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2 Answers

Engine warmup

Asked by: 3291 views Student Pilot

My current practice is to start the engine and then do the pre flight briefing to allow the engine to run a bit before take off... I always lean the mix immediately after startup but am told that allowing the engine to run on the ground is bad for it... I like the idea of letting the engine run as long as possible before takeoff to detect any issues but don't want to hurt my plane either (I own a Carrdinal RG) Thanks for the advice, Jeff

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2 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Brad on Apr 25, 2015

    I assume you do an interior preflight with the engine running:)

    You should always warm the engine until the oil is in the green band prior to takeoff. Keep an eye on the tempature after that. You don’t have the ram cooling effect, but you are not producing much heat at idle. You are more likly to foul your spark plugs with a long slow idle on the ground.

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  2. Nibake on Apr 27, 2015

    Running the engine on the ground is not bad for it, per se. Letting your temps get too high by running on the ground for an extended period without good airflow over the cylinders, oil cooler, etc. could definitely be bad for it. As far as fouling the plugs, engines run richer at idle intentionally to help with cooling, but the result is carbon deposits and fouled plugs, so running lean on the ground is a trade-off. I normally lean aggressively on the ground, check your engine manufacturer’s recommendations.

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