Hi!
I received the Monsoon July 25th, so a month ago. I ran 1/3 of a gallon of nitro in it. I think it's the most beautiful product from Redcat, and it's the best one to fit my needs. It's very fast and very powerful, and it's so much fun to run when it works.

Unfortunately, it's not that often that I can run a thank or two without something breaking. Here's the story:

Break-in: Went ok, had a lot of starting to do because the glow plug ignitor sold in the starter kit wouldn't work for more than a few minutes after a 5-hour charge. The exhaust pipe kept coming off while applying throttle, and when it held on, was found casually melting the fuel tank. So after supergluing everything to the right spot, it doesn't come off anymore but still melts the fuel tank from time to time. But hey, plastic is thick, isn't it?

Running it for the first few times, I saw that the left front wheel kept bouncing a little. After inspection, the foam inside has made a hard bump at one spot, so nothing I can do. But hey, who isn't looking for new tires? Also, the 4 bolts holding both steering hubs were always coming off even if locktited. Finally, 2 of them stripped from unscrewing constantly, I had to put longer bolts to reach the last threads and superglue everything. Now it's good.

I thought the shocks were a bit weak, so I opened them up, and they were missing 5-10 drops of oil each. Another run to my LHS, 30miles away. But again, I guess shock oil should be filled regularly? Anyway shocks are great now.

Then the steering servo went dead. The gears were fine, the electric motor just jammed. Redcat said there was a problem with few servos, under 30 day warranty, so I was waiting for a new one free (thanks). In the meantime, I bought a Hitec HS-645mg servo from my LHS, 70$, with no warranty of course, because they don't have any. He told me he never saw one broken, it should last decades. 1 tank of fuel, it hesitated to turn right sometimes. I thought it was the batteries. 2nd tank, (in the street, no rough driving or jumping) and the servo gears just went. Probably they were already weak or partially broken from company, but anyway, it cost me a new set of gears to get it to work. Well, at least he cannot say he hasn't seen one broken since he sells them. I'm always glad to teach new things to people, even if I'm the one to pay.

Then, it would not prime and start as easily, and finally I refueled only to find that the whole tank was dripping fuel enough to empty the tank in 5-10 minutes. When I compared the fuel tank to a new one, it seemed that there was a problem in the molding of the tank located under the fuel filter, where plastic was too thin and finally made a fine circular crack around the bump under the tank. Luckily, I found out there was one Redcat dealer in my area, great guy, so we managed to fix something up with Redcat so I could leave him my leaking fuel tank and dead servo for new ones on the spot. Tanks again Redcat, it's appreciated not to have to wait a few weeks.

So ready to go with the fuel tank and new servo. Ran 1 fuel tank in the backyard lawn to try it out, when the Monsoon started to sound funny, a gear-stripping-another-one funny. I stopped the engine as soon as I could, but too late, the clutch bell gears were worn down. Of course I locktited the engine mounts and aligned the gears with the piece of paper, but both bolts from the right side of the engine going into the spacers towards the body just decided to run away with the threads of the spacer blocs. The engine was then moving sideways and had the clutchbell stripped. Anyway, since I now have a dealer nearby, I got the new clutchbell, bolts and engine mounts.

Before running again, I decided to take everything but the engine apart to re-locktite everything, to make sure that nothing else would fail on me. So after 10 hours of hard fun, everything was back together, ready-to-run, as when it came out of the box. I was going to ride with a friend, but decided to do half a tank in the driveway to make sure that all was working properly before loading it into the car.

After 2-3 minutes running great, a kind of "pop" just stopped the beautiful purr of the sh .28 engine. I was getting used to it's sudden dying on me sometimes, since I was running it very rich, as confirmed by my Redcat dealer, who offered to tune/lean it out for me. Of course I wanted to tune it myself when everything would be running smootly for at least two consecutive tanks. But anyway, this "pop" was unusual, and new for me. So, leaning on the beast and trying the pull start, I find the engine protesting all he can by being seized up.

So now, after 31 days, I haven't had the time to have fun running it, I only had fun repairing it. Now to the point of this post. My friend bought a Monster GT a year ago, paid twice the price of the Monsoon. He never checks it, tune it, never locktites anything, and it always works fine. Now, adding another 100$ for a new engine (thanks to the warranty), I'm almost reaching the price of his ride, and I'm still not able to have an afternoon of fun. The question is, am I very, very unlucky, very very dumb (which I doubt since I have good mechanics skills), or should I buy another brand? Please help! I'm on a tight budget, I've been on disability for almost the last year because of constant mega-migraines, so I bought this to keep me from getting crazy not leaving the house. And now, it's giving me headaches (please, not more...).

So advice anyone? Should I replace the engine and then everything will be ok? Should I put it on a shelf for looks? Should I forget this hobby if I don't have 200$ to spend in parts every 1/3 of gallon of fuel??? Don't get me wrong, I really like the product, I don't want to put it down, I just want to know if it's like that/normal for most people or if I am the only one.

Thanks!

Patrick