Initial 912 oil fill with thermostat

[sfGnome]

For those of you who have a Rotax with a thermostat fitted, how do you do the initial fill? When cold, the radiator is bypassed, so it won’t get any oil. I have worked out a method, but I’m interested to see how others did it. Note: I’m not asking for people’s opinions on whether thermostats should be used. That already been thrashed in other threads. 😛

[FlyBoy1960]

warm it up (the thermostat) with a hairdryer/heat gun until it's nice and toasty and then add your oil  ??

[skippydiesel]

I have an oil thermostat - yet (never?) to fit.

 

At a guess, I would suggest, if at all possible,  prefiling all hoses & heat exchanger ie minimising air pockets. I would do this anyway when replacing hoses (5 Year Service) etc

 

FlyBoy1960 suggestion sounds good but I would be concerned the wax pellet would be rapidly cooled by the  cold oil, closing the thermostat - perhaps heat the oil to 100C.

 

"When cold, the radiator is bypassed"

 

Are you sure ?- In my limited experince, thermostats do not completely cut off supply, rather divert the bulk of cool liquid around the heat exchanger, back to the engine.

 

If I am correct - bleeding the lubricating system, as per Rotax manual, may still be possible😈

[skippydiesel]

SF Gnome - I suggest joining the Rotax Owner Forum - you won't regret it. Great for solving all these little Rotax problems.

 

https://www.rotax-owner.com/en/rotax-forum

 

😈

[rodgerc]

Just checking you familiar with the Rotax oil priming process utilising low pressure compressed air.