crazyjoseph

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dang my plugs never looked like that i check them know and again chocolate brown or darker maybe I'm running richer than i think. I fly at 7000 ft elevation so i try to get as much power as i can. I have hundreds of flights on my engines. I fly 3d so most of my flying is probably using the low end. If you know your engine I would think you could tell when its in the air that things aren't right. I have never torn an engine down but if that looks like more than just running on the rich side of max rpms. Didn't mean to offend you only been flying gas for three years know obviously you have more experience . But you got to admit you read a lot of bull on these sights.

blw

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Good pics, Pat.

Jake Ruddy

My Feedback: (40)

That is an example of how things should not look..

Chocolate brown or darker actually sounds like you are more on the richer side than you need to be.. you want a copper tan type color.. maybe just slightly darker.

crazyjoseph

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My DA 100 looks like that but my DA 150 and zdz 80 are chocolate brown i thought that was coming from the low end but when i lean out the low the midrange feels like it suffers. Maybe i need to richen the high up a touch like pat says and lean out the low. Do you think the low is compensating for the high? Not sure that makes any sense. Any way all three engines seem to be running like a scalded dog so I'm not worried. The 80 and 100 don't owe me anything lots of flights. Only about 100 flights on the 150

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The pics are of an engine that has been destroyed by lean running. As for altitudes, we cover all of them from sea level to 20 plus thousand. 3D is one of the hardest types of sport flying for an engine. Airflow through the engine is about 85% of what you are concerned with most of the time. However, if you are running an engine lean enough to have a very light colored plug then airflow through the engine will have little effect on the end result. You have to balance mixture with airflow. A little rich and good aiflow and your engine will run forever. A little rich and no airflow and you'll build up more carbon than you know what to do with. Too lean and over a period of time the engine will look like the pictures, regardless of airflow. You will not know how bad it is or isn't unless and until the plugs are checked. Maximum power is developed when the engine is ultra lean, but so is maximum heat. Runs like a raped ape but it will be burning up all the way.

Sorry to be so sharp before but I get a bit irritated when I hear people say only one person knows anything and everyone else is implied to be a moron. If you really want to understand engines come on out and join us here in the eastern deserts. We test them to the limits in every imaginable enviornment, including inside thunderstorms.

Jake Ruddy

My Feedback: (40)

Well... you have to understand that if you lean out the low and loose transition richening up the high end will not help. You are stumbling because your low end is too lean. As you move through the throttle it doesn't take long for the H needle to be effecting overall mixture settings.

Flying 3D one can assume you run alot between 1/4 and 1/2 throttle for hovering, harriers, and rolling harriers. At that point both needles are effecting performance. It sounds to me like your L needle is about bang on. So the short answer is no don't "compensate" your H needle is prob just a tad rich if its chocolate brown or darker. As long as there is no buildup on the plug you are probably ok...