left seat

Near the end of the summer I maidened a 109 jn Lanier Taylorcraft. It was swinging a 19 in prop. Well, I had a bad equipment failiure, found stripped servoes after crash. From about 75ft it suddenly went inverted after a turn and with no response from the elevator she nose dived into the water splintering the prop and destroying the plane. The engine was about half to 3/4 throttle. Repairing the damage wasn't an option. After retrieving the wreckage I pulled the engine ( which was new and had 3 tanks of gas run through for break in) and took out the plug to drain any water from it, didn't find any, but I'm sure some got in because the engine was dangling in the water a foot below the water level and not sure of what to do I soaked the engine with wd 40 to prevent corrosion. There doesn't appear to be any damage, bent shaft or crank, I put on a new prop and spun it without seeing any deflection of the prop arch so I'm wondering if this was a good way to prevent corrosion. I haven't run the engine yet after the crash but I was wondering if there is something I should look for when I run it again. I plan on building a Balsa USA Piper Cub and for sure would like to avoid the expense of buying a new engine. In the event of a nose over in water would the use of wd40 be a good precaution against corrosion or is there other alternatives?

CK1

My Feedback: (60)

Impacted bearings or corrosion in the bearings is a real concern after a nose in on land or in the water .Things you might notice in and engine with bad bearings would a whirring or whining noise while running that wasn't there before or an engine that runs much hotter than it did or should . Give the engine a good warm up and feel the case . If the areas in the front behind the prop hub are much hotter than the rest of the case chances are the bearing is failing . Spraying the engine down with WD40 after a wet crash is always good . WD40 displaces the water and does provide a little corrosion protection . There are better things to fight corrosion like CorrosionX .

kmeyers

In a case like you have described, I would add one more procedure. I would place the partially disassembled carb and engine in a warm spot like on top of a water heater or refrigerator for a few days. This will drive water out of places it could hide.

Good luck with the new project.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

I bet that engine is just fine, the moment the prop touched the water it stopped, my 35 went in on semi hard dirt, it was mounted on my GP Escapade 30cc, a week later I run the engine on my test stand, not a single problem, it is now pulling my Phoenix Pilatus PC-21 and it is running better than before.