Spit 2a overheating...
 

Hey guys

I am getting confused with the behavior of temperature of the spit 2a , maybe somebody can help.
I run the engine slowly to about 40°C Oil 30°C Water. Then i gently speed up, to 2800rpm and full boost (without additional boost) and take off. Cooler fully open.
So now the problem. Sometimes, after the take off, i can fly with full power at 2800rpm and the engine stays below 90°C Oil and 90°C Water (somtimes even lower) with half closed radiator.
But sometimes and more often, the engine is overheading right after the start, even when i throttle the rpm below 2600, set boost behind the red mark and fly faster than 200m/h. The nedle rises and rises.
If i cool the engine down, my plane is now more a glider, the temerature rises so fast over the 100°C Watertemerature when i need power again. its impossible to win a fight, it results always in a engine damage.
Is there a precise work around how to do engine management from take off?
Do i make a mistake, or is this a bug? Because sometimes it just works???

Thanks for help...

I got the tip to lean the Mixture and lower revs to around 2200-2400 rpms. On sunday it worked.

Works well if you set rpm for 2500 and fly full boost. Set 2200 - 2400 cruise.

2800 is best in a furball below 10,000 ft with limited use.

It may be a work around but not very realistic unfortunately. Climbing was an auto rich operation.

Would be good to get to the bottom of this one - what factor is causing the difference in cooling efficiency I wonder?

The following is straight from the Spit pilot's notes:

ACTIONS AFTER TAKE-OFF
Close the radiator shutter (unless a high power climb is done, when the lever should be a little forward).


These aircraft are designed to fly at fairly high power settings with the radiator in the closed position (it isn't actually fully closed of course but in the minimum opening position). Slow speeds and very high power settings are the exception I think.

+1

2800 rpms is pretty high, especially at high boost. Fine for take offs and sparing use in dogfights, but murder on a sustained climb.

Spit IIA Oil cooling/temp rise versus Pilots notes limits is currently porked in this patch. This came with the New (correct) true +9Lbs Boost availability with Full throttle. Note the Boost gauge scale only goes to +8.

Has been reported directly to Devs with all documentation sent. Suggested as High Priority fix.

Oil Temp rise is just way to quick on Spit IIA that results in engine damage. Oil Temp indication is Inlet Temp. Spit MKIIA Oil temp Combat limit is 5 mins at 105C, Normal Climb limit is 90C. A Climb all the way to 30,000ft at +9/2850RPM should be possible without any real issues with Oil Temp rise. Attached JPG of RAE Climb Oil cooling test trials illustrates this. Devs have this info.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...emponclimb.jpg

Hurri info attached here as well. As you can see Hurris is not even a remote issue with Oil Temp rise. I guess a better Oil cooler I guess coupled with being in the radiator bath so rad flap area has a greater influence in cooling.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...oiltempclb.jpg

Tip for the moment. Forget the MKIIA. Use the MKIA You can easily climb +6/2850 Rad open all the way to 14,000ft with Oil temp only just getting up to 95C.
Note for the record IRL Spit IA Climb limit Oil temp is meant to be 90C at +6/2600 with a 5min combat limit of 95C.

(On a side note there was an issue with Classic IL2 in that the cockpit gauges showed Inlet temp whilst the FM/EM used outlet temp so conversion was required to get usable cockpit indications when the cooling routine was re done in ver 4.10. I am not sure if this is a similar situation in COD)

Great info, IvanK. Thanks for posting this.

Good info there Ivan thanks. It does seem from the pilot notes that such a climb should be possible with a closed or slightly open radiator. Would you agree?

Just one or two things to add to the above posts.

I always warm the water temp to 60 degrees or preferably 80 before moving at all. I don't take much notice of the oil temp in any of the Spits while I'm on the ground.

Once the water is up to above 60, take off at max revs/max boost, without engaging 'emergency' boost. Gear up, and allow airspeed to exceed 185mph before throttling back to +4 boost and changing prop pitch to give 2800rpm. Throttle adjust to give +5 boost, or + 6.25 if you're in a rush. Then watch your temps, and reduce revs with prop pitch if oil exceeds 95 degrees, reduce boost if coolant exceeds 110 degrees. Your engine won't blow because of water temp until 120 degrees. Set your rad at halfway open/closed.

For a nice relaxing climb, set revs at 2500rpm and throttle to +5 boost. Unless there are bogies above your airfield, why stress your engine? Climb rate at 165mph, 2500rpm and +5 boost is about 2000ft per min.

This is from memory, so some specific mph/RoC figs may be slightly off. But don't fly your plane at max performance everywhere at all times. It wouldn't happen in real life, so it shouldn't happen in the game. :)