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tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 2:44:56 AM   
smackie


 

Posts: 5
Joined: 11/10/2002
From: KS
Status: offline 		I have two tower hobbies .46 engines and neither one of them wants to run right. They start good, idle good and have good power, but after 4 or 5 minuters, they just quit. I have these engines on 3 different models and have replaced tanks, fuel lines, glow plugs, and completely changed the carburator and spray bar assembly on one engine but still have problems with it. I am burning 15 percent cool power and running a 10x7 prop. I have replaced glow plugs several times. If I leave the glow driver on the plug, it seems to run better. Some of the local guys don't like the fox miracle plugs and think that is the problem. However I have run these plugs for many years in other engine brands, and never had a problem with them. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks.
       Post #: 1

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 3:25:57 AM   
ABELL


 

Posts: 219
Joined: 2/6/2006
From: Fayette, AL, USA
Status: offline 		I own two Tower .46 engines myself. At different times they acted as yours are. At times they would not idle well , at times they would not transisition well. Now the engines run near perfect. It seems the problem was lack of tank pressure due to that big tuned pipe hanging on the side of it. On someone elses advice here at RCU I tried a golfball sized Piece of COARSE steel wool in the pipe which raised the tank pressure. That seemed to solve the problem so I built a permanent baffle in the pipe out of aluminum. Now have about 100 flights on one of the engines and about 30 on the other with no problems at all. The baffle cuts the power some but it still out preforms an OS .46 FX in the same plane

(in reply to smackie)
       Post #: 2

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 4:18:02 AM   
w8ye



Posts: 17490
Joined: 12/11/2001
From: Taylortown, OH, USA
Status: online 		I use the TOWER POWER plugs

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       Post #: 3

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 4:21:39 PM   
Glen Wearden


 

Posts: 170
Joined: 7/12/2004
From: Caldwell, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Read this thread and decided to look at my Tower 46, which has caused a lot of frustration. I didn't realize that the muffler has no baffle. I have a baffle from an OS LA, so I decided to experiment. It's too small to fit in the Tower muffler, so I secured it at the exhaust end with red Permatex Hi Temp silicone. The small end of the cone is pointed toward the engine. Haven't run it, yet, but we'll see. Glen

(in reply to w8ye)
       Post #: 4

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 4:49:46 PM   
XTOL



Posts: 524
Joined: 10/15/2004
From: Galesburg, IL, USA
Status: offline 		I had lots of experience with this motor and I think where most
people go wrong with this motor is insufficient break in time
and setting the needles (both) too lean.

This motor is very tight and requires a considerable amount of
time to break in. And it tends to lean out in the air a LOT more
than most engines.

If you set the needles so its running good on the ground
I guarantee it will be too lean in the air. Richen those needles
up a lot. The needles interact so you will need to adjust
them both.

It also seems picky about plugs. We had really bad luck with
Tower Plugs and an OS #8 wasnt much better. We had the
best luck with a FOX idle bar plug.

Its a finicky motor but some tweaking of the needles will
get it right. It does not need baffles in the muffler. It
may help but the lack of baffles is not the problem.

Mike Hammer

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       Post #: 5

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 7:36:36 PM   
redfox435cat



Posts: 1030
Joined: 3/7/2005
From: Lompoc , CA, USA
Status: offline 		the main problem with the motor are air leaks. the back plate the carb needle and throat leak like a siv. I RTVed the carb throat and the back plate and pack the high needle in vasoline and then they ran great. They also do lean quit a bit in the air and that is the air leaks getting worse as it heats up. Once you plug the hole they are great engines. I gave up on them though. Now run thunder tigers with the tower muffler and haven't looked back

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RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/12/2006 10:00:50 PM   
Scar



Posts: 2276
Joined: 10/1/2002
From: Peoria Hts, IL, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: smackie

I have two tower hobbies .46 engines and neither one of them wants to run right. They start good, idle good and have good power, but after 4 or 5 minuters, they just quit. I have these engines on 3 different models and have replaced tanks, fuel lines, glow plugs, and completely changed the carburator and spray bar assembly on one engine but still have problems with it. I am burning 15 percent cool power and running a 10x7 prop. I have replaced glow plugs several times. If I leave the glow driver on the plug, it seems to run better. Some of the local guys don't like the fox miracle plugs and think that is the problem. However I have run these plugs for many years in other engine brands, and never had a problem with them. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Oddly enough, a friend had similar trouble with an OS .91 FX. Runs great, idles great, flies great for a few minutes, and goes deadstick. He put a baffle in the cowl to direct cooling air over the fins, same result.

Then he tried a tank of my 10% Cool Power. No problems. He tried this a couple times, and just switched to 10%, after confirming the difference.

