Plagued with Engine Starting and Tuning Issues (Seems never ending)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
P

pfrederi

Well-Known Member
Messages
91
Ok so Ive been plagued with 5th scale engine issues ever since 4-5yrs. Ive never claimed to know the tuning of the carbs but just when i think ive got it figured out another issue comes up so there no consistency for me to form a basis. The problems range from failure to start to sometimes running erratic. I have 3 diff 5th scale RC vehicles (FG Porsche, Redcat Ramp, XCR 1000) and theyve ALL been plagued with varying intermittent issues but the most common is failure to start (after running/starting fine). Ive never been able to have 3 consistent days driving outside with no issues. Something always pops up almost everytime i go out which leaves me shaking my head. Makes me miss my days of just plug-n-play RC cars. Ive posted varying items before some seemed to have been addressed the issue for a short time before going back into the same routine of some satrting issue or running issue of some sort.

So for example my last outting i took my rampage MT and my FG Porsche. I ran thru half a tank before the FG Porsche started running erratic like loss of power. I attributed it to maybe it was due to the extremely high pollen count that day and maybe the air filter was getting clogged up. The whole car was covered in a thick layer of pollen. i run all my cars with a outerwears filter and also oil my filters. After i couldnt figure out that problem i switched to running my Rampage MT which after medium driving for about 10-15min it cut out and I could not get it started again. Its getting to be a pain the a$$ having issues everytime i go out. I would like to have some level of consistency and understanding of tuning these carbs to be able to enjoy the hobby instead of trying to have to hit a moving target each time.

Im consistently changing out spark plugs just to try and rule that out which sometimes that fixes the issue and other times not. Another time I was getting no spark after putting in a new spark plug and knew i had a new coil in there so it couldnt be that. I just got fed up and put the new spark plug back in and went to drive and started right up even after showing no spark when tested outside the vehicle. Like i said these issues are all over the map with no consistent symptoms for me to lockdown the problem.

Any help will be appreciated or if anyone has had consistent intermittent issue similar to these.

Redcat Rampage MT Pro (1107 Carb)
FG Sport Porsche (990 Carb)
XCR 1000 (990 Carb)

Thanks
 
So to start out the conversation. Your fuel location choice could be an issue or it may be time for a rebuild on your carbs. Or just over all age of your engines and coil,carbs. I would think you may be having an issue with fuel first. I run tru fuel from lowes or home depot and its ethanol free and is not actual gasoline but an engineered fuel so its made to last alot longer in storage than regular gasoline. Also the ethanol "alcohol " in the gas attracts moisture so ypu have have running issues if you use the same fuel in all 3 rigs. Start by changing fuel and go from there
 
Im sorry but where do you get your misinformation from @RcJunkie13 ? Ive ran tru fuel for 2 years and it does fine. I buy the 4 stroke straight fuel and mix maxima castor 927...should I be careful with that too? Your right i buy the brightly packaged gas and oil and let it ripScreenshot_20210411-000545_Chrome.jpg
 
Yep as rep said, back to basics. Unfortunately when issues follow between more than one rig, it's one of two issues. The person running it, or fuel. Seeing as you've been having this issue for quite some time, I'm inclined to say it's something your doing, but well give the benefit of doubt and try to get you squared away.

Pick one rig. Well focus on that till it's right. No jumping from one to the other, that just muddies the water.

I don't personally give a crap what kind of fuel you run, so long as its fresh, is high test, and has oil in it.

Before storage, how do you prep the fuel system? Have you drained it, and ran the carb dry, or have you left fuel in the system?

Do you use a fuel stabilizer? If not you should, at least before storage.

When was the last time you had the carb apart, and or put a kit in it?

Do you have the proper tools to do carb work, specifically the gauge to set the metering lever? It's cheap off amazon.

Fuel lines, and clunk (filter) what condition are they in? Do you have fuel quick disconnects, a secondary fuel filter, or anything else in the fuel lines?

Are the fuel lines hooked up correctly? Bottom of carb is "in" top of carb is "out". Its an easy mistake.

What brand, and type of spark plug are you running?

Answer the above and well get started. Just one rig, at a time. Do not list symptoms for all 3, well get to the others after the first is fixed.
RcJunkie13 said:
Be careful with that tho... some of them say ethanol free, but if you read the back, its just gas with stabilizer (which does not work nearly as good as most people think). Make sure you pick the right one. If you cant get it you can run Cam 2 (if available near you) or VP.
Click to expand...
Stop being an arse monkey jr. I run straight up pump high test in all my stuff laced with ethonal and have zero fuel related issues in anything. Proper storage, fuel stabilizers, and fresh fuel make a world of difference. Believe it or not we had the same issues when all we could get was straight gas at the pump. People seem to forget that. Crap fuel is crap fuel, poor fuel system maintenance is still poor fuel system maintenance.
 
