steveelkin

I recently sealed the front and back plates of my Vertex .18 engine as well as install a new pull start cord. My glow plug and igniter are good, as well as the piston/piston sleeve 'seal' I read somewhere that the factory settings for the the low and high side ports on the carb are 3 1/2 ccw turns out from the lowest setting. I'm not sure if this is correct? Fuel is primed and I'm even getting good vacuum on the fuel lines. I'm not leaking any fuel anywhere and everything is tight. I sprayed some water with soap on all of the seals on the engine to see if I have any air leaks... which I dont So I'm getting good compression.

I also referred to this forum [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5174647/tm.htm]here[/link] for some basic troubleshooting tips. The engine is not even trying to fire.

I haven't yet cleaned my carburetor but I am about to try that next I suppose.
If anyone has any other suggestions I'll take them... And like I said earlier, Im not sure about these factory carb settings. If anyone could verify, that would be a huge help too.

Thanks,

Steve

nitrosportsandrunner

sounds kinda rich settings to me.
those could be factory settings for a motor not yet broken in.

try 2 & 1/2 turns out

and make sure the idle is set good. look at the carb' slide opening. 1-2mm open usually is good

steveelkin

Ok I tried that still nothing. It ran for maybe 5 seconds and died. Can't get it started again

nitrosportsandrunner

since you cant get it started again, it most likely flooded.

remove the glow plug, turn upside down and pull the cord a few times to clear the motor of excess fuel.

put the plug back in, lean out the fuel mixture some more and try again.

steveelkin

I had tried that as well with no dice. Now my glow start ignitor is dead so it's on the charger. I'm somewhat curious as to if the glow plug that I have is not compatible or something.
I went to my local hobby spot and this is pretty much all they carried I would imagine that this wouldn't be the case. I did however take the carb apart and clean it. Everything looked good. I guess I'll try again here in a little while and update my results.

nitrosportsandrunner

a #7 plug should be OK.
normally a #8 would be used.
but the #7 will work just fine with proper tuning.
the hotter the plug, the more performance you can get....but at the risk of losing relaibility.

AllAboutFunHobbies

Also the hotter the engine will run. Check your exhaust gasket and make sure it's not leaking or cracked. If the exhaust gasket is leaking or cracked the fuel tank won't prime. Also check the fuel lines, the fuel tank cap and take off the line going to the carb and blow gently into the one coming from the exhaust, if it's hard to blow the pick up tube is blocked and you need a new tank, make sure the high speed needle isn't turned in to far or it will block off fuel flow.

nic905

ok, im pretty sure iv your answer! I had the EXACT same problem, it made no sense at all to me, it started just fine before, but now? NOTHING! i lost half the skin from my nuckles.. okm here you go.. losten your glow plug, im amazed, this engine will run just fine with the plug sooo loose its vibrating around with fuel popping out the top! so... when you stick the plug in only tighten it to the point of minimun resistance, you will notice it will turn over much more easily, mine now starts EVERY SINGLE time with waaay less than half a pull, before? it was horrid, it just would not start.. hope this helps you!

nic905

UPDATE: I came across this previous post of mine and thought id update it since ivlearnt much...obviously what is happening here is its slightly decompressing the engine, a better way of doing this iv found is uplace a washer or two ontop of the existing one ontop of the glowplug, this way you can tighten it up again, but having the same effect now due to the added spacing of the newly inslalled washers( i just take a couple of a srare plug or two)

this has an added bonus as it seems to greatly extend the engines life by takeing a little stress off it when its brand new, and then as it naturally does wear in you get the added bonus of being able to return dropping compression by simplyremoveing a washer, one at a time to increase your compression again! woohoo! so you A) solve the initial problem of "why the hell did you start yesterday, but not even close today????!!!???" problem, whilst greatly increasing the working life of your engine, and ALSO being able to keep its compression even through its life!!

hope this helps anybody who stumbles across this thread possibly years from now...