OTT HH. Bowseraies, He STE Peruse? MOMBER 24 swe ones MANUAL of | E*PEHE Oheration Tuformation ENGINE ‘ OPERATION Letter - INSTALLATION ENGINEERING PRATT AWHITNEY AIRCRAFT PRESTART ENGINE PROCEDURE Gurrent Pratt £ Whitney Aircraft operating instructions for all engines which are equinped with modern direct cranking tyne starters recomended that rotoring, whether to eliminate the possibility of hydrau- licking or to provide lubrication for the reduction gear pinion bearings, be per- formed by continuous starter engagenent. This is preferred to polling through by hand or by intermittent starter engagesent ("inching") for reasons that will be ex- plained. below. Because hand "pull through" is impractical in many installations and impossible in jore, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft conducted tests to determine the feasibility of relying on starter cranking alone to clear out the engine. The engine operating in= structions that are now being furnished reflect the findings of these tests, and it is recommended that the procedures be followed in their entirety as any devia~ can result in failure to obtain the The nost important findings of the tests indicate that, when using a modern direct cranking starter having a properly adjust- ed clutch, clutch slippage will oceur if tte cylinder contains liquid in excess of the clearance volume. However, the result- ing toad on engine parts is not sufficient to cause damage. In addition, It was Broved that even with the clutch elenents riveted together, the stall torque value of the starter motor is inefficient to cause damage. Thus, the engine is protect~ ed whether the clutch slips or not. This protection is not possible with inertia starters as the kinetic enersy to the’ engine by the starter at initial engagenent is sufficient to cause danage if hydraulic lock is encountered, The advantage of continuous starter crank- ing over hand pull through or intermittent starter engagement is that the continuous flow of air through the intake pipes and cylinders is sufficient to purge the accu- ulated fuel and pass it through the ex haut valves, The rate of flow by hand Wing or inching is insufficient to obtain this result. It should be pointed out that any accumu lation of lubricating or preservative oils in the intake pines may not be cleared out by this method. If oll is present, it will Fonain at low points until the airflow of the running engine is of sufficient force to move it, at ‘which time it can cause damage. Hand pull through or inching would be even less likely to renove oi] which must be disposed of by other means before firing the engine. 'f of has accusulated in the cylinders in excess of the clearance vol ure, continuous cranking will give positive evidence of the condition at once because the cont: ous cranking torque will te insufficient to turn the engine through the lock, Inch- ing will not give as oositive evidence as continuous cranking, The tests disclosed that by inching, an engine could be turned with a cylinder containing liquid to the amount of 130% of the clearance volume. Therefore, inching (intersittent starter engagement) is not reconmende Another recent investigation has affected een em ee nS movewsen 23, 1952 REViseD APRIL a5, 1955 PAGE 1ENGINE OPERATION INFORMATION LETTER MO. 24 the recommended prestarting procedures on ines. These tests were conduct- Major engine in an attempt to duplicate pinion bearing distress encoun tered in service. Pratt & Whitey Aircraft successfully reproduced ‘the distress and hae concluded that mich of the difficulty experienced resulted from insufficient lubrication of the reduction gear pinion bearings during the starting period. If enough oi! drains from the bearings at shutdown, lubrication at the next start willbe marginal. The problem was to find a means of replacing the oil to the: before the regular oil system vas operation. The recomende: procedures based on these tests are apo! cable to most engines with plain reduction gear pinion bearings. Design changes and material changes which have been incorporated have reduced dry" starts, but sone operational method of preoiling is still needed. The most desir= able seans would be to crank the engine until an indication of pressure is noted on the ofl pressure gage. Current aircraft of} pressure instrunantation, in general, not sufficiently sensitive or consist ent to warrant this recommendation. Thus, in lieu of the desired instrumentation, the reconsendation is that the engine be motored before making any start after a shutdown period of more than one hour. Cranking to provide lubrication is not necessary for starts made within one hour of the last shutdown, but those procedures which are recommended to reduce hydraulick= ing are till applicable. Mter every shutdown involving oil dilu- tion a sotoring start should be made, O11 dilution has 2 double effect in causing @ PAGE 2 dry start: lowering of th oil viscosity rasulting in a faster drain-off pei and the evaporation of the gasoline reduc- ing the residual of! fiIm, f Therefore, thé chief engine cranking con siderations of hydraulicking and’ preoi ust be satisfied in making 4 proper en= ine start, For a shutdown period of les than one hour, hydraulicking needs to be Checked but generally no preciling is needed. In this case counting six cropel~ ler blades (four engine revolutions) as the engine turns, before fuel and ignition aro applied, should be sufficient to assure a clear engine. {f the shutdown has been for more than one hour, the engine should be turned over from 12 to 18 revolutions of the crankshaft to minimize dry starts, This would be a count of 20 blades for engines equipped with four bladed or 15 blades for engines equisped with three bladed propellers . To transtate crankshaft revolutions into Propeller action, multiply the crankshaft revolutions by the number of propelier blades and then multiply this product by ‘the gear ratio, Take, for example, @ Double Wasp engine With @ 0.05 gear reduction ratio and a three bladed propeller. Assume that th number of blades to be counted to avoi hydraul icking is wanted. Since: The number of blades counted = number of crankshaft revolutions required x nunter of propeller blades x propeller reduction par ratio. Then: 7 4 x3 x 0.05 = 5.4 and the count should be 6 blade: