ORIGINAL: Villa
Some people are really into castor oil. I often wonder why. I suspecrt there is a nostalgia factor, since castor oil has been used as a lubricant for many years. I believe it was used in the WW-I open-cockpit airplanes when the engine oil lubrication was partly outside the engine and the pilot got coverd with engine oil. He had to breath a lot of oil. Is that why they used castor oil?
I love the synthetic oil used in my fuel. That is the ONLY fuel I use today. What I love is that it does not burn on the cylinder head so the engine always looks brand new. I feel the engine runs cooler without all that burned oil covering the engine. . Sometimes I am embarassed at how little care i give my model engine. All my engines are OS 46 FX or AS engines. I NEVER use after run oil. I NEVER run the fuel out of the engine. Some of my engines are over 10 years old, and I fly a lot; about one gallon every two weeks. Sometimes I wish an engine would wear out so I could purchase a new engine.
If you love castor oil, use it. I'm not certain but castor oil may have been the oil in the fuels when I started in R/C in 1972. Back then I used to rebuild my egines with new pistons, con rods and bearings. I would NOT do that today. I prefer a clean engine than sticking with a nostalgic oil. Sure wish one of my engines would wear out.
You might have noticed that there are almost no fuels readily available that are all Castor for the lubricant. For sure, some people still want castor in fuel, but almost nobody wants all castor. Things have changed. For the better.
There are no synthetics than normal people can afford that can stand heat the way Castor does as a lubricant. And that's why people who know about fuel want some castor in their fuel. And why there are fuels today with it in them. Castor provides an insurance factor that no synthetic provides. It has a lot higher ignition point than synthetics.
Some people are good at setting needle valves. Some aren't. Some like to know that if they wind up with crap in the needle valve or an accidentally lean setting, the engine will be protected by the Castor. You don't want it or don't think you need it? Then no problem. Nowadays you have a choice.
It's sort of humorous........... almost every engine I've bought since I started flying is still in perfect running condition. So whatever you do (kidding about to start
) don't start using castor and cleaning your engines if you ever want to wear an engine out and HAVE TO buy a replacement. BTW, I love the synthetic in my fuel too. We wouldn't be getting the power we get today without it.