This morning I spent no less than 2 hours removing the suspected oil line fitting and replacing it with another "used" fitting, then re-installing it for a test run. I decided not to fly but rather to do a ground run to see if the oil leak would show itself to be cured. Instead, I found that the oil hose fitting was never the issue. Behind the oil lines I found a pool of oil clearly escaping from the oil temp sensor port. Bingo! I got ya. Now why was my oil temp sensor port leaking? This required me to remove the oil filter, sandwhich, and the oil temp sensor and housing. After removing the brass 1/8npt adapter, the culprit was found. The adapter had been over-torqued by "me" and a solid split along the threads became clear. This adapter was garbage now. Well, the perfect flying weather will have to be enjoyed by someone else for a few days while I wait for a new SS adapter to arrive. Fooey. The shining light in all this is that I never liked that I used "used" fittings on the oil lines, so this was my perfect excuse to do it right. I ordered all new AN Fittings and hose from my favorite store (ANPlumbing.com). I've got a customers prop to repair and refinish, so I'll just change gears until the new parts arrive. It will be nice knowing that everything under the hood will be brand spanking new this time around. :) Oh....and a gentleman from the FAA stopped by for my very first "Ramp Check". It actually went really well because I simply have a compliant and very well built aircraft. I could tell he was fishing for something, but all he got was a hand shake and smile :)
