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CFM56-5B/-7B – Oil coking at oil scavenge tube and no.7 TRF strut (14-12-7256-01)
In recent months, CFM has received reports from the CFM56-5B/-7B
fleets of traces of oil coking at the #7 turbine rear frame (TRF) strut
/ oil scavenge tube interface(Figure 1). To investigate, CFM
recommended performing an inspection of the aft sump per AMM
79-00-00. During the inspection, the gasket seal was found extruded
from the oil inlet cover (Figure 2), which allowed the oil leak path.
Figure 1: Oil coking at 37 TRF strut
Figure 2: Extruded gasket seal
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CFM conducted an analysis to understand the phenomenon. The root
cause was determined to be a combination of lack of pressurization
in the aft sump at engine idle speed, heterogeneous contact pressure
at the oil inlet cover and no.5 bearing support, and the loss of
connecting bolt tension due to changes in the gasket seal material.
Due to the presence of oil and relative movement between the no.5
bearing support and oil inlet cover, oil can leak in the vicinity of oil
inlet cover and then at the #7 TRF strut and oil scavenge tube
interface.
If this phenomenon occurs in service, operators can submit a CDR
request to CFM for a Continue in Service allowance. CFM can grant a
50-cycle Continue In Service allowance when oil leakage or a large
amount of coking is observed. AMM introduction of this allowance is
in process, expected to be introduced in the January 2015 revision
for CFM56-5B and the February 2015 revision for CFM56-7B.
In addition to this containment action, an improved oil inlet cover
torqueing procedure has been implemented in production since May
2014. This will be also reflected in the CFM56-5B AMM and ESM
update for January 2015 and the CFM56-7B AMM and ESM update
for June 2015.
Re-design activities have also initiated. The goal is to implement
a new gasket seal material to prevent leakage.