Break-in Bitch

[CeSu-Pro]

Hello, this is my first time to this forum as well as my first time in r/c'ing... and i am having a HELL of a time breaking in my new motor. I bought the Savage SS k4.6 kit and put it all together and now i am trying to break my motor in. I've gotten through the first tank just idling, and now I'm trying my second tank to slowly drive in circles... but i just can't get the damn thing to start. it keeps flooding, so i take out the glow plug and drain out the excess fuel then try again and nothing, from time to time it will try to kick over, but does not. then the pull start will get REALLY REALLY hard to pull, like near impossible (so i think i probably shouldn't yank,...) so i pull the plug out again and repeat.... but before all this non-startin problems i was able to get it running, and i did drive it a little bit, and in the manual it says to take it slowly up to full throttle at first to burn of the excess fuel, and when i did that, that's when it died and hasn't started since.... so,... basically wtf,... i've heard that it's a pain in the ass to break in, but is this worse than normal? or what am i doing wrong? or what should i know?..... sorry for the long winded first message, i am just trying to be as informative as possible as to not confuse,... as i said, i am new to this,... Thank you.

 

[AC48]

Weird, when I had the K4.6 it was one of the easiest engines I had ever broken in. It sounds like your LSN is too rich so its flooding with fuel. When it gets tight, its flooded but it sounds like you know that. I would try leaning the LSN in little incriments and it should be easier to start. Also try heating it up with a hair dryer...it helps sometimes.

 

[CeSu-Pro]

I am guessing the LSN is my fuel? And how exactly do i lean it out,... i have 20% now,.... and the hair dryer thing is to the fuel correct, not the engine of anything,... sorry for the newb questions,....

 

[nitrost]

lsn is the low setting needle its below the high speed needle. you lean it by turning it in but not alot. take the hair dryer and heat the engine to exspand the engine up some then it should be easier to start

 

[beason]

lsn is the low setting needle the needle in your carb slide.. did you watch the video? i would stop what your doing and research tuning befor you burn up that new engine.. knowledge is power. do a bit of research so you know what your doing.. these motors are fairly touchy and a bad break in will seriously diminish your engine life.. the hair dryer thing is to the motor.. you heat it up so it will expand to opperating tolerances so it will turn over easyer..

 

[cvec7]

ya, you need to lean it out gradually through the break-in process. look at the 4.6 manual and see where the low and high speed needles are, and how to tune them and DO NOT mess w/ the mid speed needle.

 

[CeSu-Pro]

ahhh lsn= low speed needle,... thanks, yea i know where that is,.... it is still at the factory setting as flush to the carb i took it to my lhs the other day and he backed it out quite a bit,... then i noticed that and thought that might be part of the problem so i put it back to flush to the carb.
i've read the manual that came with the engine, but it isn't very informative,... not a very good troubleshooting section. and there is no video with the kit i bought. i've searched around google a bit for some good tutorials but haven't found really anything, so if you have some good sites with good tutorials i'd be more than happy to learn more. so perhaps i leaned it the lsn too much and will back it out then try slowly leaning back down.... i'll try the hairdryer thing too.... because my goddamned fingers are getting bruised from yankin that pull start,.... hopefully i build up some calouses soon....
i've played around a bit with that needle already, i'll try it again, but if you have any other ideas, let me know,... thanks again everyone

 

[RevoS]

Try going to www.hpiracing.com then to the europe website they have all the videaos and information there. Thats where I got my info I also started 3 weeks ago!

 

[vbgagnon]

check your glow plug, if it started easy the first tank and you idled it (does not help breakin) then I'd guess your plug is gone or your glow starter batt is dead.

 

[scott]

When i got started with the new engines the advice was that the factory settings where satisfactory to start the new engine.I suggest you go through the instructions a couple of times, find out all the information about the tune settings it normally sets out clearly what the needle settings are for the factory. Very good advice is the glow plug starter battery may be flat or low. You can check by removing the plug and connect the starter to it should become bright red in the core.
If the plug doesn't glow you should have a spare glow plug (new) if you are just starting out. If you dont have one get one, you will always be thankful for it.Check if the plug on the new one glows red you will know then if the plug is rooted or the battery on the glow strater is flat.

