Brand New Revo Problems

[Sgt7212]

I just bought 2 brand new Revo 3.3's today. (One for my son and one for me)

I charged the batteries, watched the dvd, read through the manual and then we went out to start them and do the break in. Neither one of them will start. EZ start will turn intermittently when it feels like it, when it doesn't it will alternate sometimes the glow plug light and sometimes the motor light on the EZ start controller.

I'm admittedly a noob but I'm usually not this stupid. I'm beginning to get really frustrated because neither of them will turn over or start.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[olds97_lss]

I'm not sure, but did they cover "priming" in the DVD? Have you checked the glow plugs to make sure they are good? Not sure if they cover that either...

May be a good idea to get the carb settings from the manual and reset them to factory yourself just to be sure. I've received NIB engines that have the needles all out of whack.

Stock settings:
HSN - 4 turns out from bottom (closed)
LSN - screw flush with inner collar on carb slide

Sometimes opening up the throttle a bit with the throttle trim on the radio helps get them going as well.

 

[Sgt7212]

I'm not sure, but did they cover "priming" in the DVD? Have you checked the glow plugs to make sure they are good? Not sure if they cover that either...

May be a good idea to get the carb settings from the manual and reset them to factory yourself just to be sure. I've received NIB engines that have the needles all out of whack.

Stock settings:
HSN - 4 turns out from bottom (closed)
LSN - screw flush with inner collar on carb slide

Sometimes opening up the throttle a bit with the throttle trim on the radio helps get them going as well.

They did cover priming in the video, I tried it on mine but not on my son's because it didn't seem to make a difference. I didn't check the plugs because I guess I'm assuming that when you pay over $500 a piece for these things, the factory installed glow plug shouldn't be fouled before it's ever been used, but that's a good point and I'll take a look at them tomorrow morning before I attempt to start them again. I also didn't adjust the HSN or LSN because the video said not to until after the break in but I appreciate the settings in your post and will double check them in the morning also. The other thing is that the manual and the video both have different instructions on starting with the EZ start. The manual says to push the button for 2 second bursts and the video says hold it in for 5 seconds and then prime if the truck doesn't start within the 5 seconds.

 

[olds97_lss]

I'm not sure what either say for you to do to prime them. Sometimes they won't prime on their own easily without plugging the exhaust. However, if you plug the exhaust, just a couple quick blips with the ez-starter should get the fuel to the carb with the exhaust plugged by your finger.

Once you see the fuel go through the line and reach the carb, stop "priming". Pull the throttle trigger just a little on the remote to open the carb a bit and hold it (pumping it like a 1:1 carburetor car does nothing, so just hold it open a bit). Then try to run the ez-starter. It may start and run away a bit, but at least you'll be moving in the right direction.

 

[Sgt7212]

The video only made reference to the 2.5 engines because they were using a T-MAXX as the example in the video but they said "you normally shouldn't have to prime them at all"

Also, I didn't even think of pulling the throttle a little bit because they made no mention of that in the dvd or the manual and didn't show it either in the video when they started up the truck. I guess with the price tag, I wanted to do everything by the numbers and exactly as the instructions said so I didn't break it but I feel a bit stupid now for not thinking of that. I'm going to start messing with them now. Should the batteries be recharged or should they be ok from yesterday since I only had them on for about 20=30minutes total time while trying to get the trucks started? I know NiCad batteries have a memory and should be drained fully before recharging or their life cycle is reduced. what about the NiMH batteries?

 

[bergoff]

You can also try removing the fuel pressure line off of the pipe and plow into it. You can see the fuel get pushed up th the carb. Also I found out that a glow starter worked better than using the ezstart system for that. The battery will last longer. You will get it it also took me sometime but you are on a great forum.

 

[ch3no2junkie]

I think what is happening is your brand new motor is so tight, the piston is sticking in the bore. I had the same problem with my 3.3 when it was new. Remove the glow plug and drop 3 or 4 of 3-n-1 oil or something similar in the hole and rotate the flywheel several revolutions by hand. If the piston sticks, take a small screwdriver and lever it against the frame and gently turn the flywheel to unstick it and put a couple more drops of oil in and keep turining it until it doesn't stick any more.
As far priming goes, my Revo is very hard to prime without plugging the exhaust and cracking the throttle a little. Just be careful not to flood the motor, that will cause it lock up until you clear the excess fuel out.

