BoiseBee

My Feedback: (3)

For two cycle, you can't go wrong. I prefer saito for 4 stroke. If you need something specialized and have some experience, there are other brands that will require some learning but will provide good service.

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

That's the whole point. I think all the guy was probably looking for was a safe buy with economy in mind. A sport OS isn't expensive - for example the LA .46, $86.00 at the LHS.. what more do you want? And you can be pretty confident it's not going to be the cause of any grief if you treat it fairly. That's a pretty good litmus test for quality. It might not be the longest lasting engine in the world, but it won't demand much of a beginner other than the very basics of engine care and it's not going to disintegrate before it's given a good run for the money. By then the owner will have picked up a few things here and there and be better prepared to branch out and make informed choices. Or so we hope.

izzy-israel-73

Is a bad engine a engine that hasn't been run in the right way ???

izzy-israel-73

Running in a engine has alot to do with wether a engine is a good engine or a bad one!

MJD

My Feedback: (1)

Bad running in probably explains a percentage of the negative opinions.

Sport_Pilot

I wouldn'ty be so sure. The TT's don't seem to have many complaints and the Aviastar has a few. Consumer Reports consider surveys where subscribers send in their issues and satifactions. If you get a bad engine from a good manufacture or a good engine from a poor one, then your experiance would be completely opposite the survey results. Good companies sometimes make bad engines and bad companies sometimes make good engines.

NM2K

My Feedback: (14)

Ah'm tellin' ya fellas. You jes can't get nuttin' pass some o dese guys. Deys just too darn sharp, dese Days.


Ed Cregger

ssautter

Stay away from them steam engines....Too much extra thrust for an airplane!?

GallopingGhostler

I've had an engine that was bad; defective glow plug. It lit, but engine would not kick off. Then replaced it with a good hot plug, turned it into a different engine, easy starting, easy throttling, etc.

Of course I suppose there are some who do not know how to read directions, then wonder why their engine doesn't function as it should (bad tank position, wrong heat range plug, wrong break in propeller, wrong type fuel, etc.)

maxtenet

Funny thread! The worst engine I've ever run was a Raduga .42. Plenty of power but shook like a paint mixer. I collect engines and love 'em all. Some of the worst have the most interesting history like the Stas .40, the Fok engines or the Alags and Mark 17's. The stories behind the engines and their origins are far more compelling than which one is better than the other. At this point in time I don't think you can actually buy a "bad" engine. Sure, some may need more attention than others but that is the fun of running a glow instead of an electric. Being able to figure out and tune one correctly is a satisfying experience in itself.

Max

If ya have any ya don't like, I'll take 'em off your hands!

ThunderBoat42

My Feedback: (1)

AMENon the K&B
Agreed not the most powerful but easy to use and reliable.

I have a Sportster that is now 20+ yrs old and still one flip start (after prime).

YS,... I have been fortunate to not have any issues with my YSengines. but I dont overload them with high pitch props. There is so much power they just arent working very hard.

jeffie8696

IN my experience poor running engines are usually caused by poorly constructed carbs. There can be a lot of issues that affect them but the carb is the most comon in my experience. Ihave seldom seen a bad air bleed carb but quite a few twin needle or automixture carbs

earlwb

Actually there were some bad engines made over the years. Mostly the bad engines were made way back before the internet and modern communications came about. Way back then people in one locale or region would not know what others were doing or finding out about things. That period was from the early 1940's though to around the middle 1950's. A.H.C (America's Hobby Center) and Gotham Hobbies were both notorious for selling poorly made engines that didn't work. They were able to get away with it as people didn't find out about the engines having problems as information spread very slowly then. Nowadays word about a bad engine spreads fast and a company wouldn't be able to sell too many of them before word got out and around.

Another term came about where bad engines were called "Slag" engines as they tended to be manufactured from low quality materials. Now some of these types of engines tended to run, but didn't run for long as if they ran, they tended to wear out fast. They usually were found with a aluminum unhardened cylinders using aluminum or iron pistons.
They used to coin phrases like "If you got it to run you wore it out already". But some of those engines did run and would tend to last a while, albeit not a long time though.

So some of the first "slag" engines were the A.H.C. diesel and Deezel both 2cc displacement model engines. Just a few worked, they were sold cheap and many people bought them much to their dismay and frustration. Another engine was the classic GHQ engine, they even confused the issue with selling a reverse prop with some engines too. Like usual a few engines would work which obfuscated the issue for everyone else of course.

