Its pretty cold here in new york and im trying to start my 90 size nitro 3D plane. The plane is a Funtana i think i may have flooded it so i took the glow plug out turned it on its side and cranked it a couple times. still nothing, i even tried a new plug and still nothing happeneds, my igniter is fully charged but i cant even get the plane to make any noice it just spins and spins. Icould try to start it for an hour and honestly i dont think it will start. Please help! i just had this thing running two days ago

What make and size is the engine? That would be a good starting point to begin trying to help out.

I've been to your area many times, so I know how cold it can get!

Get a can of model DIESEL fuel and add 3 or 4 drops into the venturi.

That starts cold glow engines down to -5 C any more than that and I did not go flying.

Lighter fuel is supposed to work as well but never tried it It is the ether in the model diesel fuel that does the trick.

A few drops of Ronson lighter fluid (a.k.a. naptha) into the carb will help in cold weather. Also, I find the 1.2V NiCd glow sticks are not so good in cold weather. Glow plugs are designed for 1.5 V. A 1.2 V NiCd starter works OK in warm weather but not so well in very cold weather. Try a power panel.

Ditto on the power panel, from a frozen Canuck. 1.2V NiCAD plug lighters are "fair weather" devices, and if anything is off they just plain suck. And it sounds like you are kind of new to glow engines so this is complicating things for you. I got pissed off at NiCAD clip on igniters about 3 days after I first used one, and haven't bothered with them in ages. If someone gave me one as a gift, I'd thank them and give it to someone else later.

With a power panel, I turn the juice down low and hook up the plug outside of the engine where I can see the filament. Then I crank it up to a nice bright orange (Not white orange! Plug go poof soon!) setting. This ensures you have a nice hot element, and safely takes care of differences between plugs too.

If it's really cold, a thermos of hot water you can trickle over the cylinder - obviously not into the carb or on anything sensitive to getting wet - to warm it up sure helps.

Or what I do - never fly in the cold..

MJD

We have to preheat almost all our glow engines when it`s cold weather or else they`re completely dead. Hot water, coffe..etc.. over the cylinder for the first start and it fires right up. I also bring a small torch which I like to use.

All of this is excellent advice and hopefully will get you started. I've used most of the techniques mentioned with great success especially the one about using a power panel over the NiCd glow sticks. Good luck.

Lowflyer- did you ever get it to crank?

Lowflyer has received some excellent advice here.

Instead of model Diesel fuel, unless you just happen to have easy access to it, use the active ingredient in model Diesel fuel, ether. Find a can of John Deere starting fluid and give your model's carb a very quick shot of that. That will get her going, even without the glow plug battery connected in many instances.

However, I do agree that the little 1.2 volt nicad pocket boosters aren't of much use in the winter time. Using a power panel with a separate 12 VDC battery is probably the best way to go. Why did I say separate? Because if you are using the same 12 VDC battery to power both the power panel and the electric starter, by the time you factor in the loss of capacity due to cold weather, you might not have enough juice left to do a proper job of powering both devices. It has happened to me.

Lighter fluid, as mentioned by someone else, is a good substitute if you can't find a can of John Deer starting fluid. Why John Deere brand? Because of all of the brands of starting fluids on the market, to the best of my knowledge, John Deere brand has the most ether percentage. Ether is the chemical that will start your engine in cold weather.

I wish I could handle cold weather well enough to fly in it these days, but it has been over a decade since I could fly in cold weather. It was a lot of fun.


Ed Cregger

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Lowflyer281

...I'm trying to start my .90 size nitro 3D plane.

LF,


Maybe its because of the name you call it...[>:]

It is not a nitro engine. It's a glow engine, which uses methanol as its main fuel component...
It will easily run if there isn't even a drop of nitromethane in the fuel. But if there's not enough methanol, you can just forget it...

I couldn't care less what all your buddies call it; is is a glow engine and being a largish .90 size, a lot of nitro will just make it run worse.


Cold weather does not make starting very easy.

Make sure the glow-plug glows bright orange and that there is a little fuel in the cylinder.... It should at least pop, as you crank it over.

As a general statement, for your engine to start and run you have to have three things: fuel, fire, and compression. Probably short on fuel or fire, and good advice here.

Picky, picky, get up on the wrong side of the bed, Dar?

CR

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Charley

Picky, picky, get up on the wrong side of the bed, Dar?

Not particularly, Mr Robins.


I just don't appreciate the use of this incorrect term, to describe our fine, unique engines...
...which utilize the catalytic effect, of platinum (in the glow-plug's element) on methanol, to maintain their ignition; as well as to determine the magnitude of its advance...

Nitro has no effect as such.
It is just an optional additive to the fuel that facilitates adjusting a glow engine; mostly for those who think learning how to do it properly is a 'waste of time' ...

And yes, it also adds some power...


I may be a bit old-fashioned, but to me, categorizing an engine by an additive its fuel contains; is very much like eating a luxurious five-course meal, prepared by a master chef, at an expensive restaurant; and summing it up as: "I ate salt..."


The name "Nitro Engines" was suggested in the past for this forum... But I appealed to Nathan and to Marc to change it back to "Glow Engines", stating my reasons.
They agreed with me.


Popular demand/jive is often misconceived and misguided - so, I often go against the current.
When I know that I am right, I don't mind taking the unpopular position.


Any time I see this term used, the writer will be hearing from me; just like here.

Dar: I'm with you and particularly in regard to the critisim given. Why should you be critised for giving someone correct (right) info. It always bugs me as well Same is so when some call our TX controllers. Why shouldn't they be corrected, It doesn't make sense to me. Fail to correct only leads to more incorrect terminology. Same goes with calling glow fuel gas powered plane. Oh well seems to me this is the age of ignorance. Wonder what I'll hear about this?

Nitro is simply something that we use in model engines for a bit more power and smoother running. Drag racers use a lot of it for a lot of power.

The term 'nitro' is actually an old term back in the early racing days. It's been around for 50 years or so. You have nitro fuel for models and body building. Nitro for hearts. Nitro wrestling. Nitro drag racing. Nitro engines. Just a part of the language and engine lore.

They use almost 100% nitro in those engines and methanol is the additive, the term Nitro is correct for those engines. Dar is correct, did we call the gasoline engines of the past Lead engines because the fuel had lead in it? I often ignore any posts that refer our engines and planes as Nitro.

You can also tell its a kid by the lack of uppercase, lack of punctuation and 'stream of consciousness' writing style.

Either way, let's get back to the OP's original problem.