Return all the setting to the factory setup. then start up should be spot on.

Some of the beginnings are a little daunting however if you can stay cool and slowly run the engine in you will be rewarded for it with performance and engine longevity.

There are many experts untill you need help, i would find a hobby shop that has a technician who actually does race and establish a friendship with them that will save you a lot of grief.

I am relatively new at the sport however i found that lots of the shops sell the stuff but few are proficient or even have a consistent view. This site has been very helpful and you will be thankful you found it.
You learn from doing, but most of all you will have a ship load of fun. I love the smell of nitro and the sound of a well tuned engine. Enjoy yourself .

 

[Candyman]

One thing I did for the first few tanks was to loosen the glow plug about 1/4 turn while starting the engine. For me, it helped to ease some of the initial compression and would vent just a little fuel if it was getting a bit rich. Then I'd tighten it down once the engine got running.
I would also double check everything as others have said. Make sure you're needles are at factory settings. That's when the low speed needle and mid speed needle are flush with thier houseings and the high speed needle is level with the groove in the needle body. Don't overprime. Just until fuel gets to the carb. Double check the condition of your plug and make sure your glow ignitor is fresh. Make sure you're getting air in the engine. These are all the basics you need. Fuel, air, compression and spark/combustion. Yes, it takes a little time to get the hang of it. And I struggled a touch with my 4.6. But once it hits the groove, it's a comfortable engine to work with.

 

[rossb]

Your pull starter is hard to pull because you are flooding the motor. Do not force the pull string or it will break.

* Put the High and Low side needles back to the factory settings. Put the idle screw back to the factory setting.

* Remove the glow plug and make sure it glows very brightly.

* Clear all fuel from the motor and reinstall the plug.

* Prime it until fuel just hits the carb. You can prime it by blowing into the pressure line.

* If the motor is very cold pre-heat it with a hair dryer up to about 100 degrees.

* Put the glow ignitor on the plug and leave it there for 5 seconds. Start the motor up.

* It might help if you turned on your radio and asked a helper to blip the throttle a little bit as you are pulling.

 

[greenwing7]

my guess is either bad glow plug or glow ignitoris dead, try recharging the ignitor, this is cheaper than a glow plug, but you will need a new one after break in so do both. fuel is new since this is your first kit too you said. the 4.6 was my first one too and it kept dying early on, but thats cause it was just way too ritch, oh and be sure you have a temp gun, will save your engine too

 

[CeSu-Pro]

so i got it running, and it seemed to be running pretty well,.... it would move a bit at idle, but it wouldn't die,... i figured in time i could adjust the idle needle, but for the time i was happy because the car was running. so i ran a full tank through at half throttle then pulled it in my drive way to refuel,... then when i tried to turn it back on it wouldn't start.... i played around with it for a bit and finally got it to start (2 days later) but it was running horribly,... i would have to keep the gas on at idle or it would die,... and it was driving very slow, even for just half throttle and eventually it just bogged out and died.... and thats about where i am now,....

all that was just to bring you up to speed, not much of a question,.... the questions i have are: what are the exact turn incrememnts of each of the needles? i went to hpi-europe's site, but all they have is the video for the 21bb and i tried those but they were certainly not the same. All it says in the manual for the k4.6 is to set the needles flush,... and they are "about" flush,... but if i could get the turn incrememnts i think that would be more accurate.

and hopefully by doin that, it will help my next problem.... this is what is happening now,.... i prime the engine, get it so the fuel line has absolutely no bubbles,... then i put my glow plug ignitor on, pull the start not more than twice and a bunch of bubbles come flying outta the carb in the fuel line,.... have you heard of this? is this something that will hopefully be rectified with the exact factory needle settings? because i have all the needles to what looks to be flush,... so they can't be that far off.... but i don't know, i don't like the look of all that air coming back out,... it floods the engine as well,... i have to pull my glow plug out once every 10 minutes or so while I'm trying to get my truck started,.... so i don't know,... i stillhaven't find a very informative site where i can try to learn this all on my own, so until then, i hope you will all be patient with me and try and help out, thank you again

 

[bustedgears]

When your bubbles are coming back into the fuel line, Is the engine hot? Caugh up the change and buy a temp gun. It's worth it.

