steelfire23

My Feedback: (63)

i have 3 dle's two 55cc and one 30 cc I gave up my evo's and DA's nothing but great performance and starts on the second flip. I do put 1 gallon break in threw each one using there recommended oil ratio...
sorry to hear about the bird

rede2fly

My Feedback: (86)

i bought a dle 20 droped shippd to me from the factory from a GUY RIGHT HERE ON RCU 249.00 to my door. i started it with 50 : 1 sthil ultra and its spinnging a falcon 18x6 carbon fiber at 8500 rpm and its a frigging powerhouse. not a single problem. its a great little motor. dont know why others are having problems, unless they are running too lean....

MetallicaJunkie

my plane's prop seems to rip harder going downwind, and quiets down into the wind at WOT

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

Metalica,
I have noticed that on my Katana, it will be on the verge of ripping downwind and is much quieter heading into the wind. Remember how it would rip that 30x10 beechwood prop
i tried that day going downwind and wouldn't seem to do it going upwind, that very windy day we flew at rag tag last fall?

scooterinvegas

My Feedback: (1)

Okay, I understand your frustration. Believe me I truly do understand. But attacking the engine itself is not going to win you a lot of support within a gas engine community here on RC Universe. DLE engines have proven themselves to be very reliable out of the box. If you seized the motor, it is possible that it was a manufacturer defect, but not likely. Did you read the plug after doing your initial tuning on the motor?

One thing is, breaking-in a motor with synthetic oil is a universal no no. Usually you put a few gallons through it with castor based oil first, then switch to a full synthetic.

Most likely the tune was a little lean on top, and it squeaked. Sheet happens. Send it in and get it fixed.

How about you post a picture of the plug and the side of the piston/ring through the ex port.
Scoot

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

scooter, I will do that tomorrow, but don't feel like jacking with it tonight. My belief is that if the carb was out of adjustment it was probably a little on the rich side on the high end needle. Maybe synthetic was a mistake with this engine, but what I do know was that the engine ran perfect today up until it locked up. I would like to know the exact cause even if it was something I did or didn't do. It's a mystery to me right now!

MetallicaJunkie

yup i remember that day at RagTag/Rebel Field in Mercedes

scooterinvegas

My Feedback: (1)

If it was something inside that let go, Tower should take care of it. Good luck.

a1pcfixer

My Feedback: (7)

I doubt it's anything you did, but rather an issue of the heat treatment of the crank pin.
QC is not a top priority for many Chinese gas eng makers, although DLE does far better than some do.

Here's a couple others that let go similarly to yours;

Dle-20 Blew up....
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10299136/tm.htm

DLE20 ign module and crankpin..
http://tinyurl.com/3botq3u

Jodi from Valley View RC has a close working relationship with DLE,
so maybe he'll jump in and inform us what DLE's take on this issue is.

Hopefully it's NOT an issue to potentially affect all DLE20's, rather only a few.

crash bandicoute

i don't want to sound like the bad guy either, maybe it was a friday motor, but running down wind in a 20 mph wind and trying to clear trees at the end of the runway, and the way you word it DOES sound like you were on takeoff. i'm sure you flying for 5+ years tells you that takeoff down wind is a very bad thing as you will not generate enough lift to get off the ground. much less clear a bunch of wood magnets. maybe this, coupled with, the piss poor production of an engine or break-in???

telejojo

I never break in a gas engine bolt on and fly..........................I have a dle 20 on a BH 1.20 Pitts and it runs great.

pmerritt

My Feedback: (118)

CaptnJohn has been in the CAbottle a lot lately!

pmerritt

My Feedback: (118)

These are assorted chunks of metal, mass produced by the thousands, and thrown together by people making pennys a day people.  Every once in a while one is going to be the bad apple.  For a whopping $200.00 one gets a weed eater engine that they expect to last like a Boing 737 engine.  The best one can hope for is the warranty replacement. 

I think there are only a handfull of failures out of how many DLE owners out there?  Not to mention the thousands of loyal DLE owners that would only allow separation from their engines upon death that testify to their reliability.

I sympathize with your loss.  You  are lucky (and talented) to where you saved most of your aircraft.  We all know the DLE distributor/manufacturer is NOT going to pay for damages to your plane, nor are any of the other engine venders out there.  DLE will honor the repairs/replacement as needed.

As they say, bad news spreads faster than good news so this will be the iconic status for DLE for the moment however DLE is the current king of gas RC engines and we can have faith in their performance even if a couple slip past their time tested qualities.

Box it, address it, stamp it, drop it in that local P.O. and wait for your new one.

Catalinaflyer

FWIW, I have had top of the line engines let go for no aparent reason and have some of the cheepest of the cheep chinese engines that are still running.

Several years ago we purchased a new Petebilt Semi truck with a Caterpillar motor (Pete is by some peoples standards the best of the best in trucks and Cat motors are again by some peoples standards the best of the best) Anyway I took my driver over to the dealership about 300 miles away to trade the old truck for the new one and pay the dealer. It was -20 outside so they made room in the shop for both trucks and we pulled them in to move everything. Once we were finished the driver was in the parts department picking out jackets while I was in the sales managers office signing the paperwork. The truck was sitting outside running and from where I was at I could only see the rear tires out one window and the very front of the hood out another. I seen a mechanic go running past the window then a minute later walking back the other way then a minute later 2 mechanics and the shop foreman go back by and the hood get opened on the truck. The sales manager and I got up and went outside to see what was going on. The first mechanic had caught the truck engine running away with itself (reving wildly) and shut it down. As it turns out one of the intake valves in the #5 cylinder had dropped into the cylinder which punched a hole in the piston which in turn allowed oil back into the cylinder and was able to get it distributed enough to the adjoining cylinders to cause the engine to burn it and act like the throttle was being held wide open. Peterbilt and Caterpillar were only going to have the dealership "re-build" the engine, Myself on the other hand had just paid for a $135,000 NEW truck and demanded I get a NEW motor in it. The motor got re-built, I spent $10,000+ on lawyers fighting it and got nowhere.

