in my buggy i have an ofna .26 force. i havnt had it long. maybe 10-25 tanks since i broke it in. i had just been tuning it by sound/performance and stuff liek that. it seemed to be running great. today i got a temperature guage to see how hot its running. if going form the top of the cooling head or pointing it inside of it it was like a max of 260-270. if i went from the side at the bottom of the cooling head or the side of the engine it was like 310. so i tuned it richer to get it running at liek 270ish where it was really hot before, and the thing runs horribly. it has none of its power and is definatly not reaching its top rpms. so my questions. should i tun it back to how it was before? and if not how bad can that have hurt my engine. it was maybe running like this for 3-6 tanks before i checked the temp.

just a little update. i just re tuned it and after 75% of the tank was gone it was staying at 260 degrees. perfect. then i did several WOT passes for the rest of the tank and right when it ran out of fuel i took the temp and it was exactly 300. i usually dont do a lot of WOT passes liek that so is this an ok tune or should i go even riicher?

Sounds like a problem I had with a Go-Tech 26 engine. The pinch was so tight the engine overheated horribly and it never did break in.........it broke! It was soooo rich it would coat my finger with oil so it dripped and left a snail trail when driving around. It finally blew up! If you tried to run it hard at all even after 1/2 gallon of fuel it would just pop plugs left and right! I got another one just like it, took it apart and ran a brake hone through it a couple times. That cured the overheating problem and I am still running it on the same break in plug with no problems! I did some other mods to it as mentioned in my "Doubled my fuel economy" thread.

the pinch is absolutly perfect after a half gallon. it is not as tight as it was when i broke it in but its not loose. i have had other engies and i know what it shoudl be like. after a half a gallon i am still on my original plug.

It must be detonation or air leak.... or .......... ?

Oh! Still on original plug definately means it's not lean so I would set it back where you had it and go!

your temp gun might be off, I would get some one else that has a raytek (or one like them) to check it, I had a ofna PCR temp gun and I got a raytek and the ofna was any where from 10 - 30 degrees off.

or you can put a drop of water and it should boil off in 2 - 3 sec, if longer then you can lean it out a little, if sonner then you need to richen it. I had a Force 26 I couldn't keep it under 300 and thats running as rich as I could and it stay runnning, and I only got 2 gallons ou to of it.

when u say drop a drop of water on it. do u do that at the top of the cooling head or down to the botton of it next to the plug. also where do u take the temp from?

temp is alway taken from the glow plug, and thats where you put the drop of water next to the plug.

ohh ok. when i took the temp there it was only likr 260-270. when i took it from even lower but on the side of the engine that is where it was a little over 300. do you think im ok like that?

well it depends, what temp gun do you have? and you should try the water test, because if your temp gun is off, then the temp you see is void. like I said and from what I heard all RC temp guns all off, I know the flashpiont temp gun one guy said it was anywhere from 15 - 75 degreese off.

The 260-270degrees F is actually okay, so it sounds like your tuning is good. The 300degree F temp I think could be running top speed passes too long. The longer you keep the finger on full trigger, even an engine tuned a little on the rich side could break 300degrees F.

As for your temp readings, in one temp reading session, take 5 readings and go with the hottest reading. You might get 220, 250, 280, 260, 290, go with the "290" as to be the true temp. Like already said, you could be missing your plug and temping the side of the inside of the plug recess of the heatsink.

i think there might be a small air leak. i have heard from other people that you could seal you engine by putting a sealer around where the carb ataches and the back plate. what is best to use and where else do u have to seal?

Your engine sounds okay to me...try using a couple of temp guns off your friends or something and compare the differences. I noticed my old engine goes a little lean when the tank has like -20% left

On the cautious side, its always a good idea to seal your engine. Removes a couple of future problems your engine is going to have. You have to use Sensor-safe RTV silicone sealant like Permatex and you seal the backplate, carb neck. Those parts use o-rings that can leak and deteriorate overtime.

You can also further seal the shims/gaskets for the tuning needles and the lock thing that tighens the carb to the crankcase, forgot what its called..

what is the best stuff to use to seal it, and where can i get it.