Also HPI sets their carb settings so rich that it will barely run. My S-25 engine ran great until I put down that second tank and it went to crap. I had to lean it out almost a full turn to get it to run. The same has probably happened to you.

Lean turn right
Rich turn left.

The increments are said two different ways. 1/4 1/2 3/4 turns

and Hours Time. 3 hours would be a quarter turn 6 would be a half and so on.

When tuning for performance (after break in) you would do 1 hour at a time.

That temp gun runs about $25 new from the LHS but you could probably get one cheaper from here or ebay.

Hope this helps.

bustedgears

 

[AKIRA KOSUGI]

Factory setting is too rich

I had same situation. Factry setting is too rich so tighten your needle. K4.6 is the most eazy engine I've ever had.

 

[scott]

Make a note of the main needle screw position in relation with the top of the needle housing. Turn the needle all the way in ensuring that you count the number of tunrs or half turns if you prefer. then wind it out to half a turn less than the factory setting. what this needle does (remove it and have a look at its shape you will see that it tapers to a point) it effectively determines just how much fuel can pass from the fuel line into the engine. If the needle is too far out from the closed position it will let too much fuel pass and flood your engine with an unburnable amount of fuel. So if your setting is turned in to the closed position ie half a turn you will get a lesser amount of fuel. I have recently had another method explained to me by a guy at my favourite hobby shop, that if you disconnect the fuel line from the fuel tank, and close the needle off, you can then blow with your mouth pressure into the fuel line while slowly opening the needle, to establish the actual beginning of the opening for which the fuel would begin to flow. return your needle out to the factory setting from there. thats the true setting you might find that a 1/8th turn at a time from there will better find your starting fuel mix and your running tune later when you are fine tuning to run every day.

I am new at this and i hope you can interpret what i have written so that you will become more confident with knowledge and less anxiousness. I have been very anxious with the running in or break in however i have found the right advice made a lot of differance. You will enjoy the benefits from what you are struggling with right now. Cheers

I love the smell of nitro exhaust and the sound of the well tuned engine.

 

[CeSu-Pro]

alright, so turns out, the most recent problem starting was caused by a tear in the fuel line... so, trimmed the line put back in, played around a bit the the needles and now it seems to be running pretty good,... still way rich bc i'm still breakin it in,... but good i think,....

so, i was just wondering about how long you all broke in your motors for? the guy at my lhs said to go about a full gallon through,... the hpi manual says to do about 4 tanks,... so i'm just wondering how long you guys have done it,.... i have done about 6 tanks now, just crusing around at about half throttle,... should i start leaning it out a bit now on the hsn? Also, just curious about the life expectancy of these engines? i had a neighboor say they only last bout 2-3 gallons... is this true? that would be ridiculous.... thanks again guys...

 

[RevoS]

I have my truck for a month now. I am in South Africa the guy at my lhs told me to put 2 liters of fuel through thats about 8 tanks of fuel. After 4 tanks I took it back to him he leaned it out about 1 full turn and set I now had to put another 4 tanks through.
After this I can go to full throttle! I have done that and mine is going real smooth now!!

I have put about 10 litres of fuel trough up to now thats round about 40 tanks and I did not even retune it once do not know how many gallons that is but the S-25 motor is defenitly one of the beter engines out there!!!

O ja, its also a savage

 

[CeSu-Pro]

so,... i put in about 10 tanks, (i figured that was a happy medium between the hpi's recommended 2 tanks, and the lhs's recomendation of a gallon) then i began leaning out,... but barely, i think my truck is still running pretty rich, but to me, it seems to be running strong, it seems to haul ass, again, this is my first nitro, so it looks fast no matter what,... but it seems to be goin darned fast.... i was racing it about just on my street and it got a maximum temp of 236,.. it was runnin at about 220 when i stopped it... it's not doin wheelies of the line or anything, but if i get it just right, i can lift the wheels up,.... anyways, no questions here, just sharing my good experiences,... thanks for all the help!