I was wondering what everyone does on start up/warm up. It is said that idling and rich settings are bad for the ABC/ABN engines. Would it be better as soon as the engine fires up to move it to wide open, or just let it idle for a minute? It seems you would want to heat the engine up as fast as possible, instead of letting it idle for a period of time.

Most of the precautions relate to the first few times a new engine is run. Once the engine is broken in it won't be harmed by idling. Just go fly. Use any throttle setting you need. It won't hurt it. Thats what the engine was made to do.

When its cold I just rev to full throttle a couple times then takeoff

I usually start it up, dial it in run it for a couple minutes or so then redial again. The adjustments are going to change from the first start up becasue the engine is cold and metals and o rings change from the heat. To me, a few minutes of this sets me up for the rest of the day.

i just start and go,no idling,i never fiddle with settings either,too many flyers cause themselves problems by fiddling with their carbs.

(First I love it... Then I hug it....then I kiss it and she's ready to go.) OOPS... Wrong engine . Sorry

I work on the assumption that the piston crown is going to heat up much faster than the cylinder so I let it run at just above idle to keep the internal heat down and hold the cylinder until it becomes uncomfortably hot. Then I'll go to about half throttle for a few seconds then ease up to full throttle. However with my CL ABC engines I start them from dead cold at full throttle (that's all they've got ) and say what the heck, there's nothing I can do about that and go fly

I don't do anything special to warm up my 2C engines, just start and go. I have been told by a few people that its best to let a 4C engine to warm a bit by idling for a minute.

I warm up my two and four cycle engines for about 30 seconds at about 1/3
throttle with the glow heater still on. Then I'll run the engine up to full throttle
and remove the heat, then let it run for about 20 seconds WOT and get a
main needle adjustment. Usually I can tell how the mixture is set by the sound,
but on performance engines I always adjust to lean, and set to the richer flight
setting....just to make sure the mixture isn't too lean from the start, and the
mixture is set so that leaning and overheating wont occur in flight.

Where I fly, the atmospheric conditions can change radically from day to day,
and a quarter turn on the main may be needed....thus the extra care taken at
the start of the day. One day we experienced a 1/2 turn needle adjust needed
in an hour and a halfs time.....yes, a half turn....that's about 15 clicks. [X(]

Dave.

Pretty much the same as Dave. I throttle it up and down and when it doesnt hesitate on acceleration, It's good to go. The fuel doesn't vaporize very well when it's cold, causing the hesitation.

I thought this might be an interesting topic. Among the articles I've read, I have a Dave Gierke one that talks about break-in, and in the article, he says ABC engines were originally non-throttled, and meant to be run wide open at all times. He said that idling, and cold running and rich operation wears them out. So, I was wondering if after break-in, it was best to get them to full throttle, as soon as they are started up. I try to start mine and get it wide open pretty quick, and avoid as much idling as possible. I don't have any long term results yet.

Duane....the original ABC engine was a Super Tigre .15 CL speed engine so naturally it wasn't throttled
ST developed the ABC to avoid the problems encountered with the (then) normal cast iron piston if the engine went slightly lean during a run. As I said in my earlier post, I do a very careful slow warm up with my Rossi 45 and even though it's probably only got about 20 hours of run time there's still a lovely nip. For what it's worth, none of my CL engines (cold start at full throttle) have any nip now.

2 strokes: Full throttle immediately until normal operating temp is reached for thermal expansion of liner.

4 strokes: At idle for several minutes before I take her to full throttle for first time of day.

I start my engines on a fast idle setting, and leave them at that for 20 seconds or so to make sure they are settled before doing anything to them. With my two strokes, especially for their first flight of the day, they seem to like to have their throat cleared, and I have found the most reliable way to do this is to run at a fast idle.

Once that is done, then I open up slowly and run at full for a few seconds, then down to full idle. Then it is full again for the nose up check, then go fly .

This question will get you thousands of differing suggestions. Break in is supposed to get your engine into operating condition. Warm up depends on where you live, here in Texas at sea level warm up consists of starting the engine, removing the glow driver and clearing the engine of excess priming fluids. I adjust needles once after 2 to 3 hours of operation or if I happen to remove the needle valve completely from the engine. Most people mess with needle valves too much and get their engine out of whack. Here's a question for you, do you gentes and ladies get up every morning and tune your car's carburator before you go to work? I better qualify that all you non anal ladies and gentes. Have fun !!!!

Will

A lot of good opinions here, but I thought I would add one more.
Most of the guys at my field do some combination of full throttle for about 30 seconds, idle/full/idle/full, nose up full throttle.
After it's warmed up, I like to verify idle is solid for about a minute (I have also been trying to get my idle below 3000 RPMs if my Globee is to be believed). If you're idles is too low or your idle mixture needs help, idling for 1 minute and slamming it to WOT from idle will usually tell you.
Finally, I think spending some time at full throttle is also helpful to make sure nothing is loose or funky.