The moral of the story, Even the best built, hand crafted, American made stuff will ocassionally fail and second, the warranty will only pay for what is defined in the warranty that came with the product no matter how hard you fight it.

BTW, the dropped valve was caused by there only being 1 keeper on the spring, they never found a second keeper and figure that whomever was tasked with installing them that day just forgot one. A $.50 piece caused a $20,000 repair.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

You'll never know for sure what caused the motor to lockup unless you're willing to tear the engine down and examine it personally. I have a DLE-55 and had been reading about the crank bearing issue when mine failed. I tore the motor apart, and then called my dealer with my findings. They said I could send the failed crank in and they would examine it. If they agreed, they would send me a replacement crank under the warranty. Since I needed the motor quickly, I ordered the new crank ($40) and replaced it myself, and awaited the replacement crank which I kept as a spare. Took about 1 hour total to take the engine off the plane, tear it down, clean it up, put in the new parts, and remounted. About a year later, the same failure occurred again (15 gallons of fuel or so?). Same deal, only this time the dealer just sent the new crank on my word.

These engines are easy to work on if you have a few rudimentary tools and a little experience. Call Tower and see if they'll work with you on the repair parts. If they will, tear it apart and see exactly what failed. Could be the crank pin bearing or the ring. Could be as simple as replacing the crank, or may need new crank, piston, ring, or possibly even a new jug. Failure can be caused by internal part (bearing cage) or could be a foreign object sucked in through the carb. At wide open throttle, there is a straight path from open air right into the crankcase. Sand or dirt being pulled in could be the death knell. If you're flying off a dirt runway or in dusty conditions, that could have been a contributing factor.

Good luck with it. I hope your future DLE experience is positive.

Brad

blhollo2

My Feedback: (278)

i havent had any problems out of my dle 20 engine, best runnin engine after 3 gallons of gas...you must have either got a bad engine or your oil fuel ratio was waaay off

willig10

To the original Poster:
Have you called tower and asked them about warrantly considerations? I would like to know how they handle this claim. Keep us informed.

p51Dpony

"engine was winding out on downwind pass" is loaded with unexplained data:
    an airspeed indicator in plane should read the same on an upwind or downwind pass at the same throttle setting...
    a ground speed indicator should read different on the passes in relation to the wind but the engine rpm should be the same, and
    an engine does sound different on upwind and downwind passes and part of this is likely doppler effect of the sound waves moving through the air and the observer being stationary on the ground.  Finally, if you're like a lot of people you like to make that downwind pass FAST so maybe you were diving too, then the engine will definately unspool and lean out and if already hot or lean that could do the deed of breaking it, and finally, if this was a new plane the plane itself was untested and was there adequate airflow through the cowling?   Happy flying! Steve.

Jezmo

For those who may read this thread and notice the post about not running synthetic oil during break-in, it is perfectly OK to do so. There are a number of threads on this forum where the best of the best on two stroke engines state that as fact. I have been in this hobby for 49 years and believe me, I've seen and done a lot with engines. I've worked on internal combustion engines, for a living, for some 46 years now. Some years back, I bought a new GM performance car (don't want to advert for them so no names) and said car came from the factory with synthetic oil in it. At that time I also believed synthetic was taboo for break-in. After spending some time on the phone with an engineer from the GM performance group (my dealer set it up) I was convinced to leave the synthetic in it. It was a wise decision and I have now grown to understand the reasons behind that being the right decision. Yes, it does take longer to do the break-in on synthetic oil as opposed to dino oil with the reason being the synthetics reduce friction and as a result slows the burnishing process of the various surfaces rubbing against one another.

On the subject of the OP's failure I'm more inline with the thinking of - the metallurgy/heat treatment of the crank-pin was somehow screwed up leading to the pin shearing off. Without seeing and examining it that's just a WAG. Of course there are a number of possible explanations but synthetic oil isn't one of them. Just my two cents.

captinjohn

That CA glue is not for me...I hardly every use it. I have the worst luck with it...it glues my fingers together real good...but nothing else. My sinusus have been killing me though. I would say the engine just broke on its own....every brand has a bad one once in a while! Capt,n

Whistling Death

The only difference incurred in breaking in an engine with conventional oil or synthetic oil is time. Nothing wrong with using either oil to start with but people like to use conventional oil first because it speeds up the break in process.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

So what happens when you fly crosswind or vertical?] If you brass ones see what happens when flying the figure 9 at full power. The straight leg is the end part of the maneuver[X(]

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

They most certainly do.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Don't do this. Ask Jody to post pics of a gasser run with castor. Fastest way I know of to destroy a gasser short of flying straight down into the ground.

tony0707

HI
when i started a thread about my friend who flys IMAC that told me the DLE engines were breaking crank pinsthe SO CALLED engine experts got bent out of shape and went off on melike i had no idea what i am talking about
the crank pins are bushed- not bearings like some better designs
i know they are fairly new engine to the marketjust how many of you have logged some time on a DLEi am not talking 3 or 6 gallons of fuel
again a few guys will run an engine for a few tankspost the info on youtube like they just found the best thing since slice bread and NOTHING matters but long term engine reliability to protect you entire airframe investment and the time invested
far to much of i have to have the new watchamacall it as soon as is possible going on on these threads
some engines running good from a manufacturer some of the time just does not do it for me in my RC aircraft
just my .02 cents BEST REGARDS TONY