pfrederi said:
Ok so Ive been plagued with 5th scale engine issues ever since 4-5yrs. Ive never claimed to know the tuning of the carbs but just when i think ive got it figured out another issue comes up so there no consistency for me to form a basis. The problems range from failure to start to sometimes running erratic. I have 3 diff 5th scale RC vehicles (FG Porsche, Redcat Ramp, XCR 1000) and theyve ALL been plagued with varying intermittent issues but the most common is failure to start (after running/starting fine). Ive never been able to have 3 consistent days driving outside with no issues. Something always pops up almost everytime i go out which leaves me shaking my head. Makes me miss my days of just plug-n-play RC cars. Ive posted varying items before some seemed to have been addressed the issue for a short time before going back into the same routine of some satrting issue or running issue of some sort.

So for example my last outting i took my rampage MT and my FG Porsche. I ran thru half a tank before the FG Porsche started running erratic like loss of power. I attributed it to maybe it was due to the extremely high pollen count that day and maybe the air filter was getting clogged up. The whole car was covered in a thick layer of pollen. i run all my cars with a outerwears filter and also oil my filters. After i couldnt figure out that problem i switched to running my Rampage MT which after medium driving for about 10-15min it cut out and I could not get it started again. Its getting to be a pain the a$$ having issues everytime i go out. I would like to have some level of consistency and understanding of tuning these carbs to be able to enjoy the hobby instead of trying to have to hit a moving target each time.

Im consistently changing out spark plugs just to try and rule that out which sometimes that fixes the issue and other times not. Another time I was getting no spark after putting in a new spark plug and knew i had a new coil in there so it couldnt be that. I just got fed up and put the new spark plug back in and went to drive and started right up even after showing no spark when tested outside the vehicle. Like i said these issues are all over the map with no consistent symptoms for me to lockdown the problem.

Any help will be appreciated or if anyone has had consistent intermittent issue similar to these.

Redcat Rampage MT Pro (1107 Carb)
FG Sport Porsche (990 Carb)
XCR 1000 (990 Carb)

Thanks
Click to expand...
Problem is is that your asking us for advice and your only describing very "vague" running history of your RC's. If we are going to successfully help you , we need you to do your part and give us detailed history and current running behaviors. I totally agree with Seand and just focus on ONE vehicle I think your just avoiding the primary problems from frustration and just switching to another RC when one runs bad and running yourself in circles. My first question is we need history on your RC, did your RC ever run correctly ? Did you leave fuel in the systems for over 6 months without treating with Ethanol fuel stabilizer ? It's sounds to me like you have ethanol "green death" spooge clogging your carb(s). If i'm correct, you will NEVER get a decent running carb if it's clogged. If you try to approach your issues one step at a time in a systematic approach we can probably walk you through and at least get them to run decent and stay running. Remember we are not physically there to help with your issues, we have to try and help you by what we read in your post and this can be a challenge. When tuning gas RC's it takes an experienced "EAR" to listen to how the engine is running to then understand what carb circuit to adjust . Posting a vid with quality sound would also help.
 
I really appreciate all the feedback.

Ok So I think I pointed out in the begining that Im not claiming to be an expert on carb tuning because Im not. Im hoping to be but like i said i get a lot of input from lot of different sources and just when i think i have it down something throws me for a loop so i could very well be part of the problem. I didnt think that these were high performance ferarri vehicles either. theyre hobby grade yes but i didnt think it would be that sensitive to needing to have to run ethanol free fuel, rebuilding carbs and the like. All of which I would love to get good at i just didnt think all this would be required to enjoy the hobby. I always figured, hey if my 2stroke weed whacker runs reliable EVERYTIME w/o any modifications or spark plug or coil change for years then why am i having so much of an issue with these? theyre not Hi Performance vehicles for crying out loud lol.
So to your point Ive ran out all of the old gasoline that was sitting in there for about 6mons over the winter. It ran ok. Whatever i didtn finish running i drained out and topped off all 3 RCs with fresh 93 octane (w oil mixture). But even after that is when i was experiencing some of the issues. Are you saying this can mess up the carb?? And again why doesn't my weedwhacker not get gummed up because gas has been sitting there for like a year.

So heres some additional info. Dnt laugh at some of my carb settings but these are what was working last i ran them. Ill start with my FG Sprotline Porsche and focus on that one then since one of ypou suggested i focus on one at a time.

