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Yet Another "It won't start!!" Thread!!

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J

jimsus

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Hey chaps and chapettes!

You may remember me from this thread where some of you tried in vein to warn me off a nitro RC. Well, I got me a Savage X 4.6!! And here it is:

photo%20%281%29.webp


Of course, true to form, you were right and I was wrong. It doesn't start! But hey. It's good! It's an awesome beast of a machine. A true marvel of engineering. If you'd all be so kind as to give us a hand getting it running, I'd make you a cuppa tea. Or a coffee if that's your thing! First though, some observations...

Looks like there's a rubber bung missing. Assume that's just to stop bits of terrain getting into the precious electronics? If so, I'll just pick one up in an order some time...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ge1GW9YNHS4/S04VzArc5-I/AAAAAAAAAJo/WW1TKh9_T70/photo%20%282%29.jpg

And the bloke that sold it to me seems to have twisted and taped the areal to the chassis. This normal practise? Thought the thing was haunted first off when I touched it and the wheels wiggled...!

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jimsus/RCCar?authkey=Gv1sRgCOC5rfXEy6WjVQ#5426298067511794578

OK, that over, on to it starting. I can't get it to start. You'll all have to bear with me here, I've never started one of these nitro things before, so I could just be all wrong!

I followed the instructions when trying to start it of course - Clipped the glow plug stick thing to the glow plug, and gave it a good rotostarting. No cigar.

I made sure there was fuel down the fuel line all the way to the engine... Still no cigar.

The Internet then told me to drain the engine, so I tried that. Mr. Internet says to take out the glow plug, stick a rag over the exhaust, and give it a good rotoing. Nothing happened, but I assume it pushed fuel back up out the line.

I've taken out the glow plug, and poked it in the battery-on-a-stick (Can you light ciggies with it incidently?!) It glowed. I assume that means it's working!

Next up were the tuning screws attached to the engine... The ebay ad said they needed adjusting, so maybe that was it? I've no reference point, so I aimed for factory settings and tried to set them flush. Still no cigar. I want cigar! Maybe it's just too plain cold? It's only 1C over here.

What do you all think? Any other tests I can do? I'd like to post a vid of the start up attempt to see if I am starting it up wrong, or if you can hear the problem, but it's a few days until I can get my hands on a camera. In the mean time, I can take more grainy photos of various bits if you think it will help?

Thanks for reading!
 
if its cold out its gonna be a pain to start.

with all the electronic off manually open the carb a little bit, remove the fuel line from the top of the exhaust and gently blow into it until you see fuel flowing through the lines and into the carb, next attach your glow plug and insert your roto start wand into the roto start back plate, give the roto starter 3 second bursts.

you might not be getting fuel in to the carb. try that and see what happens.

factory settings are really rich.
 
if its that cold your going to have to warm the head either with a heat gun or hair dryer, then wrap the head in a sock to keep it insulated.
also before you do that, pull your airfilter and check the opening in your carb should be about the size of a fingernail
 
Hi guys!

Sorry I've take a while to reply - Work sent me away for the week.

Anyway. That blowing down a pipe (heh) seemed to work. I'm getting some life out the thing.

It does however stall when I pull out the glow plug. Guess this is to do with my settings on the needles? Off to read up on that now!
 
Yeah, either it's way too rich, or the glow plug is bad. There's a coating on the coil of the plug that wears that reacts with the methanol in the fuel. So even though it glows red when on the heater, it may not work once the heater is removed.

How long did you leave the heater on after starting? Usually, when cold, leaving it on an additional 5-10 seconds as you apply a bit of throttle helps warm it up and keep it going once you remove the heater.
 
Right, well, I've had to stop for the night... The neighbours were looking out the window and tutting. Bloody London! I could go down the park and fiddle some more, but then I'd have no internet to constantly look things up!

Soo... Here's where I am: I changed the glow plug for a fresh one to dispel that. No change, so I assume the first one was fine...

It was running pretty rich I think - The screw head was sticking out a fair bit, so I wound it back and was generally trying to get it running from flush. It did stay working a couple of times after having the glow plug starter removed, but cut out after a couple of seconds... I've left the glow starter in for a few seconds after starting, but died each time it pulled out anyway.

There's also sometimes a concerning metal clunking noise when I'm rotoing it. Not sure if it's mean't to sound that way, but it's not amazingly healthy sounding.

Also, sometimes the rotostart doesn't turn. The fuse button doesn't pop out mind, so I assume it's not flooded? Maybe I'm not quite holding the rotostart flush 'cos a wiggle usually sorts it out?

Thanks for all your advice! I'm lost without it!
 
Not sure what the clunk sound is your referring to.

