I was planning on flying say every two weeks through this crisis, as long as it is allowed anyway. I do not need to see anybody so I don’t see any harm in it. Or should I?
I am having my engine pickled—Lycoming O-360.
How do you pickle it?
You can ground run but need to get the oil to working temp and keep it there for perhaps 30 mins so the dissolved water boils off.
The other thing is Camguard which helps greatly.
One can put in silica gel spark plug replacements, and there are other ways to blow dry air into the engine e.g. up the exhaust pipe. I think if I was to be laid up for months, and could not ground run, I would have to do the silica gel thing. But even that is not perfect; I know engines can be delivered like that from Lyco or Conti but the max preservation time is 1 year and that is with some special type and fresh oil.
I think a lot of airfields will not even be allowing access.
Lycoming SB 180 B details the official procedure, if that’s what you’re asking.
I’ve read so many people say that ground running does more harm than good that I’d be VERY leery about doing that. Even just doing circuits might not get the temps up where they need to be long enough to evaporate the moisture out of the oil.
The rule of thumb I’ve seen is that flying a hour once every two weeks should be fine. Any longer without increases the risk of corrosion. Even in normal times, there are many (if not most) aircraft in Europe that sit longer than that either occasionally or regularly. There is a good recent webinar by Mike Busch about returning an engine to service that has sat for four months (his own). Quite involved, but doesn’t need an A&P and within the means of an owner pilot who changes his own oil & spark plugs.
The thing is that IF we get access to the airfield and an authorisation to implement the SL180B preservation procedure (which needs an engine run) then one may as well just do a say 45 min engine run. Put in fresh oil, too.
The silica gel stuffed into the air inlet and the exhaust, and the crankcase vent pipe, is easy to do anyway. Just tape up some 0.5kg silica gel bags in the right places.
And if we are allowed to fly circuits then we may as well fly locally away for an hour. Circuits are dangerous 
I reckon the widespread story about ground runs being bad is really a very old myth based on a lack of understanding of what is happening. One has to
Can’t prove it, of course, but I can’t see any science supporting that story generally. With fresh oil, why would a flight be needed?
Over the years I have seen lots of cases where people either turn the prop a few times by hand (say every 6 months!!) or they run the engine for a few mins (and without an engine monitor they have no idea what the temps are across the cylinders).
Based on the doc I shared here, even with high humidity, what matters is keeping your cylinders (and shaft) covered in oil. A ground run, even short, does that.
As Peter says, the problem is going to be lack of access. When I flew last week, I told the airport to pull my plane out of the hangar if they close, so I can do a ground run every couple of weeks (and yes I consider protecting an asset worth several 100k as corresponding to an absolute business necessity, although others may have a different view). I tried calling them today post Johnson’s announcement, and the NOTAM announcing the closure of the airfield, and they’re not even picking up.
I think currently there is a lot of uncertainty about what is allowed in the virus climate. Not helped by a lot of sanctimonious pontificating, and quite possibly reporting to the police, of anybody seen to not be applying some version of the requirements (which, in the UK at least, have not yet fully passed Parliament).
So I would give it say 2 weeks and then get onto the airfield management and get them to dedicate a day to getting the planes out and either fly them or at least put in fresh oil and ground run them.
I guess most already watched this video, but I will post it anyway
