Works great, dries right up clean, and won't short out electrics.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=97014

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Yes in hind sight that was the thing to do or at least cover over the mag vent holes. I own one of those exact harbor freight sprayers.

I was trying to use as little solvent as possible though the oil is probably the worst thing for the ground. I was thinking higher water pressure rather than solvent to blow away about 30 quarts of oil blown over or leaked in the last 2 years. We have several airports that do not allow washing airplanes and I don't want ours to be one of them.

[jrenwick]

Yes in hind sight that was the thing to do or at least cover over the mag vent holes. I own one of those exact harbor freight sprayers.

I was trying to use as little solvent as possible though the oil is probably the worst thing for the ground. I was thinking higher water pressure rather than solvent to blow away about 30 quarts of oil blown over or leaked in the last 2 years. We have several airports that do not allow washing airplanes and I don't want ours to be one of them.

I think if you had a large floor pan such as http://www.etoolcart.com/lisle-catch-al ... 19722.aspx, or a large aluminum tray that I've seen in shops and car museums but can't find a source for, you can catch most of the drips from the spray-cleaning operation, and wipe the oil away after the solvent evaporates. When I wash my 170's engine, the affected floor area isn't really that large.

[GAHorn]

Bruce, I am emailing the disassembly instructions from the Slick Overhaul Manual (and I'll also place a copy in the MX Library for any members who want a copy.) Notice that my scanner cannot scan pages back-and-front so the pages are not in sequence, but are numbered so you can sort them correctly.