ORIGINAL: alan0899
ORIGINAL: cowboychris244
I have an OS 46AX that just about always starts backwards when it is cold (engine- not physical temperature). As a matter of fact, it will do this five or six times before it finally goes the right way. I am starting the engine by hand. If I use an electric starter, I don't have the problem. It doesn't backfire - I have to put my hand in front of or behind the prop to feel the wind to tell which direction it is turning. After the first flight of the day there are no more issues. What could it possibly be?
G'day Mate,
You are overpriming it, open throttle fully, prime it for 3 turns of the prop, then flick it over about 5 or 6 times, throttle back to idle, hook up glow driver, & bump against compression, don't flip it over backwards, just bump up to compression, ie, backwards & it will start the right way every time.
It helps to have the prop, so that it is horizontal, when it is just coming on to compression, that is the best way to have a prop oriented, 1) it is easier to flip start & 2) because if you have a dead stick, the prop will stop at the horizontal & won't get caught on the ground during landing.
That's how I do it also. I don't even touch the prop blades, I just grab the spinner and give it a twist backwards and let the momentum take the engine into the compression stroke. That's also how I start four stroke engines.
If it does start backwards, I find that I can reverse the engine by slowly closing the idle trim until the engine almost dies, suddenly there will be a noticable increase in idle rpm, the engine just reversed itself.