I have a new DLE111, I mounted it with the carburetor down, as is standard. Iflip the prop like 50 times, noticing gas going through the pipes, and no pops or anything. The ignition is good, the battery fully charged, everything seemed fine. I am using NGKCM6 plugs.

Gas was dripping from the carburetor, even though my low needle was set to just over 1 turn. Still no pops or anything, when all of a sudden, the engine literally pops or better yet, explodes, not runs a couple of turns as it should, and fire comes out of the carburetor!

I check the spark plugs, and they are dry, and the cylinders too. Apparently the carburetor os flooding, but gas is not getting to the engine. What can I do, or what can be wrong? I want to fly this before I go back to my country, in case I need to send it back.

Any help greatly appreciated!</p>

Take the sparkplugs out...with ignition off...spin the engine over with a electric starter. Notice if the reed vales are working. Even with the sparkplugs out there should be some crankase compression. This with the reed valves working and sealing correctly ...this pumps the air fuel mix to the cylinders. Have somebody vary the throttle setting (and choke opening)while you crank it over. Tell us what you notice. Capt,n

If the carburettor drips fuel, the metering needle isn't properly set

First up - the only way the Carb can spit fire is if fuel is reaching the spark plugs. The fact it is spiting fire tells us that you do in fact have fuel in the cyulinders as that is where the plugs are usually located (I haven't seen your particualr engine but every other one I have ever seen has the plugs in that location).

Flipping the prop "50 times" and "Watching the fuel go through is telling a large part of the story. You are flooding the engine. More than likely the fuel dripping out is simply an over supply that has been pumped into the poor old crankcase.

Before you do anything else. Try this.

1 - Remove the plugs, make sure they are gapped at 0.20" (Exacto blade thickness) and make sure the cylinders are empty (This can be achieved by spinning it over with a starter while the plugs are out.

2 - Set the needles (Both iof them) to 1 1/2 turn open.

3 - check the ignition timing. It should be 28 degrees BEFORE top Dead Centre. That is where the plugs actually fire - not some simple guess by looking at a magnet.

4 - Take the cover off the metering diaphragm on the carb (If you really want to),(THe cover with the 4 bolts), remove the diapragm and make sure the needle is free to move and there is no dirt under it. Reassemble it and make sure the fork is connected with the diaphragm stud (you should see what I mean when it is apart).

5 - Remove the Reeds and make sure they are not damaged from the backfire.

Reassemble it all and follow the normal starting procedures.
Prime the engine with a few rocks of the prop until fuel reaches the carb.
Choke on, Ignition on
flip until it "pops"
Choke off
Flip until it starts

Tune it.

"Take the sparkplugs out...with ignition off...spin the engine over with a electric starter. Notice if the reed vales are working. Even with the sparkplugs out there should be some crankase compression. This with the reed valves working and sealing correctly ...this pumps the air fuel mix to the cylinders. Have somebody vary the throttle setting (and choke opening) while you crank it over. Tell us what you notice. Capt,n "

Thank you all for your replies; I have some further questions, because I am getting ready to start flipping:
1. How do I notice if the Reed Valves are working? What can be an indicator to the contrary?
2. I have checked the metering pump in the carburetor, and it is working freely. As a matter of fact I believe it's pumpung too much. The diaphragm is properly engaged to the fork, and it's full of gas.
3. I know I am flooding the engine, but not because I want to flood it, I just want to start it and it floods. My needles are set at 1 1/4 Low, and 1 1/2 High.
4. When Iremove the spark plugs, they are totally dry, not a spec of gas, and the cylinders seem dry too. I was wondering if the fire coming from the carb could be just electric spark reaching the gas acumulated inside the carb, but I guess the engine shouldnt be conductive. I know if it fired up, then some combustion must be happening at the Spark Plug levels, but it might be that too much gas is getting to the carb but not enough to the cylinders?

Again, comments will be greatly appreciated!

My advice would be to send it back while you have time.

You mentioned in your original post that you would be going home soon and wanted to get it sorted before you did. Do not tear anything down or you may void your warranty.

Read the "new to gas" sticky and follow it.

If it is a dud (and there have been plenty of those sent recently) then the sooner you return it, the sooner you wil be flying it.

Reading your questions, I would guess you are a newbie. This engine is not suitable for you in its present form. Get some experienced help before you destroy something or void the warranty.

I think you are not flooding the engine, but that gas simply drops out of the carb instead of going into the crankcase. The ëxplosion with firing back into the carb is a sign of lean mixture, so very little gas had entered the engine. This idea is further supported by the dry plug.
Is your choke closing properly?
Is the carb mounted such, that fuel that drips out of the jets immediately drips out of the carb?

Try flipping the engine with the carb sloping down towards the engine and see what happens.

