Avidflyer2
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Piper Seneca II, Continental (L)TSIO-360-EB engines. Recently discovered a new oil leak on the right side of the right engine. The oil leak originated beneath the baffle plate for the #5 Cylinder (front right) and leaked down past the pushrod tubes and pushrod tube seals at the engine crankcase. Experience has taught us to look at the juncture between the cylinder barrel and the cylinder head where the barrel is at its thinnest due to the threaded area being screwed into the head. This cylinder cracked at the six o'clock position about an inch and a half from the top of the barrel. You can see the crack in the photo looking through the spark plug hole and again while looking up inside the barrel. This crack is about 2 1/2" long and is the transverse dark line above the (bottom) spark plug hole. The crack will be covered up when the piston is at TDC and the piston rings travel up and over this crack during every crank rotation. Oddly, the cracked cylinder did not leak oil for the first few minutes of operation, apparently it takes a while to heat up the barrel to get the cracked area to expand and open up.
