Air Cleaner?

[miami fanatic]

Is it a must to oil the filter i ran ready to run motors last year and had no problemsbut this year I'm running race motors and keep losing compression? :shrug:

 

[1meathead]

yes oil it! Small dust will get in and score the P/S. I wouldn't run any engine RTR or not with no oil on the filter.

 

[cbreaker]

Hell yea, like 1meathead said. I use the normal factory team or whatever blue filter oil they got at the hobby shop. It's weird stuff, it's like water when it's in the bottle, but when it touches the air it gets really sticky and nasty.

The best way to apply it to the foam is to put the (clean) foam in a plastic zip-loc baggy, and shoot some oil in there. Work the foam until it's fully saturated with oil. When I say saturated, I don't mean it should be dripping with oil; that will just restrict air flow. You want a nice even spread of oil.

I clean my filters with some dawn or other kitchen sink dish washing soap. You have to use quite a bit to release all the oil from the foam. It takes a little while per foam to get them clean but you can get them looking almost like new. Some people don't like to clean filters because you can leave some dirt in the foam, but it's just too expensive to keep buying new ones every time you use the buggy!

 

[cvec7]

Yes! oil is a must!

 

[miami fanatic]

so would that cause me to lose compression in my motors and if so how can i fix them?

 

[cbreaker]

Just to let you know, and personally I don't really mind, but some of the guys on here will get pissed at you if you start too many threads about the same thing. Just FYI.

If dirt is getting into your engine, then yea, it sure could cause problems. Little bits of dust will get all into the piston and sleeve area and basically grind away the surface. These engines don't have O rings or anything, they rely on bare metal to bare metal contact to keep pressure in the chamber. They are very high performance little motors and this metal to metal contact is the reason they don't last very long. It wears out. You can see how little bits of dust and dirt could ruin that seal.

The oil on the air filter helps catch the tiny little particles that would otherwise escape into the carburator.

If this is what the problem is, then there's really only two things you can do about it. Assuming there's no other damage in the engine, and the sleeve and piston still look to be in good shape, you can get the sleeve pinched. There's a guy that calls himself OS Rocket (you can find him on eBay) that does the best work. He doesn't just use a pinch clamp, he uses some contraption that also heats the thing or something, so that it's even tighter when it cools. It's like $15 or somthing to get it done.

The other option is to simply replace the piston and sleeve. Depending on the engine this may or may not be worth it.

Of course, the sleeve might be fine, and you could just have an air leak somewhere. When the engine heats up the metal expands and if there's something not sealed perfectly, like the backplate or the cooling head, air could start leaking and you can lose compression. Usually you can see when the thing has an air leak because fuel will leak out or dust will collect a lot where it's leaking - but this isn't always the case.

 

[Hypedonrc]

No, if you don't want you engine to last. OIL IT! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[miami fanatic]

Ok thanks for all the advice.

 

[RatzoRC]

No offense, but take Cbreakers advise on the posting issue. Some of us try to help out as many people as we can in our spare time. It becomes a pain to read through the same post from the same person in different threads.
Thanks, and good luck with your compression issues.

 

[miami fanatic]

thanks and sorry just trying to figure my problem out on future problems i wont post so many

 

[ZANDOR]

thanks and sorry just trying to figure my problem out on future problems i wont post so many

thats what were here for my my man.no worrys here.when you post some one will be along to help you soner or latter.

 

[miami fanatic]

thanks