Dear pe reivers,

I did as you said, and it works wonders. It's running like a charm; however, I cant have the carb sticking out of my cowling, so I'll have to turn it back downwards. I guess I wil face the same problem then? I'm really not that inexperienced, but this has been completely new to me, so sorry for asking so much.

That sounds like the reeds are not closing all the way, Remove the carb and reeds and then look through the back side of the reeds and see if you see day light, If so turn the reed over in the reed case and see if the see it they close all the way again by looking for day light through the reed case.

There is also a chance there could be a crack or peace missing from the reeds.

Milton

The choke plate should allow the fresh gas to "slurp" upward with the airstream to get at least some into the engine. The hole in the choke plate helps a lot here. Important is that the valve closes well.
starting procedure:
with choke closed, and ignition on, set throttle trim to fast idle.
flip until engine burps and stops again
choke off
flip until engine starts, then return throttle to normal.
This also should work in inverted engines.

I have a new problem, and now I am back in my country, so it's going to be hard to return the engine:
I installed it on my plane. Gas gets to the carburetor, I have good spark, and everything seems fine; however, again I flip and flip and it doesn't even 'pop'.
I tried a starter, and, choked, it popped, and then I opened the choke and it Started with the starter and ran fine.
I tried to start it once again by hand, and nothing.
I used the starter again, and I had to close the choke once again, and then after it popped, open it and run the starter again, and it run.
Is it going to be impossible to start by hand? What could be happening? Again, all help will be greatly appreciated!

What is the manufacture date on the ignition.

Milton

It must have been manufactured after the date on the recall, because I bought the engine from Tower just 2 weeks ago.<div></div><div>It is worth noting that the cylinders and spark plugs seem really dry, as if the carburetor wasn't getting enough gas to them, but the reeds are perfect, or at least they look so, and when the engine is running, it does a good job. When taken to WOT, though, it seems to loose power after a couple of minutes, and then the throttle feels unresponsive when ratcheted to try to keep the engine running, and then it quits -this doesn't happen all the time, but it happens.</div><div></div><div>Again, thanks</div>

It sounds like you may have the Hi speed needle too lean or the fuel is restricked some place in fuel line or carb. Even a air leak where the carb attaches to engine. Does the engine Idle good and stay running. If so, when it is running...squirt a shot od WD40 spray on all gaskets by carb. If the RPM changes when you do this...you have air leak. Check this and let us know. Capt,n

Ya beat me to it Captin

Could be that the engine does not see enough gas (e.g., the low needle restricts the fuel flow too much) so the plugs are dry and you need to spin the engine many times with a starter to get enough fuel in. Try to turn the lower needle 1/2 turns out.

How you doing mate? Seems like you Guys down under had a bit of a water problem a while back. Are the RC strips dry by know? If I ever get rich...I am going to visit your country side and New Zeeland too. I always was interested in Aussie-land ! You know...you got those big hopping critters and neat beaches too. Yup...must be nice RC flying there also. Best Regards Capt,n

Going Bonza mate. A bit too much water here and there, not enough in other places - just a normal year really. If it was all perfect, the cockies (including me) wouldn't have anything to whinge about and that'd be no good at all now would it

One thing to remember when you are here. No matter where you are in the continent, within 50 metres of where you are standing there will be a creature capable of killing you - and the scientific fact is that it is usually the female of the species that is most dangerous.
That's my excuse for flying RC - It's hormonal (We fly until the hormones point us to "other pursuits" then start again when the "other halves" hormones make them too dangerous to be around)

(I think I am gonna get in trouble for that)

Yeah, you got some rather nasty funnel web spiders, 8 of the world’s 10 deadliest land snakes, plus blue ringed octopuses there!

What's up with the odd time zones down there?
Most around the world are 1 hour apart from the next, you got some 30/90 minutes apart from the next.

Perhaps you should solder the choke hole closed to increase the richness of the prime.

Engines on fire...spiders... crocodiles...what a thread

With the carb not pointing down there is no problem.
Needle settings and ignition quality do not change by carb orientation alone. It is just that the fuel now has to move up from the carb to get into the engine. That is where the problem is, if the choke valve does not close properly, and no fuel is mixed in with the upward moving air stream during starting.
Once running, there seems to be no problem.

The meetering needle is not seating. That is the only reason why a carb would be leaking fuel. In order to compensate for this the engine operator has leaned the engine too much. A very reasonable action if the bulk of his experience is with glow motors. Take the carb apart, blow out everything with carb cleaner, reassemble with factory needle settings and use a high quality filter between the tank and carb. Fill the tank before the filter.

Not quite the only reason. The carb will also drip fuel if mounted as updraft device. Any fuel that goes through the jets can, and will drip down if the engine is not running.

My Echo weed whip does not drip fuel....I have parked it in many positions....no drip ever. So all Walbro carbs don,t drip ................