A Hot Dilemma!

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Harold Bascom

Well-Known Member
Messages
293
It's Father's Day. I'm having a ball on the more or less empty street with my Redcat Rampage XV (an XR converted to a Vintage, open wheel on-road, RC car.) The 36cc Rovan engine is sharply tuned and I'm ripping close to full speed up and down the street, cloaked in humidity. In short, it was HOT! But I'm having a ton of fun until the engine cuts out. A "what-the-hell" moment if ever there's one.

I fiddle with carburetor needles, High, Low ... Idle. I change the plug, even though a new plug is already in it. SMH. Still it struggles to start and cuts out everytime.

I empty the fuel, take the engine off, and tighten bolts all around in case there is some kind of leak. And with the engine COVER OFF, I try starting it from the exposed drill-start point. The engine fires right up. "Problem fixed!" (So I think.) So, I put the engine cover back on and try starting it. IT WILL NOT START. Instinct tells me to take the cover back and try again: BRAAAP! It starts without a hitch.

Now, I'm driving my vintage rc car with the engine cover OFF. The engine runs without a hitch. Does this mean I should use a drill and perforate the engine cover with air holes before bolting it back on?

Is it an overheating problem, or is it something else?

photo_editor_ds_1593024152735.jpg
 
Did that. Right now (as I respond) the engine is running flawlessly with the killswitch on, but with the cover off.
+1 maybe the off switch is grounding on the cover ? just a thought. Check the wiring for sure.
Will definitely look into that if I had an idea of what to look for as an indication of what that means. To be honest, it crossed my mind that maybe there is something off e lk electrically in the area where the positive and negative connections are from the stop button. ?
 
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Did that. Right now (as I respond) the engine is running flawlessly with the killswitch on, but with the cover off.

Will definitely look into that if I had an idea of what to look for as an indication of what that means. ?
Like maybe a wire is damaged (rubber costing wore off?) or the off switch is damaged and when you slot it into the cover, the wire is touching the metal and grounding. Idk.
 
Theres no power wires from the coil. It's just a ground to kill. Any voltage is from generated from the windings. So any little bit of chafing, or even a pinched wire will ground it out and not allow it to run. If it heat seized there would be Mark's on the piston. As it runs sans cover, I would also look to a wire grounding issue.
 
Theres no power wires from the coil. It's just a ground to kill. Any voltage is from generated from the windings. So any little bit of chafing, or even a pinched wire will ground it out and not allow it to run. If it heat seized there would be Mark's on the piston. As it runs sans cover, I would also look to a wire grounding issue.
I will buy a new killswitch. The one on it is VERY OLD.
 
Did you try disconnecting all the wiring from the coil and put the cover on. Use the choke to kill it if it runs. Then it's just a matter of hooking one thing up at a time and see what changes. My killer bee is 6 odd years old and still works. Best check the cheap easy stuff first.
 
Did you try disconnecting all the wiring from the coil and put the cover on. Use the choke to kill it if it runs. Then it's just a matter of hooking one thing up at a time and see what changes. My killer bee is 6 odd years old and still works. Best check the cheap easy stuff first.
With the cover ON with killswitch hooked up or not, it doesn't run. But with the cover OFF, whether the killswitch is on or off, it runs flawlessly. This means the problem is with the cover.
 
I'd check the kill switch and wiring ??
Did you try disconnecting all the wiring from the coil and put the cover on. Use the choke to kill it if it runs. Then it's just a matter of hooking one thing up at a time and see what changes. My killer bee is 6 odd years old and still works. Best check the cheap easy stuff first.
Disconnect all wires going to the coil, and see what happens.
Like I said ?? check your wiring ??
 
Hmm.....
Ok so to clarify. You removed all the wiring from under the cover, and it didnt run? And there is no rubbing or anything from the cover? I zoomed in as best I could on your picture and didnt see anything that screamed look here I'm the issue.
 
Like I said ?? check your wiring ??
I'm a little confused here about "disconnecting all the wires from the coil."
Hmm.....
Ok so to clarify. You removed all the wiring from under the cover, and it didnt run? And there is no rubbing or anything from the cover? I zoomed in as best I could on your picture and didnt see anything that screamed look here I'm the issue.
To clarify: The engine, while running with the cover, cut out. After resetting the needles to factory, it wouldn't start. When it did, it cut out shortly after. Subsequently, I took off the engine cover (while the killswitch was disconnected), and it started and ran. I connected the killswitch, while the cover was still off, and it ran. When I replaced the engine cover, it won't run with killswitch connected or disconnected. I have to, therefore, presume it's some issue with the engine cover. I must thank everyone for their input and will post whatever final solution I found. PEACE!
 
I'm a little confused here about "disconnecting all the wires from the coil."

He means to pull both connectors off the coil entirely. There's one on both sides: coils.jpg

The engine will still run without them, but you won't be able to kill it with the switch. You'll have to use the choke, or cover the exhaust tip with a shop rag to kill it.

The thought here is that one of those wires is touching the engine, the coil core or the cover and grounding out when you have the cover on. That's basically what the kill switch is designed to do.

Good luck!
 
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