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I have an AA1C with an O320 engine and during cold winter weather I have been noticing condensation and ice crystals on the oil dip stick in the mornings during pre flight checks due to moisture in the crank case. I live in NM and the air temperature during the day when I am flying is typically around 30F. During flight the oil temp is usually reading well below the mark at 180F, although its hard to tell the exact temperature using the stock gauge. Should I block off the oil cooler to get higher oil temperatures and help dry out the crank case?
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I have a ’76 AA-1B with an 0-320 also. Since I moved to CA to Oregon I have also been dealing with low temps. Fortunately for me I have an insulated hangar to keep it in. I have been running it harder then normal to try and get the temps up.
For the earlier AA-1’s with the round cowl inlets they made a “Winterization kit” that blocked off some of the airflow going into the cowl. I have not seen one made for the square inlet cowl on the ’76 B and the C, at least it does not show in the parts manual that covers the ’76 year model.
I have heard other people doing what you propose, blocking off some of the airflow to the oil cooler with success, but I think Roscoe or someone would need to the legality of doing that. Mine would be easy to do as my oil cooler is on the left front baffle.
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