I know NiCad batteries have a memory and should be drained fully before recharging or their life cycle is reduced. what about the NiMH batteries?

The NiMH batteries are said not to have a memory, but as a personal choice, I try to discharge mine as much as possible before recharging. Also, the chargers that came with that truck are junk. I found out the hard way I needed a peak charger, the charger that came for the Rx battery pack never would fully charge the pack.

 

[TomG]

I had the same problem with mine. What it turned out to be was the glow plug was to tight. It has so much compression, Try backing out the plug just a bit..

 

[Sgt7212]

I actually got them running this morning and they have been great, however, my glow plug fouled shortly after I started my 4th tank. I took it out checked it/ confirmed that it was bad and replaced it with the provided spare. Then I went out to try the 4th tank again and the engine will rev but it won't move. I think I remember seeing something on the forum about a similar problem so I'm going to search and see if I can find that answer. If anyone knows offhand where to find it I'd appreciate the help. Thanks to everyone for all of your assistance and replies with this.

My son's revo is running great and he's on his 3rd tank now of the break in.

**edit** I checked on the traxxas forums and see where people are saying it could be the slipper clutch is loose or the following quote... "Check the alignment/mesh of the clutch bell and the spur gear. If your engine slipped downwards you probably would notice the RPM at idle climbing to the moon as there would be absolutely no resistance. I actually had an engine bolt rattle out after just 2 weeks out of the box. This caused my engine to slip downwards, lose mesh and destroy the spur gear. There should be 2 long screws that control the engine alignment, one under the chassis, and one visible on the top. Both screws go back to front.

The other thing could be the one way bearing in the transmission. Unfortunately this takes a bit of disassembly to check. Part #5393 on the transmission diagram. Since the truck is new I wouldn't necessarily suspect the OWB, but ya never know."

Going to trudge through that now... any other ideas?

 

[Sgt7212]

Ok tightened the slipper a bit and it went back to running. Then it started with not moving again. After I did a more detailed inspection, I noticed that 3-4 teeth on the spur gear had been stripped off. Would tightening the slipper cause that or could that have been caused by the couple of times I flipped the revo? Are all spur gears plastic or do they make them out of some type of metal that might hold up better?

aaaaaaannnnnnddddd... my son's is still running great. He's on his 4th tank of break in and having a blast while I'm pissed off on the sidelines. LOL

 

[olds97_lss]

Well, at least you got them both running!

Sticking with plastic is your best bet. They are cheap and help give you a breaking point that is 2 things, easy to fix and cheap. With a steel spur, instead of the spur giving, the trans or diffs will. It's a lot easier to swap out a spur than replace a diff.

Sounds like you may have moved the engine a bit on a roll over. It's easy to do and if the engine mount bolts were loose at all (sometimes even not with a hard enough hit), the engine will move away from the spur if the head makes contact with the ground. It will almost instantly chew off a tooth or two on the spur.

Or, you got a rock/stick in it when running.

I've run plastic spurs on many rigs for a very long time with minimal issues. The revo does have a tendency to go through them since the engine bay gives a bit on head impacts and big air jumps on landing. It's a good idea to have a couple spares in your pit box.

I've run over 10 gallons through my savage on one spur. I still have it... it's nicked up and beaten, but no teeth are missing. I'd still use it if I had a weaker engine still in the savage. But it's too many teeth for what I run now.

When you pick up a couple spare spurs, I'd pick up a couple spare glow plugs as well.

 

[Sgt7212]

Ok, the head did make contact with the ground but all the mounting bolts are tight. I'm going to take a look at it and go over everything with a fine toothed comb when I'm cleaning it up and see if I missed anything. Already planned on picking up some extra glow plugs too. Are any glow plugs better than others or best to stick with the Traxxas branded ones?

 

[olds97_lss]

Traxxas ones are ok. I've had good luck with OS LC3's in TRX engines. TRX engines run a "long" glow plug. It has an extra thread or two vs a "standard" glow plug. Although, now that I run 25% nitro, an LC4 may be a better choice.

 

[Sgt7212]

Ok Great. Thanks again for all your help!