Redcat Rampage - OBR Engine 34cc (Carb 1107) Settings Ive been running: L= 1 7/8 H= 1 5/8
FG SportLine Porsche - OBR Engine (Carb 990) Settings ive been running: L= 1 3/4 H= 1 3/8
XCR 1000 - Original Rampage Engine 32cc (Carb 990) Settings Ive been running L= 1 5/8 H= 1 1/8

All spark plugs i use are NGK CMR7H

Thanks
 
Sorry bud but you really can't compare your weed whacker to these engines. And yes they are a ferrari compared to your weed whacker. Yes ethanol can mess with these carbs.. if that wasn't true why is there a ethanol resistant diaphragm available? You don't belong in the hobby if your going to be ignorant to the fact that fuel can be a cause to your problems. Have you touched any of the needles on the carbs? Again this isn't a weedwhacker you tune these for performance.


STOP COMPARING THESE TO A WEEDWHACKER! your weedwhacker is built differently and is designed to be throw away. Nobody fixes weedwhackers anymore


FFS don't get poopy with us because your 100 dollar weedwhacker runs great but your 1000 dollar rc cars can't run to save their lives
 
Striikar said:
Guys remember he came here for help. Crapping on him ,no matter how uninformed he may be accomplish"s nothing but hard feelings. Everyone's makes mistakes and no one knows it all - even if they think so in their own head.

Yeah I said it...🏁
Show him the right way "oh Jedi rc masters"
Click to expand...
👆
Yeah, he is right, sry bro
Mabe you do not have that much knowledge on these... but we are all here to spread our knowledge and ideas and learn from others.
 
pfrederi said:
I really appreciate all the feedback.

Ok So I think I pointed out in the begining that Im not claiming to be an expert on carb tuning because Im not. Im hoping to be but like i said i get a lot of input from lot of different sources and just when i think i have it down something throws me for a loop so i could very well be part of the problem. I didnt think that these were high performance ferarri vehicles either. theyre hobby grade yes but i didnt think it would be that sensitive to needing to have to run ethanol free fuel, rebuilding carbs and the like. All of which I would love to get good at i just didnt think all this would be required to enjoy the hobby. I always figured, hey if my 2stroke weed whacker runs reliable EVERYTIME w/o any modifications or spark plug or coil change for years then why am i having so much of an issue with these? theyre not Hi Performance vehicles for crying out loud lol.
So to your point Ive ran out all of the old gasoline that was sitting in there for about 6mons over the winter. It ran ok. Whatever i didtn finish running i drained out and topped off all 3 RCs with fresh 93 octane (w oil mixture). But even after that is when i was experiencing some of the issues. Are you saying this can mess up the carb?? And again why doesn't my weedwhacker not get gummed up because gas has been sitting there for like a year.

So heres some additional info. Dnt laugh at some of my carb settings but these are what was working last i ran them. Ill start with my FG Sprotline Porsche and focus on that one then since one of ypou suggested i focus on one at a time.

Redcat Rampage - OBR Engine 34cc (Carb 1107) Settings Ive been running: L= 1 7/8 H= 1 5/8
FG SportLine Porsche - OBR Engine (Carb 990) Settings ive been running: L= 1 3/4 H= 1 3/8
XCR 1000 - Original Rampage Engine 32cc (Carb 990) Settings Ive been running L= 1 5/8 H= 1 1/8

All spark plugs i
Click to expand...

Since you have 2 OBR engines, just get 1
https://oneillbrothers.com/collecti...cts/1807-walbro-wt-1242-high-performance-carb. And replace 1 of your old carb to see if it fix all your problem. If it does then get 2 more for the others. That what I would do if I was you.
 
Last edited:
Rep732 said:
Sorry bud but you really can't compare your weed whacker to these engines. And yes they are a ferrari compared to your weed whacker. Yes ethanol can mess with these carbs.. if that wasn't true why is there a ethanol resistant diaphragm available? You don't belong in the hobby if your going to be ignorant to the fact that fuel can be a cause to your problems. Have you touched any of the needles on the carbs? Again this isn't a weedwhacker you tune these for performance.


STOP COMPARING THESE TO A WEEDWHACKER! your weedwhacker is built differently and is designed to be throw away. Nobody fixes weedwhackers anymore


FFS don't get poopy with us because your 100 dollar weedwhacker runs great but your 1000 dollar rc cars can't run to save their lives
Click to expand...

WOW!!! Sorry dude. Touched a nerve there i guess. I dnt really have time for KB warriors. So keep up the good work and have a blessed day. I WILL continuer in the hobby THANK YOU!!! Im sorry i didnt check with you first on if i can be a member in the hobby. SMH. Not wastging anymore space on you dude.
RcJunkie13 said:
I take back this post
Click to expand...
Let ur inner troll free
Striikar said:
Guys remember he came here for help. Crapping on him ,no matter how uninformed he may be accomplish"s nothing but hard feelings. Everyone's makes mistakes and no one knows it all - even if they think so in their own head.

Yeah I said it...🏁
Show him the right way "oh Jedi rc masters"
Click to expand...