You might try some 10%. Good luck,
Dave Olson

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       Post #: 7

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/13/2006 3:25:54 AM   
Glen Wearden


 

Posts: 170
Joined: 7/12/2004
From: Caldwell, TX, USA
Status: offline 		I certainly agree with you as to the air leaks. Sometimes I think my engine is a flying blob of RTV. I'm going to try the baffle thing as a last resort before putting the engine on the end of a throw line. The sad thing is that when it's running properly, this is a monster 46, and does a great job of yanking a Superstar 60 around the sky. I've wondered if it would give a lot less trouble if Tower would put the needle valve in the carb like the Super Tigre, Irvine, and others. I imagine they're worried about getting sued when someone gets sliced up by the prop. Oh well ..........Glen

(in reply to redfox435cat)
       Post #: 8

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/14/2006 5:00:57 AM   
smackie


 

Posts: 5
Joined: 11/10/2002
From: KS
Status: offline 		Thanks for all the info guys. I think the first thing I will do is to "seal" the engine in as many places as is possible for air to leak. If that doesn't do it, I may try messing with the baffle idea. As far as the break in idea, most of these engines today are designed to break in in a realatively short amount of time. Many years ago when I use to run the old Fox and K&B engines with the cast iron sleeves, we spent months breaking in these engines. Once they were properly broke in they never did wear out. Even in those days though, I didn't experience this kind of inconsistency. Thanks again for all your help.

(in reply to Glen Wearden)
       Post #: 9

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/14/2006 5:48:01 AM   
XTOL



Posts: 524
Joined: 10/15/2004
From: Galesburg, IL, USA
Status: offline
quote:

As far as the break in idea, most of these engines today are designed to break in in a realatively short amount of time.


That may be true of the typical OS or Thundertiger ABN engines but it
is not true of the Tower 46. It is of true ABC construction and is
VERY tight. It will take much longer to break in and is prone to
overheating if run lean until it is well broken in.

Mike Hammer


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       Post #: 10

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/14/2006 1:16:14 PM   
Stripes


 

Posts: 640
Joined: 5/17/2003
From: Orchard park, NY, USA
Status: offline 		I bought one last year and put a quarter over the carburetor opening and pushed down while tightening the cinch bolt. That's all I did. It started right up and has run like a charm ever since. No particular break in was done. It just runs strong and idles beautifully.

That being said, it was mounted horizontally on a Hots and I experienced some difficultly when I recently mounted it vertically with the tank just a bit low. The engine would simply quit every time at six minutes. The problem was cured by using a scrap MDS muffler which has a baffle in it. The Tower engine uses the OS muffler mount pattern so any compatible muffler will work. The reduced volume and baffle reduce engine power but rather that than an engine that quits.

(in reply to XTOL)
       Post #: 11

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/15/2006 5:52:52 AM   
smackie


 

Posts: 5
Joined: 11/10/2002
From: KS
Status: offline 		Actually when breaking in an ABC engine, you don't want to run it to rich for very long. As this will not allow the sleeve to come to proper operating temp thus not allowing the sleeve to expand sufficiently. If this happens for long, you can damage the engine in a short amount of time. thanks.

(in reply to Stripes)
       Post #: 12

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/15/2006 12:45:20 PM   
Stripes


 

Posts: 640
Joined: 5/17/2003
From: Orchard park, NY, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: smackie

Actually when breaking in an ABC engine, you don't want to run it to rich for very long. As this will not allow the sleeve to come to proper operating temp thus not allowing the sleeve to expand sufficiently. If this happens for long, you can damage the engine in a short amount of time. thanks.


What other post does this refer to, or did you just toss it in for the good of all?

(in reply to smackie)
       Post #: 13

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/15/2006 2:51:06 PM   
speedster 1919



Posts: 1467
Joined: 12/17/2004
From: Martinsville, IN, USA
Status: offline 		The fox miricle plug may be a little hot for 15% nitro. My experence with tower engines is they like more oil than the cool power 17% They run fine on 5-10% nitro and a fox idlebar plug is just fine. You have 2 engines and they both run crappy so you need to go back to the drawing board. These engines are patterned off older super tigres and will keep running lean and unload in air more than other brands of engines.

< Message edited by speedster 1919 -- 6/15/2006 2:53:46 PM >

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       Post #: 14

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/15/2006 3:43:01 PM   
bob27s



Posts: 4831
Joined: 4/9/2002
From: Cleveland, OH, USA
Status: offline 		The tower .46 engines are good, well designed powerplants. Your problem here - TOO much prop.

The engines have to be allowed to turn up. They have a larger carb, and some agressive porting and timing.

Break them in on a 9x6 on the bench. At least 15 minutes. Take them up near peak rpm, then back-off about 1000 rpm. Then move on to a 10x6. Run again at least 10 minutes. Find peak rpm, back off around 600. Get the run time on them under controlled conditions. At the middle of that last tank of fuel, take the time to make final adjustments to the low speed mixture so you get smooth transition and a good idle. Then move on to installing it in the plane.

Prop selection - 9x7, 9x8, 10x6. The 10x7 is a good prop, but my experience is that it tends to be a bit too much load for the Tower 46 engine, especially when new. You can run more prop on it, but by virute of your post where you are having some issues, start of with the smaller prop.

The engines have to turn up over 14,000 peak rpm at full throttle to run properly. This by virtue of the semi-tuned muffler. It provides a bit of boost up around 14,500 to 16,000 rpm. Select a prop that allows the engine to run above 14,500 peak ground rpm, set the high end needle so it is back-off around 600 rpm from that, and it runs like a champ.

The engine needs a hot plug. The OS 8 is too cold. K&B 1-L , McCoy56, and even the 4-cycle plugs work well (why the mirical plug tends to work ok too).

I hope this is helpful

Bob


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Jett Engineering - Engine Mfg Support Forum Host

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       Post #: 15

RE: tower hobbies .46 engines - 6/15/2006 11:15:35 PM