Tri Flow or LPS (free advertisement for those companies. Any pleased rep is free to express his gratitude by using the donate function on the upper right of this page, thanks) are an example of real lubricants.
WD40’s effect as a lubricant is very short lived, and it is more at home in one’s garage to remove corrosion from the lawnmower or free bolt threads on similar machinery… of course the stuff is way cheaper than the above mentioned products. Guess some of those 90% disagreeing businesses will likely also charge a hefty price for this popular “lubricant”…
90% of the GA maint business would disagree 
Peter wrote:
suitable lubrication – not WD40 whose temp range is unsuitable for GA
and is not a lubricant in the first place, contrary to what many people think…
Peter wrote:
This is a really serious issue
But it’s a normal serious issue 
This is just too funny. It’s in fact the technical reason why the space shuttle blew up in mid air. They new they had a serious issue, but they fixed it by “normalizing” it
This is a really serious issue. The fact that it happens at all means it could bite you really badly one day when you do need to use it. Also it probably happens “a little” at moderate temps, so one day when you see -20C it might bite you big. I would definitely get it fixed.
It sounds like water in the cable and this needs to be fixed – by a legal adaptation of the front end, or by an illegal adaptation of the front end. And – for non teflon lined cables – suitable lubrication – not WD40 whose temp range is unsuitable for GA.
Xtophe wrote:
Did they explain what bit get blocked and why?
No. I’ll follow that issue but cannot promise results anytime soon. If someone has some further information about how to possibly prevent this from happening I’d be glad to listen.
@huv yes clouds were at about minus 10 to 15 degrees in my flights, too. However the blockage on my flights happened during climb and lasted about 20 minutes (cruise phase), whereafter we descended again through the clouds and blockage stopped.
OK so maybe something specific to Piper with big bore engines?
I wasn’t prepared to encounter this and initially thought that something was broken, that distracted me a lot. This is why I wanted to share this and possibly get to know how to prevent it.
A couple of times I have experienced a stuck prop lever in the Dakota, preventing RPM reduction, when descending in cold moist air, so I always presumed it was the prop lever cable that froze.
I wonder if it indeed is one of those things I have accepted as normal although it isn’t, so I shouldn’t. But it has never lasted longer than a few minutes and so far always sorted itself out before approach.
As recent as yesterday it happened when descending from FL 100, I think after having passed through a thin cloud layer in maybe 10-15 degrees below zero.
My bicycle’s gear cable freezes when having been parked outside in moist subzero air. I think of it as the same thing happening to the Dakota’s prop cable.
UdoR wrote:
What shall I say. This is normal behaviour. Got some tips on how to prevent this.
Did they explain what bit get blocked and why?
Ibra wrote:
does it happen on the ground when you park under snow? or taxi through snow?
No PIREP available.
I still think that it has to do with passing the snow-filled clouds.
Really??!! does it happen on the ground when you park under snow? or taxi through snow?
