Reading this thread reminds me of when my friend got into nitro about 6 months ago. He came over my house and I showed him my t-maxx and he was amazed by it. The next day he calls me and says he went to the lhs and bought a t-maxx. So anyway, I helped him break it in and get it running. He liked it and all but I'd say just about every time he ran it he'd break something. Whether he crashed it or a freak accident something always broke. I ended up fixing his truck a bunch of times. He spent tons of money on it and never had as much fun as me with my t-maxx with 1 or 2 hop ups. So after having such a bad experience with nitro, he went to electric minis. I dont personally like them, but hey he likes it and atleast hes not giving up on the hobby. I'd say his t-maxx probably hasn't been run in about 4 months so his engine probably has rust inside the motor and now it's probably shot) So yea nitro can be tuff on the newbies.

By the way, I'm 14 and run 4 nitros. 1 is a car (Nitro 4-tec) 2 trucks(t-maxx 2.5 with OS .18tm/ Losi Lst2) and 1 nitro boat(proboat shockwave 36) The hardest time I had tuning was when my t-maxx had the 2.5 in it. It was my first truck and like all newbies I probably f*cked it up during break-in but all my nitros after that had not had a problem. Just remember to read the manual and be pacient! Every thing takes time. I also have some electrics but they're not nearly as fun as my nitros!

(No offence to my friend if he reads this post)