Traxxas tmaxx 3.3 won’t start

[danthony828]

So how old is this truck?
The fuel may or may not be ok.
For the sake of trying to fix this problem, a new bottle of fuel will eliminate questions.
I'm not saying we can't move forward to try other things BUT the fuel could be your entire issue. Traxxas fuel isn't the best fuel to buy if you're going to pick up a new bottle. See if your hobby shop has choices!
So back to carb adjustments... have you adjusted anything yet?
My suggestion is to set it back to factory settings and see what you get.
Try to count how many turns in to "closed" you make.
I want to know if the motor was tuned correctly when it was stored or if its way off of stock. The # of needle valve turns is a vague indication.

I personally haven’t adjusted with the carb, but he said he took it to our local hobby town the one he purchased it from and they tuned it for him, I live in Asheville, NC where the hurricane hit so it’s no longer there sadly,, I don’t know how long the glow plugs last, but I know it had the original glow plug in it when I receive it, but the new ones I got another gentleman on this form said that I got short ones and told me that I need to get a number eight so that may be my problem right there. The truck is the newest models. He’s probably had it a about eight months to a year

 

[danthony828]

If you got a local hobby shop that has Traxxas maybe just grab a plug from them and see if it is the problem before ordering the os plugs . Or you can find some deals on the bay for take out Traxxas plugs sometimes just to make sure.

I had one 20 minutes of me but I live in Asheville North Carolina where the hurricane hit and it got completely destroyed so the nearest one to me now is about two hours away sadly

 

[Lostinthewoods86]

I had one 20 minutes of me but I live in Asheville North Carolina where the hurricane hit and it got completely destroyed so the nearest one to me now is about two hours away sadly

Sorry to hear that

 

[danthony828]

Sorry to hear that

I was pretty close with the owner, I’m really in the RC airplanes and he said he lost right at 200,000 in product so he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to reopen

 

[CertifiedMike]

Getting correct plugs is #1.

Buy a new bottle of fuel if you can. Try to burn the old stuff later, after its running and tuned.

Buy a few new air filters and oil for them. They are cheap.
MotorSaver filters were great if you can grab one of those!

Buy a temp gun!
Taking temp readings and adjusting your carb go hand in hand.
Too hot means lean mix. Richen mix and your temps will drop.
You want to monitor your temps anyways.
Be sure to check temps very regularly until you are more comfirtable and confident with your truck and ability to tune it.

The carb will need pretty regular adjustments.
Don't be scared of that!
There is no guru guy at a hobby shop that can "set and forget" a nitro motor. Its not the motor's nature.
Temp, humidity, altitude... all play a role with your tune.
Read your manual and learn the stock settings.
These are the base jump-off point from which you will adjust up or down from.

FACTORY CARB SETTINGS ARE NOT LAW! Adjust until its running right!
Adjust through out your day to keep optimum running temps.

Turn in the screws gently and DO NOT TIGHTEN!
Once they stop turning, (its been 8 or so years) I THINK its 3.5 turns out, manual KNOWS so check IT!!!

If all the info you got is correct, this should fire right up.

Be POSITIVE you've got white smoke and some small amount of oil spitting from the exhaust!
The oil IS the engine's lube!
No smoke and there WILL be fire! You'll seize the engine or blow it up.

You HAVE to come back and let us ALL know how its running!

We may require video proof btw!
(We love r/c videos here! )

 

[Lostinthewoods86]

I was pretty close with the owner, I’m really in the RC airplanes and he said he lost right at 200,000 in product so he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to reopen

That’s terrible

Please verify my opinion on the plugs though. I can not say for sure if you indeed do have the short plug vs the long plug, and if that indeed would cause the concern, but we do have a tmaxx and another nitro that takes short plugs and I could measure them if ya need to verify what plugs you got if you need

 

[Lostinthewoods86]

Getting correct plugs is #1.

Buy a new bottle of fuel if you can. Try to burn the old stuff later, after its running and tuned.

Buy a few new air filters and oil for them. They are cheap.
MotorSaver filters were great if you can grab one of those!

Buy a temp gun!
Taking temp readings and adjusting your carb go hand in hand.
Too hot means lean mix. Richen mix and your temps will drop.
You want to monitor your temps anyways.
Be sure to check temps very regularly until you are more comfirtable and confident with your truck and ability to tune it.

The carb will need pretty regular adjustments.
Don't be scared of that!
There is no guru guy at a hobby shop that can "set and forget" a nitro motor. Its not the motor's nature.
Temp, humidity, altitude... all play a role with your tune.
Read your manual and learn the stock settings.
These are the base jump-off point from which you will adjust up or down from.

FACTORY CARB SETTINGS ARE NOT LAW! Adjust until its running right!
Adjust through out your day to keep optimum running temps.

Turn in the screws gently and DO NOT TIGHTEN!
Once they stop turning, (its been 8 or so years) I THINK its 3.5 turns out, manual KNOWS so check IT!!!

If all the info you got is correct, this should fire right up.

Be POSITIVE you've got white smoke and some small amount of oil spitting from the exhaust!
The oil IS the engine's lube!
No smoke and there WILL be fire! You'll seize the engine or blow it up.

You HAVE to come back and let us ALL know how its running!

We may require video proof btw!
(We love r/c videos here! )

To add to that, once it’s running again, ditch the Traxxas carb for os 11k

 

[CertifiedMike]

To add to that, once it’s running again, ditch the Traxxas carb for os 11k

I was thinking new o rings too but the truck is still new... They should be ok... we'll see soon!
The OS carb seems to make lots of ppl happy! Its a great idea!

 

[Lostinthewoods86]

I was thinking new o rings too but the truck is still new... They should be ok... we'll see soon!
The OS carb seems to make lots of ppl happy! Its a great idea!

Took about a month for us to put on a brand new tmaxx about a year ago . Tmaxx is the devil that introduced us to you freaks wonderful folks earlier this year

 

[watertrucker]

Welcome to RCT. My fist RC was a TMaxx 3.3 Awesome truck. I’m thinking your issue is carb related. Set it back to factory settings and try to start it. Gently close the high speed needle and open it exactly 4 turns. Make sure the low speed needle is flush with the housing it rides in. Also check your idle gap. Remove the air filter and look inside the carb. You should see a small gap that kinda looks like a half-moon. It should be about the thickness of a credit card. Get all that done and make sure your glow plug is nice and hot and it will start. After you’ve run a few tanks through it to make sure the engine is broke-in then you can start to tune it. Nitro engines are simple when the carb is set right and the glow plug is good they will run. Let us know what happens with it.

 

[Shinook]

Sorry, old thread I know but I live near you in Brevard, NC. I have some fresh fuel and a few glow plugs, if you'd like to meet up we can see about getting it running. I can say that for whatever reason, despite not being high elevation, nitros here require a lot of tuning once they are broken in and I end up having to run them more on the lean side than the default settings.

I also make periodic runs to Hobby Connection in Greenville if you need anything. I can also tell you that the Hobbytown in Hickory, NC is ~1-1.5hrs from you and generally well stocked, but it did suck to lose our shop here. I'm not sure what the fate of RC is here, or most industries for that matter. Aside from crawling, RC here is very individualistic and I'm not sure how it'll get any better now with Hobbytown gone.

Feel free to PM if I can help out or you are still looking for suggestions.