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I crashed. I have an O.S 46AX. Dirt came through the carburetor and got into the whole engine. How should I clean the engine so I can safely start it again?

alan0899

G'day Mate,
First thing NOT to do, is turn the crankshaft, remove the carby, then you will need to strip the engine down completely. remove the head, make sure you have metric Allen keys, remove backplate, remove liner, mark conrod with a scratch, so you can put it back the same way it came out, slip conrod off crankshaft, remove conrod with piston attatched, push crankshaft out of engine from the front to the back, you will have already removed the prop nut, washer & prop driver, clean everything with methanol, blow it all dry with compressed air, oil bearings, & push crankshaft back in, spin crankshaft to feel if the bearings have a gritty feel, if they do, it is better to remove them, & try cleaning again, but removing them is another long story, you may need to get expert advice from a closer person than me.
If the bearings are OK, reassemble the engine using lots of light machine oil, in the reverse order that you disassembled it.
Now carburetor, don't remove low speed needle, remove the screw that holds the throttle barrel in, & slide it out, clean with pure methanol, then just blow it out with compressed air.
Oil & reassemble.
If in doubt, get expert HELP.

Dr1Driver

Alan tells you right. The engine must be completely taken apart. Wash the engine and parts with clean, fresh fuel. If anything doesn't feel smooth when moved, clean it again. You can use a toothbrush to do this. Bench-run the engine before flying it again.

Dr.1

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Im lucky that my father has been fixing car engines for over 40 years so he will help me on this one. I once saw a thread where a guy washed his engine in boiling water with cascade dishwasher soap. Anyone know how this works?

rlipsett

the water and soap are not too bad as long as you immediatly dry it and apply oil to all parts to prevent rusting. The steel is very susceptible to rust with warm water. I usually spray with some wd 40 first off then use gun oil to lub the parts but that preference is only beause it is convenient

flyer495th

This link will be a big help

http://www.masportaviator.com/ah.asp?CatID=2&ID=24

Villa

I probably have well over 100 crashes over the past 35 years. I usually remove the carburator and muffler and carefully flush the engine under running warm water in the kitchen sink. After a while I very very slowly turn the prop, while still flushing. I know that taking it apart is better, but usually I do not do that. Most of my engines are close to 10 years old and I use about 1/2 gallon of fuel per week.

RVman

I would take everything out like outlined above, its not necessary to remove the bearings. Then clean everything in fuel, the bearings might take some work if there is a lot of dirt in them. It depends how much dirt got in the engine. I had one where i couldn't turn the crankshaft since the whole engine was packed with dirt. Its in the crash forum with pics.. Also would be a good idea to take the carb completely apart. The engine i crashed had dirt in behind the barrel.

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I already cleaned the engine. I disassembled it completely and washed it in boiling water with cascade soap. Then I lubricated each and every moving part with mineral motor oil. Tomorrow I will be starting it again. Fortunately the prop always turned smooth and the bearings made it without catching dirt. I hope it all goes OK.