LIQUI MOLY’s core business is cars. The majority of the company’s turnover is generated from engine oils and additives, along with maintenance and service products. Over 50 years of experience has gone into producing their product range for general aviation aircraft, which became commercially available over a year ago.
Austro Engine and LIQUI MOLY have announced their collaboration with Aero. The engine manufacturer chose LIQUI MOLY for two reasons; its particularly high-performance motor oil and its close contacts with the oil manufactures’ research departments. In order to get the optimum engine oil, both the properties and the performance were defined.
The Austro Engine series AE 300 (168 PS) and AE 330 (180 PS) engines are based on a Mercedes two litre diesel engine. Diesel technology is still a novelty in flight. One of the biggest advantages of diesel engines is the fact they are doubly efficient. On the one hand they consume less than Avgas engines and on the other hand, like turbojet aircraft, they can run on kerosene, which is cheaper than Avgas. The environment is also benefitted as, unlike Avgas, there is no need to have lead in the fuel. As a result, diesel engines are the current innovation for piston engines in airplanes.
However, diesel engines demand more from engine oil. Burning diesel produces more residues than with gasoline, so the oil needs to have a higher cleaning performance. Also, the oil needs to function within a much wider range of temperatures; from Siberian cold to Sahara hot. Obviously, reliable lubrication is much more important in airplane engines than in car engines, both for the high thermal load at the start, and also for the decreasing oil temperature during the descent from cruising altitude.
Airplane manufacturer Diamond Aircraft use Austro Engine engines in a whole range of aircraft: DA40 NG, DA42 NG, DA42-IV and the new DA62. LIQUI MOLY Austro Engine Aero 5W-40 is also used for maintenance work when airplanes come to the factory for inspection. The next step will be to carefully examine the engine oil over a long-term test. The intention, at a later date, is to extend the TBO for aircraft owners if engines have been exclusively lubricated with LIQUI MOLY Austro Engine Aero 5W-40.
The new LIQUI MOLY Austro Engine Aero 5W-40 will be marketed and distributed by Austro Engine themselves, as well as through MM aeronautical & automotive affairs GmbH based in Austria. The latter also distributes LIQUI MOLY’s complete Aero product range, which includes an oil that is suitable for Rotax engines (912 and 914).