Nitro R.C Car, help much appreciated.

[Mini1275]

Hello,
I have a Nitro R.C Car which was tuned last week by a RC car specialist. I went to start it up at the weekend and it wouldn't fire up, i eventually got it to start after 30mins and ran a tank of fuel through it. I went to start it up again and the bd thing wont start up . Could anyone share any info for why it might not be starting up?.
Thank-you very much

P.S: It's just had a new clutch shoe and is a HPI Firestorm using a RotoStart.

[Gareth350]

Is enough fuel getting through when priming it?
Trick i use is to pop the fuel pipe off the exhaust & give a blow through it to get the extra fuel in.

[slomax]

Mini1275 said:

Hello,
I have a Nitro R.C Car which was tuned last week by a RC car specialist. I went to start it up at the weekend and it wouldn't fire up, i eventually got it to start after 30mins and ran a tank of fuel through it. I went to start it up again and the bd thing wont start up . Could anyone share any info for why it might not be starting up?.
Thank-you very much

P.S: It's just had a new clutch shoe and is a HPI Firestorm using a RotoStart.

If you were trying to get it fired up for 30mins then the chances are that the glowstart will have lost all its power. They don't last for too long as the glowplug tends to suck the power from them to get warm.
also, its been quite cold lately so it takes longer for the engine to get warm enough for the initial start. this can be solved by starting it inside, next to the door and taking it out immediatly as it has fired up for a few secs.
The other possibility is that if you ran a tank of fuel through it and it ran out it would have drawn air into the chamber and pipes. this means that when trying to fire it up again there would be nothing to ignite in the chamber. did you prime the engine?

[Mini1275]

slomax said:

Mini1275 said:

Hello,
I have a Nitro R.C Car which was tuned last week by a RC car specialist. I went to start it up at the weekend and it wouldn't fire up, i eventually got it to start after 30mins and ran a tank of fuel through it. I went to start it up again and the bd thing wont start up . Could anyone share any info for why it might not be starting up?.
Thank-you very much

P.S: It's just had a new clutch shoe and is a HPI Firestorm using a RotoStart.

If you were trying to get it fired up for 30mins then the chances are that the glowstart will have lost all its power. They don't last for too long as the glowplug tends to suck the power from them to get warm.
also, its been quite cold lately so it takes longer for the engine to get warm enough for the initial start. this can be solved by starting it inside, next to the door and taking it out immediatly as it has fired up for a few secs.
The other possibility is that if you ran a tank of fuel through it and it ran out it would have drawn air into the chamber and pipes. this means that when trying to fire it up again there would be nothing to ignite in the chamber. did you prime the engine?

Thanks for the quick responses , yep primed the engine as usual.

[The_Jackal]

Another trick is to put your finger over the exhaust briefly while turning the engine over. This will help the fuel to reach the engine.
As above, the other main things are warm the engine (in the footwell of the car if you are driving to an open area), a fresh glowplug and a fully charged glow starter.

[hman]

You may want to whip the plug out and put the glow clip on it to make sure the plug is ok.

Glo clips can go flat/not give much power when they are cold so always keep it somewhere warm.


The finger over the exhaust thing only works if you have fuel pressurisation hooked up it uses the exhaust gases to purge fuel through the tank into the carb.


Sounds like the glow clip though.

[Mini1275]

Thanks guys, could you recommend a glow plug and glow starter (for a HPI Firestorm).

Edited by Mini1275 on Wednesday 10th February 12:54

[hman]

glow clip from jperkins is fairly standard piece of kit or pick up an ebay cheapie!

Glow plug depends on what engine make/size you are using and which fuel (what percent nitro is the biggest factor in plug selection once engine size is known)

[slomax]

To be honest, most glow starters are very similar. They are pretty well all 1.5volts. the best ones are the ones with the higher mah's. These are more pricey than the standard ones. I'm not too sure of the number of the plug in a firestorm but if you remove the plug it will have a number on it somewhere. These range from 3 to 7 (i think), 3 being the coldest and 7 the hottest. Sometimes what also happens is the plug oxidises meaning that it will glow but loses its heat and doesn't stay warm one the glow start is removed. Go for a good (racing) brand of glowplug (nosram, nova rossi etc)
http://modelsport.co.uk/?CallFunction=Category&amp...

[Ian974]

I've looked out my nitro RC car which hasn't been used in years and managed to get it fired up surprisingly easily at the weekend. Haven't had a chance to have a proper shot of it yet but can't wait for the weekend already!
Above pointers all seem spot on from what I can remember!

[Mini1275]

Thanks guys! I'll give it a bash today and report back .

[Mighty Flex]

Nitro engines are notoriously annoying to tune - It's best as it hads been siad here, to have it tuned for say 20C ambient and keep the car at this temp. be careful with the rotostart with a cold car. If you flood the engine you wont feel it like you do with a pull start. generallt rtr engines are tough and reliable, but some racing tuned engines will be very hard to get over compression when cold, or could even be damaged.
hope you enjoy the car runnning... i can just smell the beautiful smell of nitro exhaust !

[Mini1275]

A BIG Thankyou to everyone!!!!. Fired it up and of it went, warmed the car and glow starter up like suggested. Pulling donuts and wheelies which i've never done before .
Thanks again guys, couldn't wish for a better bunch of helpful people

Edited by Mini1275 on Tuesday 16th February 16:04

[hman]

great news, enjoy!!

[tr7v8]

A trick aero guys use for getting glow motors to run reliably invery cold weather is to add a small amount of unleaded petrol to the fuel, only a few % but deffo works to give a good tick over & easier starting.

[hman]

ha!,
well some do and some dont!


Personally I've never had to use unleaded to get my aero glow engines to start, wouldnt reccomend it either.

[tr7v8]

hman said:

ha!,
well some do and some dont!


Personally I've never had to use unleaded to get my aero glow engines to start, wouldnt reccomend it either.

How low a temp have you flown in? Around the 0 Deg mark they are not only reluctant to start but also won't tick over so a small (egg cup in 5 litres) solves the problem. This is for either straight or 5% fuel.
But I'll bow to your greater knowledge, as I've only been aero modelling for 44 years

[hman]

tr7v8 said:

hman said:

ha!,
well some do and some dont!


Personally I've never had to use unleaded to get my aero glow engines to start, wouldnt reccomend it either.

How low a temp have you flown in? Around the 0 Deg mark they are not only reluctant to start but also won't tick over so a small (egg cup in 5 litres) solves the problem. This is for either straight or 5% fuel.
But I'll bow to your greater knowledge, as I've only been aero modelling for 44 years

Meh, I've been flying since I was 9! I'm 35 this year so whilst I'm obviously young than you (ha!)I still have 24 years glow IC experience- does the learning process get easier in the next 20 years?

I dont use straight fuel, normally 10/15% in my older engines (laser, os, irvine, sc) and 30% in my Saito's (no bearing failures yet!)-- this may be why I have never had a starting/idling problem at the temps you speak of. All my flying is fixed wing (have been there and done the heli thing).

I've heard of people doing it, however I've never actually known anyone doing it. Apart from yourself.

[Mini1275]

Just gonna clean the air filter which shouldn't be to hard.

[Cerberus90]

Another good tip for the Nitro RC cars. I always get a hair dryer out on mine. Warm the engine up with the hair dryer, and it usually starts really easily, as long as my glow starter is charged, which it usually isn't, .