According to the manual though, flush is factory, which means RICH! Anything further out from flush will probably guarantee flooding and lack of running. I'd set them both flush, then turn them in 1/2 turn as the engine is probably already broken in and flush is too rich for your outside temps to keep it going.
 
Quality! That sounds like the problem! I'll give it a whirl after work tomorrow and see what happens. When you say the engine is flooding, should I be doing the whole taking the glow plug out and rotoing it with a rag over the exhaust thing?

Thanks bud!
 
Yes. Except I don't put a rag over anything. I hold the truck so the top of the engine is pointing at the ground (with the glow plug out) then turn the pull the starter a few times quickly to blow out all the built up fuel in the crank case. In your case, hit the roto button a few times vs pull the starter.

Put the plug back in, put the heater on, give it about 5 seconds to warm things up a bit then try to start it.

That usually unfloods them for me.

When you do get it going, leave the heater on after it starts, lift the truck in the air and gently apply throttle to see if it will accelerate. If it will, then try to take the heater off and gently accelerate a bit in the air before putting it on the ground and starting driving it. Until it's fully warmed up and properly tuned, do not expect that it won't die frequently when you try to drive it. I normally hold mine in the air at about 1/4 throttle (a decent clip, but not stupid fast) when they are cold to help coax them into warming up and running. I do this for 10-30 seconds depending on how it sounds.

In general, nitro engines don't like to sit and idle for extended periods of time. At this point, anything more than 5 seconds without giving it some throttle will probably let it load up on you and stall. So keep it moving if you can.

I have had some engines I could let sit and idle for a full tank and drive them at the end with hardly any fuel build up. Most though don't seem to care for a 30 second or more pause. Even then, if you gently feather the throttle, they will clear their throats and go. Keep in mind though, those are engines I know and run frequently. Everything with yours is "unknown" at the moment, so prepare for it to be finicky until you get the hang of it.
 
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I hold the truck so the top of the engine is pointing at the ground (with the glow plug out) then turn the pull the starter a few times quickly to blow out all the built up fuel in the crank case. In your case, hit the roto button a few times vs pull the starter.
Click to expand...

OK, so glow plug out, turn the RC car upside down and give it a roto. Best to drain out all the fuel from the tank first, or will it be ok in there?

Jimbo
 
Grah. Two steps forward and one step back.

I've taken it out twice since my last post. The first time was alright - I nearly got it running. It started, it kept going when the spark plug was in, but died when I took it out. In fact, once or twice it even kept going after I took the plug out! Once or twice, it even accelerated down the path a yard or two before stalling! Life!! I was running it more lean than I was trying before (Screw sunk deeper than the half way point) and most of the time I was getting life out the thing when the glow plug left in. I was leaving it in for a good 5 to 10 seconds after it started by the way.

When it did start, it pretty much did it on a light push of the rotostart. When it wasn't going to start, you could pretty much tell because the noise the engine made was slightly different. Know what I mean? More 'chugchugchug'. (I really need to show you guys via video, huh?!)

When it was running on it's own steam (Without the glow plug in) it either stalled after a few seconds, stalled after a I touched the throttle, or when I did get it to move, after a yard or two. Every time it stalled, the last noise it made was a 'clink'. Like a coin being hit into another coin hard. Again, I should post a vid!!

My luck on that session soon ran out. Progress went backwards. After toying with the pins some more, and draining the engine some more, I tried the glow plug again. Looks like it was down to the glow plug started running out of juice. So back home to charge up and drink ale.

I went out again today with the rotostart and the glow plug thingy fully charged. No luck at all. And it was lightly raining, which didn't help the mood. it wouldn't even start. I swear I put the needles back to where they were before when it went. But I could not get past the chugchugchug I'm not starting phase, no matter how much I tried different pin configs, drained the engine or changed the glow plugs. I gave up in the end, as it started raining a bit too heavy, and I get rained on for no man.

I'm back home now, slightly damp. Putting off towelling dry my rig so I can whine on here. Any one like to hazard a guess at what I'm doing wrong? Those few seconds or RC glory were stupendous! I want more!
 
from the sounds of it, if your getting it to start, you should be getting everything you need (compression, fuel, air, spark) but your either low on one of those or theres some other factor, such as it being cold.
 
Yeah, I definitely was the first time round. The second outing, I couldn't even get that far!

I'll have another stab at it later on today..
 
Hooray! After a bit more needle fiddling I got it going full time! Full on tremendous! Had to stop after a while though, I think the reciever battery was nearly gone, and I'd never forgive myself if I wrapped it around a tree!

Thanks for all your help guys. I'll have some more questions later I'm sure, but I'm just looking forward to tomorrow's mince around the park session!!

Jimbo
 

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