Other notable engines was the Thor, Buzz, Genie, Rogers, Synchro. A company inSpain carried on the tradition with some more horrid engines as well.

Some of the .049 and .06 size engines weren't intended to last very long too. Since they were on ready to fly control line planes, the manufacturer probably figured the planes would crash and be broken in short order so they could cost reduce them more to sell more cheaply too.

Many years ago someone gave me a Buzz engine and I used it for a short while flying control line. But even though it ran I didn't like the engine all that much as it didn't have enough power. I had quickly replaced it with a McCoy .35 as soon as I had the money to get one. At the time I had crashed a plane with a mcCoy .35 on it and broke the engine and didn't have enough money or parts to fix the engine. All us kids wanted Fox engines at the time, but they cost more than the cheap mcCoy engines. Some people tend to equate the McCoy engines as being slag engines too. But they tended to last longer than the real slag engines did. The main trick to getting the engines to work and wear Ok was using lots of castor oil in the fuel.

Sport_Pilot

The early and latest McCoy engines did last. The 21 series lasted well but some thought the low starting compression was due to poor manufacture. Actually it was the dykes ring, most CL people did not use starters so it was not a good choice for a beginners CL engine.

landeck

My Feedback: (1)

The only engines I felt were bad were the McCoy .29 Red Heads. I have two and each one broke the con rod within ten flights. This was back in the '60s. I have had good luck with Fox, Enya, Magnum, and OS. Also Thunder Tiger and Super Tigre are good engines. I have three OK Cubs (two .049 and one .074) from the '50s that still run. Of the 70 some engines I have had over 60 years, only the McCoy .29 Red Heads were poor quality.

Bruce

Mr Cox

The only really bad engine I've had is a CS .061 engine. The casting was full of pores and the crankcase would make bubbles while the engine ran...

earlwb

Bummer on the holes or voids or cavities. I suppose one could fill them in with JB Weld epoxy or something. I remember someone having a Russian engine with more worse voids in the crankcase like that too.

jeffie8696

That would surely put an engine on the list.

modeltronics

My Feedback: (27)

I've been watching this thread waiting to see how long it would take to see CS engines on the list. It took longer than I thought it would.

I bought a CS 40 at the Toledo show NIB from the distributor for $30. It came with 3 carbs (all the same) and I couldn't get any of them to work right on that engine. I put an ASP carb on it and it ran good but the engine was worn out in one season. It had totaly lost it pinch. To me the box it came in was worth more than the engine.

earlwb

I also have a couple of those Russian made ABC Elfin 2.5cc diesel engines that were bad right out of the box. They did the ABC cylinder all wrong. Even if you got one to run, as soon as it heated up it lost its compression.

I didn't get any CS engines so I never mentioned them yet. I haven't been too interested in finding out yet, if they improved them or not.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

Anyone else ever heard of an "Eagle" .46? Definitely NOT a Fox...but a made in China clone of a Magnum .46 (would that make it a clone of a clone? ) It has sort of a Magnum like feel to it...or maybe a Leo or ??? It's a true ABC P/L and has a nice amount of pinch...not a bad overall fit / finish.

It came as an optional engine on a Cermark Bobcat...this was about 10 years or so ago...
I bought a Bobcat w/ a Thunder Tiger .42 GP mounted inverted...and a friend got his w/ the optional upright mounted "Eagle" .46 that also came with an extra carb, that was supposedly "set-up for break-in" (at least that's what the instructions said...and neither carb worked for diddly ) You were supposed to swap carbs after break-in...

Anyway...long story somewhat shorter...I got the Eagle from my friend because he got fed up with it...
I put a spare Webra TN II carb from a .50GT on it and it runs great now...

bchapman

Stay away from any of the MDS engines. The quality control was bad on these engines. Some were great, others were terrible. Horizon Hobby imported these engines from Russian in the early 2000s, but in a couple of years they stopped due in part to the quality control issues.

bchapman

I beg to differ. Although the fuel may be cheaper, I've seen a lot of guys struggle with these, just as much as glow, sometime more so. They also are more complex, due to the kill switches and electronic ignition or magneto, and are not suitable for a beginner in my opinion.

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Go to the dark side:ELECTRICS

Mr Cox

For more problematic motors?