Narrative:

I was acting as PIC of the piper navajo at the time of the event. We were returning the aircraft from maintenance. The engine had been shut down inflight a few weeks ago due to loss of oil pressure. On the flight [home] during the cruise portion; I noticed that the engine oil pressure on the #2 engine was very slowly decreasing and the oil temperature was slowly increasing. Our director of maintenance was on the aircraft; so I had him look through the windows at the rear of the nacelle to see if oil appeared to be leaking. He could see none. Eventually the oil pressure descended into the yellow arc. I decided to reduce power on the #2 engine as a precautionary measure. The #1 engine was running well. With the power reduced on the #2 engine; the oil pressure appeared to stabilize. We notified ATC and decided to keep an eye on the engine and continue the flight. As we neared [destination]; the oil pressure started to diminish more. We decided to shut down the engine. The flight continued on normally. We had canceled the IFR flight plan and were nearing [destination]; so no emergency was declared. As we neared the airport; the mechanic and I discussed the situation. We decided to attempt to restart the #2 engine to increase the safety for landing. The oil temperature had cooled off. I started the engine back up with the aid of the poh. We allowed the engine to slowly warm up and it appeared to be operating normally. Oil temperature was normal and oil pressure was slowly climbing and reached the bottom of the green arc. Power was still limited on the #2 engine for it to warm up. Within a couple minutes of restart; we heard a noise from the #2 engine and felt it in the aircraft. I immediately shut down the #2 engine. Again; no emergency was declared as we were near [destination] and not with ATC on an IFR flight plan. We landed with no event and towed the aircraft to our hangar. No additional damage occurred to the airplane and no people were injured. I don't know as though declaring an emergency or landing at another airport would have helped our situation at all; as we landed without event at our home base. The aircraft had major maintenance completed on the suspect engine prior to the flight; so I am unsure if the maintenance was completed properly. In retrospect; I'm not sure if it was the right decision to attempt to restart the engine after the initial shut down. I do believe that there was some type of damage to the engine already; as it was losing oil pressure and heating up.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Piper Navajo pilot returning after maintenance; reported loss of engine oil pressure; the engine was shut down and a normal landing ensued.

Narrative: I was acting as PIC of the Piper Navajo at the time of the event. We were returning the aircraft from maintenance. The engine had been shut down inflight a few weeks ago due to loss of oil pressure. On the flight [home] during the cruise portion; I noticed that the engine oil pressure on the #2 engine was very slowly decreasing and the oil temperature was slowly increasing. Our Director of Maintenance was on the aircraft; so I had him look through the windows at the rear of the nacelle to see if oil appeared to be leaking. He could see none. Eventually the oil pressure descended into the yellow arc. I decided to reduce power on the #2 engine as a precautionary measure. The #1 engine was running well. With the power reduced on the #2 engine; the oil pressure appeared to stabilize. We notified ATC and decided to keep an eye on the engine and continue the flight. As we neared [destination]; the oil pressure started to diminish more. We decided to shut down the engine. The flight continued on normally. We had canceled the IFR flight plan and were nearing [destination]; so no emergency was declared. As we neared the airport; the mechanic and I discussed the situation. We decided to attempt to restart the #2 engine to increase the safety for landing. The oil temperature had cooled off. I started the engine back up with the aid of the POH. We allowed the engine to slowly warm up and it appeared to be operating normally. Oil temperature was normal and oil pressure was slowly climbing and reached the bottom of the green arc. Power was still limited on the #2 engine for it to warm up. Within a couple minutes of restart; we heard a noise from the #2 engine and felt it in the aircraft. I immediately shut down the #2 engine. Again; no emergency was declared as we were near [destination] and not with ATC on an IFR flight plan. We landed with no event and towed the aircraft to our hangar. No additional damage occurred to the airplane and no people were injured. I don't know as though declaring an emergency or landing at another airport would have helped our situation at all; as we landed without event at our home base. The aircraft had major maintenance completed on the suspect engine prior to the flight; so I am unsure if the maintenance was completed properly. In retrospect; I'm not sure if it was the right decision to attempt to restart the engine after the initial shut down. I do believe that there was some type of damage to the engine already; as it was losing oil pressure and heating up.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.