HELP: Tamiya Glow-plug engine help needed

[Fer]

Hi FOlks,
yesterday I became the proud owner of a remote control car, built on a Tamiya TGS-R Chassis, with a FS12-SW engine. I ran it for a short while, on half throttle, around the drive, and this morning it appears to have seized.

Anyone out there recommend a solution, any ideas on solving this, or should I panic and take it back to the shop I bought it at (A large independant department store in London, yes, I know, but I have these vouchers to spend).

Help please,
Chris

(Edited to remove store name, since I do not want this to risk Ted and his N&S policy.)

>>> Edited by Fer on Sunday 2nd January 09:41

[Stuart]

It's a pretty simple mechanism - try taking the head off to start with to see if there is any damage and to make sure that it really is seized. I thought that mine had siezed but actually I'd just flooded the engine (which is very easy to do). When you turn the wheels can you hear the piston moving up and down or is it all completely seized up?

[Fer]

Thanks, I will give that a try. I had the glow plug out, and could not see any movement in there, but I will see if I can get the head off.

Thx,
C

[Fer]

Head off, does not look like much movement on here. Any advice on what to penetrate the cylinder, or should I panic and take it to a shop when they open next week?
ullinghairout:

[Stuart]

Fer said:

Head off, does not look like much movement on here. Any advice on what to penetrate the cylinder, or should I panic and take it to a shop when they open next week? ullinghairout:

Try google? Shop will more than likely ask you to cough for a new engine.

[LRdriver II]

Dont the engines need to be run-in by running a tank or 3 of fuel thru them under no load (ie car on blocks) with a rich mixture?

Maybe you have voided the warrenty if you havent done this so fingers crossed

I myself just finished a Tamiya TT-01 Skyline today which I have fitted ball bearings, oilfilled dampers and a 15 turn Peak Panther engine powered by a 2400mAh battery pack. Dunno what it was but wanted to relive my youth building tamiyas and made the mistake of wandering into my local model shop. Couple of hundred quid later I got stuck in.

Only annoying thing is that it is a plastic drive shaft that starts flexing under full throttle and hits the ESC... dammit, need the ali driveshaft upgrade now to take the speed.

>> Edited by LRdriver II on Saturday 1st January 17:12

[Fer]

They recommended running it in by running without the body on, and having short blasts at half throttle. I had done this once, and kept it from getting too hot. I ran out of light, so I was going to run it again this morming... which is when I found that the recoil started would no longer pull.

Oh well, see what the shop says.

Thx

[roop]

The carburettor needles need to be adjusted correctly for running in. Sometimes they come pre-set for run-in by the factory, sometimes not. If these weren't set it could well be the case that the engine has seized due to not being run in correctly.

As mentioned, unscrew the glow plug from the head of the engine using an appropriate socket. Assuming the pullstart isn't knackered, the engine should turn over very freely as there is now no compression.

If it won't turn over, chances are it's siezed.

TT-01 eh LRDII...? Have a look at mine here :

www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=17573&id=380

Roop

[LRdriver II]

Roop,
Nice car, I plan on going nuts on the upgrades so plan on spending as much as I can to make mine faaast

one thing though, the standard propshaft is dangerous in the car with a tuned moter as the revs make it flutter/wobble/bend so it actually hits my esc. I noticed it with full throttle on the bench and could hear it hit stuff along the prop-shaft valley. So I need to find the ali one before driving the car.

[LRdriver II]

argh.. never mind.. I saw the pics but have read the updates and seen it has already been done.

Whos a good trustworthy dealer in HK? (for all the funn bits)

[roop]

For the upgrades, I'd go with either of the following :

Wala Wala (Joaquim Assis in Macau), Stella Models in Hong Kong or Jason Reid in Tokyo, Japan.

http://stores.ebay.com/WalawalaStore
www.stellamodels.net
http://stores.ebay.com/Jasons-Store

HTH,

Roop

[Fer]

Anyone know the impact of using different grades of fuel in the engine? The manual says use only 16% nitro, but I was supplied with 25%. Might this have caused my prob? If so, then seeing as they supplied the fuel, they can fix it!

TIA,
C

[mybrainhurts]

Used to fly these things years ago.

Does the crankcase have a back plate you can remove to view the crankshaft/conrod?

Might reveal the problem.

[LRdriver II]

www.rcnitro.com/rn/articles/nitro_fuel.asp

it mentions something about how much nitro is good/bad for the engine and why its important to roughly stick to manucturers recommendations..

[father ted]

LRdriver II said:

www.rcnitro.com/rn/articles/nitro_fuel.asp it mentions something about how much nitro is good/bad for the engine and why its important to roughly stick to manucturers recommendations..

I always used to use 20% methanol mix.......my car never suffered for it and ran sweet (obviously i ran in the engine via 5% and 10% mixes first)

[father ted]

mybrainhurts said:

Used to fly these things years ago. Does the crankcase have a back plate you can remove to view the crankshaft/conrod? Might reveal the problem.

I second that......you normally have to remove the pull start mechanism to gain access to the crankcase back-plate to reveal piston/crank attachment pin....once removed you can get piston out and the liner.........

p.s. it's not something daft like a knackered pull start is it?

p.p.s. 25 % mix they supplied you with to 'run in' is excessive and you should 'get your money out of them' if this is the case......

[falcemob]

Errrrrrr, you did stick some caster oil in with the fuel didn't you?

[Fer]

falcemob said:

Errrrrrr, you did stick some caster oil in with the fuel didn't you?

Errh, No. Should I? Did not see any comments in the dox about it.

(Thanks for all the help on this... could be time to go back with a big stick to the store!)

[falcemob]

Yes, or at least some oil. It's a long time since I flew radio controlled planes but we used to run the engines in with caster and then switch to synthetic oil. Normaly at a ratio of 1:25 for running in and 1:40 afterwards if my memeory is correct.
Unless the fuel now comes with oil already added.

>> Edited by falcemob on Sunday 2nd January 09:48

[roop]

Modernd lubricants and higher manufacturing tolerances mean that you don't need to run the engine in with additional lubricant. My HPI Savage runs on 20% - the recommended % nitromethane. I used to run all my nitro buggies on 16% QuikFire which was usually fine.

It could be that 25% is way out from what Tamiya recommend (I don't know what they do recommend - it'll be in the manual) but swaying from this too far could well cause the motor to run hot and not be lubricated properly due to the heat and incurr damage.

Check in the manual and if it's more than say 5% out from the recommendation, I'd say you have a good case for returning the car to the shop and getting a new engine.