Appreciate the positive feedback. i understand this is some peoples highlight of their day where they shine with their infinite knowledge in 2stroke so be your best self. If that includes belittling someone else then I guess thats another issue all together. Im going to continue in this hobby and whatever other hobbies i desire. Folks like that just wastes time and space. But again appreciate the feedback.
So anyways back to the subject I plan to focus on my FG Sportline Porsche first. I remember someone recommending rebuilding the carb. Ive done that just on a whim. Well not rebuild but i took it apart which was very tedious with all the small parts and cleaned it out with spray electrronic cleaner and put back together very carefully. It worked so i guess i did it ok. But does anyone have a good link or info on how to upgrade and/or rebuild with upgraded parts (whats recommended)??

Thanks
 
Last edited:
pfrederi said:
WOW!!! Sorry dude. Touched a nerve there i guess. I dnt really have time for KB warriors. So keep up the good work and have a blessed day. I WILL continuer in the hobby THANK YOU!!! Im sorry i didnt check with you first on if i can be a member in the hobby. SMH. Not wastging anymore space on you dude.

Let ur inner troll free


Appreciate the positive feedback. i understand this is some peoples highlight of their day where they shine with their infinite knowledge in 2stroke so be your best self. If that includes belittling someone else then I guess thats another issue all together. Im going to continue in this hobby and whatever other hobbies i desire. Folks like that just wastes time and space. But again appreciate the feedback.
So anyways back to the subject I plan to focus on my FG Sportline Porsche first. I remember someone recommending rebuilding the carb. Ive done that just on a whim. Well not rebuild but i took it apart which was very tedious with all the small parts and cleaned it out with spray electrronic cleaner and put back together very carefully. It worked so i guess i did it ok. But does anyone have a good link or info on how to upgrade and/or rebuild with upgraded parts (whats recommended)??

Thanks
Click to expand...
There is a carb sticky, with step by step directions. You will need the proper tools, and a carb rebuild kit. You will also at minimum need a can of carb cleaner. The upgraded parts, consists of ethonal resistant diaphragm and a primer bulb. I personally wouldnt waste the money on the obr carb as you haven't determined if you have a carb issue yet. Standard carb kits are $8.00 the carb you were told to buy is $79.00. Spend the $8.00 first, get the $7.00 walbro metering lever tool. You'll need it in the future anyway.

Although this hobby may have started with weedwacker engines, these hobby grade engines we have today, are not your weedwacker engines. Displacement is about all they share in common. First, theres no EPA regulations to contend with. Second they arnt worried if it will start and run if you neglected it, they expect a $300.00 engine to be taken care of. Third the porting and configuration of the engines are designed around power. Your weedwacker makes around 1 hp, the smallest of our rc engines nearly triples that output. Keep it in perspective, they can be a bit picky and needle settings can change from time to time. Typically once set its fairly consistent.
 
Seandonato73 said:
There is a carb sticky, with step by step directions. You will need the proper tools, and a carb rebuild kit. You will also at minimum need a can of carb cleaner. The upgraded parts, consists of ethonal resistant diaphragm and a primer bulb. I personally wouldnt waste the money on the obr carb as you haven't determined if you have a carb issue yet. Standard carb kits are $8.00 the carb you were told to buy is $79.00. Spend the $8.00 first, get the $7.00 walbro metering lever tool. You'll need it in the future anyway.

Although this hobby may have started with weedwacker engines, these hobby grade engines we have today, are not your weedwacker engines. Displacement is about all they share in common. First, theres no EPA regulations to contend with. Second they arnt worried if it will start and run if you neglected it, they expect a $300.00 engine to be taken care of. Third the porting and configuration of the engines are designed around power. Your weedwacker makes around 1 hp, the smallest of our rc engines nearly triples that output. Keep it in perspective, they can be a bit picky and needle settings can change from time to time. Typically once set its fairly consistent.
Click to expand...
Ok Ill start there. Appreciated the constructive feedback.

I picked up a spark plug tester because now my FG Sportsline Porsche is not starting at all which it was starting the last time i took it out it was just running erratic. The tester shows no spark ( BTW I found that first on my Rampage as well and changed out the coil because i had a spare). Another thing that throws me for a loop is how coils may go bad just out the blue. Ill have to order a couple coils to keep on hand. Ive had to change out at least 4 coils in past year or so. So i guess ill focus on the XCR1000 first since thats the only one running now until i get the new coils. What do you run your 990 Carb settings at? I may set back to default or should ileave where it is now where its running?

Ill also get the parts/tools you suggested including the carb rebuilder kit. Can you suggest a onestop shop where i can get the parts kit etc? Also your comments on "needle settings can change from time to time. Typically once set its fairly consistent." I think thats where the majority of my issues may lie. "Keep it in perspective" good point.
 
Ok so with showing very little to no respect .....this puts an end to this .......dose anybody else wanna try
bro come GIF
 
Back
Top
✖
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks