im a total newbie. I want to test my gas engine that i have. its a used one so im not sure if it works. can someone please explain to me how in the heck to start this thing?? thanx for any replies..

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of RC. It might help us to help you if you could possibly be a bit more specific. Size, brand, is it mounted in a plane yet...if it is used might you have any idea of the running time it's had? If it's years old it could be well broke in. If it needs break-in that might be a whole different post.

There are a few techniques to running the engines, all glow engines are very similar in how you handle them though. Without knowing for sure what engine and how new, I'm a bit hesitant to offer advice, as I don't want to give you the wrong answers to your questions. I will offer some basics though.

I'd first like to offer a few WARNINGS!!!!! THEY CAN BITE HARD!!!! VERY HARD!!!....and CHEW!!! They can cut you to ribbons..even the small guys...in a nanno-second.... You can literally loose limbs if you don't know what your doing.,,,(yes, sometimes even if you have years of experience also) ..it does happen, and there are alot of people here that will attest to it.
WHATEVER YOU DO>>DONT FLIP BY HAND!!!! Take it seriously please.
KEEP ALL HANDS AND FACE CLEAR!!!...
I don't mean to be grotesque,,,I take it seriously though...that seriously. Especially when I'm dealing with someone that's new...
Now that we understand that...next...

What you will need though is fuel, a starting battery(1.2-1.5volt), and an engine stand, or plane to hold it(see, that info would help here to know).
What I do see though is your in Arizona...RC is BIG in Arizona, with some of the worlds best coming from there. What would be a good idea for you, is find a club near you(there's alot in AZ), go out and watch, ask questions, make some friends and see what they are doing with them.
Once you have the equipment though(plane/enginestand) it's a matter of fueling, setting your needle valve, putting power to your glow plug, and turning it over. I'll give basics here, with a WARNING!!!!! THEY CAN BITE HARD!!!! VERY HARD!!!. You can literally loose limbs if you don't know what your doing...
First fueling....you'll need a pump of some sort to get your fuel into tank, whether it be a hand pump(I suggest one to start with), or an electric(you might want to find out if you like the hobby before investing in an electric pump and battery(12v for elec pump)). Regardless, you need fuel in the tank.
Setting your needle valve....if the engine is in say the .40size range, what you will do is turn your needle valve in(close it) all the way, then using either a mark on it somewhere, of just counting, turn it out 2 1/2 turns. That should be a starting point...
Then you should prime it...open your throttle and give the prop a crank or 2, and you should see fuel going into carb through the line...CLOSE THROTTLE DOWN..until it's only a slit open... ONLY then do you put power to the plug...you'll need one of a few different igniter methods on the market. Most of us use a small battery that has and attatchment that literally clips on the glow plug. Once you have that on your plug, act as if it could start at anytime!!! because it can. You'd probably do good wtih and electric starter...although If you were at my field, I could easily teach you to start it with a chicken stick, and it would actually be easier for you...WHATEVER YOU DO>>DONT FLIP BY HAND!!!! At this point your about ready...get a grip on your plane, and stay clear of your prop, except for your stick..KEEP ALL HANDS AND FACE CLEAR!!!...It should at least fire for you at that point, if not just outright start and run. Once running, stay clear, as there will be a bit of adjusting you might(will if it's not been run in a while) need to do. Turning your needle out will richen(more fuel) the mix, turning needle in leans(less fuel) mix.
Honestly,,,I thoroughly suggest you get an instructor to help...I do say all this with warning...as it would be no fun to get hurt by your engine. There's alot more to adjusting...not that it takes a long time to do it, matter of fact, once you learn how to do it(have someone hands on teaching) the hole process can be done in seconds. Just take my advice...have a bit of patience, as this gives you an idea of what's involved, and you can see there's a bit more then flip the prop and go...it's a learned thing for sure. I do hope this helps.
It is a great hobby, and we all like to see people have fun, so please just take some time to learn these things, and it is much safer to get hands on help with an engine.

DONT BE SCARED

DGrant, you make it sound like something bad is going to happen.

Just dont be stupid and you shouldent get hurt. I recomend going to a club and have some one show you around. You can also take it to your friendly hobby shop and ask q's there

No..........I make it sound like something bad COULD happen. Big difference. I don't want to steer anyone into taking it lightly when there's remote potential for injury. I've seen people handle these engines like there's nothing to it. For someone with some experience....there is nothing to it, but for someone with NO experience THERE'S SOMETHING TO IT!
I've seen guys with supposedly YEARS of experience, reach right through the prop for the glo-driver....there's a spinning knife there, and it's forgotten about. For someone that's new to it, that spinning blade might not even exist when the excitement and focus goes to other things.
Stupidity doesn't have alot to do with it if you've never done it before either.
To me stupidity is seeing an experienced modeler...engine FULL BORE, reaching around the prop, nearly hugging the plane...TRYING TO TUNE IT....THAT'S STUPID!!!

Mr. MasterCrasher, if you'd like to offer advice to help...please do so....belittling my advice, and making light of it is not helping in my opinion. What I offered in my post was experienced help and information, which was 95% of the post....and only 3%(if that) contained some VERY CLEAR WARNINGS!! as it seems they were read. Thank you for your comments though, as I don't want to "scare", I just want "VERY AWARE" is all, and I hope we achieved that.

bgc22, Please heed DGrant's advise on safety! I instruct and test fly for our club and have seen what these meat grinders will do to human flesh. I've seen broken bones (fingers from planes, arms from helicoptors) and hope that as a newbie you would contact someone with a club to assist you with your engine. Also as posted above, if you could give some info on your engine, there are many people on this forum that are willing to help. You did the right asking before going blindly into the unknown.

DGrants advice in his post is top notch and there is a need to instill his message from the very begining.

Now having said that the most important subtle message he was trying to get accross is get someone with a little experiance to help. Now help us a little and describe just what you have. If you don,t know exactly don,t worry just do the best you can.

John

I really dont know what i have exactly but this is my guess. its an engine for a glider that is attached to an 'arm' that is on top of the wing. I would say its about a .019 size engine maybe but remember i dont have that much experience so i could be wrong.
I know it takes gas but you start it with a glow plug. I dont know if i am explaining this right since i see the differnt kinds of engines that say 'gas' and then 'glow'. i dont know what the differneces are so i dont know if mine is a gas or glow. thanx for all your replies.

Most likely it sounds like it's a .049. How big is the cylinder-head, or glow plug, and does it have a black cylinder with very small cooling fins, and is there what looks like a fuel tank on the back of it? Also....is there silver/chrome looking head/cap on the top of the cylinder? Thats a tell tale sign...black cylinder/silver head.

I know when your new the terms and words are the first thing to learn...and your doing fine. There is a difference between "gas" and "glow fuel", which is sometimes referred to as only "fuel".

I'm thinking it might be a Cox engine. Since you stated it's on a glider and the "arm" that you mentioned might otherwise be known as a "pod'. Do you have access to a local hobby shop, or flying field? Really, as we've stated it would be best to get someone with experience with small engines to give you a hand. Yes even small can bite too, so just be careful with it. If it's been sitting for years it might use what I would call a "tune up kit". The small Cox engines(any engine really) have a tendency to gum up after long periods. Can you turn the prop by hand?.. also if it's an .049 there's no throttle. That's OK though, it sounds like it's a simple towing set-up for a glider. Let us know what's going on though, and if you find additional info. Hey....how about a pic? That way we can definately tell you what you have. I wouldn't worry about it not running though. It will run...for sure. Question now is what/where you need to get/go to make it run. A pic would help big time though. Keep posting here though, and we'll do what we can with info we're given.

The small .049's(I'm hoping that's what it is) take a slight different technique then a .40 size does. As well as different fuel. The chemical content is what is different. They take alot of what we call "nitro". That is an enhancing chemical that creates different heats... fuels are available with different concentrations of this. I'm thinking the Cox engines are best to run with genuine Cox fuels though. That would be the best to go with, once you nail down what it is for sure. Patience though as usual...your getting there. Keep looking for clubs/hobby shops, and you can start making friends in the hobby. That's a great way to learn too, you can make all kinds of friends too. That's one of the benefits of a club, really the biggest for some of us. Let us know though.

Well right now im just glad to hear you say that it will probably run. When i got it from this guy he 'said' it was flying 3 weeks ago but i was a little sceptical when i saw it because it had dust on it and i could barely turn the prop with my finger. It was only 50 bucks for the plane so i bought it. ill take it to the local hobby store when i get a chance. Until i do though ill just keep posting here. Ill TRY to get my digital camera to ?work? Thanks DGrant for you help and future advice.

no prob on the help...thats what the site is up here for.

Most engine will run, unless severely broken, or missing pieces,,,even then with a little work they generally come to life. A pic would definately help though. Your engine might need a bit of cleaning too. Don't turn that prop to much without some fuel in there, if there's dust and junk built up you don't want to scar the piston/cylinder. When you get a pic we can determine what fuel would be the best for it, also hopefully by then you've talked to your LHS(that's short for "local hobby shop" and you'll see that in this site, as well as others from time to time)...yes...LHS, and hopefully there will be an experienced modeler that can steer you right...but yes do try to get pics...your doing fine...keep reading in the forums, the beginner forum, as well as the radio forum, and any others that interest you...learn learn learn....have a nice night.

PS..there is what we call a "1/2A forum" or something close to that...at this point we can probably safely assume it's a small natured engine...quite possibly a Cox.049...see if you can find a pic there and get the link back here.....oh oh oh....know what....here let me see if I can find a pic...and post it here...you tell me if it looks anything like what I'm postiing here........

Does it look like this at all??

Yea pretty much,, it has that little knob in the back to adjust the throttle. I really dont know how to compare it though, not shure what im looking for. Anyways, im gunna try to get my digital camera a new battery or something, might be a few days, and i mght have some time to go to the hobby store this weekend. We'll see though.

Im gunna try to start the engine sometime soon so id like to know again if everything im gunna do is right. First i use the fuel pump to put fuel into the tank. im not sure im right but after that i just take a starter stick and turn the prop?? thanx for any help

I have a friend who is recovering from 47 stitches
in his leg....he recieved when he started his plane
in his garage, and it got away from him. There are
certain dangers in this hobby, that the new guys
need to be made aware of.

Did I mention that the guy is an experienced flyer,
and works for Hobby People ???