i was outside playing with my jato earlier and where i've had my hsn is 1/4 clockwise of factory setting. and i noticed that my muffler looked pretty wet so i was wondering what would happen if i leaned it up some, so i started leaning it up till i finally got 1/2 turn from factory setting (this is on a jato) i still see plenty of smoke coming from the exhaust, i was running in grass ( dunno if that matters or not, but seems to smoke a little more in grass than on the street) and i was was going WOT down my yard and hit a bump and it went airborne and landed and then flipped and then all of a sudden died. so i went and got it, i saw a little bit of smoke rising from the cooling head and it wouldn't start back at first but after it set for about a min it started back. but the smoke coming from my cooling head scared me some so i put it back to where i had the hsn before at 1/4 turn. so my question is?? could it still been running to lean even though i saw plenty of smoke while driving?? i know sometimes the cooling head smokes around the first 2 tanks but i fig thats the after run oil burning off, it should have been burned off by then how far do yall have your needles leaned from factory settings??

and one more thing, on the road my jato shifts to 2nd gear about 30 feet from take off spot, but in the grass running WOT down my back yard i don't think i ever hear it shift to 2nd??? does it shift alot sooner in grass or is it not shifting at all??? is it even suppose to shift in the grass ??? lol

When your running in the graas the tires aren't getting to much traction. So in other words, they are spinning faster than the truck is. Due to that, the motor is producing really high rpm's. So your over-heating the motor.

is that still really bad on the engine even though i'm still seeing smoke from the exhaust??

I wouldn't be able to tell you what my setting are on my jato because a friend of my tighted all needle alway down so i have to like figured it how to get my car stable while on. but my muffle get wet and i think it get too much oil coming out even though i see lot of blue smoke it look lot of oil. im wondering if its fine. i have to clean it every time i run it. about smoke coming out of the engine. check it cause some time things fall into the heatsink like lil piece of grass and will get your engine to smoke out. also could be lil lick

Well, I have never had a Traxxas engine, so I can't tell you exactly how far you should lean it... It does sound like your overheating the engine though. Yes, you could hurt the engine even if you see smoke...because overheating it is just plain bad for engines. If you don't have a temp gun, buy one, they are more than worth the money, then check your temps when running on the grass. I, due to my inexpirence with a Traxxas engine, can't tell you hot they should run as well, but I like to see around 220 on my other engines...

Ok first of when running in the grass yes your wheels do spin but thats not what makes your engine overheat. The overheating is due to the extra stress due to the grass. The grass catches the arms, chassis, along with any other things. The extra stress is what causes some engine to everheat not the wheels spinning as a higher rpm. The extra smoke you see is because the grass catches the exhaust and keeps it all in one place and it tends to stay longer. When your running it on the street theres nothing to catch it so it disperces a lot more. If you ever run your truck in higher grass the exhaust tends to stary longer then when running it in shorter grass. You would have to do it to truly see what I mean. The smoking of the cooling head could have been some mopister from the grass when you flipped it which sizzled off and caused some steam. There are reasons why it was smoking only after it flipped and not before.

I do not know what the needles should be set at as I do not have a 2.5trx or 3.3trx model. And for the shifting part the truck will take much longer to shift into 2nd gear because of the extra drag on the truck if it even will shift into 2nd. Youve got to remember that the engine revs much faster and higher when there is less drag on the truck.

I hope this helped.

cool man thanks for your reply, makes me feel alot better. when i first decided to buy a nitro, it was cuz a couple of my cousins husband had them at the 4th july get together LOL so after about a week of thinking, i was like I WANT ONE but i didn't reliaze how sensitive these motors where till after i done had mine and been reading on these forums and stuff. i guess i'm just scared i'll be one of these newbies that blow up after a gallon or two ( which by the way i have already gotten 3/4 of a gallon guzzled up HEHE )

what about it not shifting to 2nd gear in the grass? is this normal? or is it shifting so fast cuz the wheels are spinning faster in grass i'm not noticing it???

From the sound of it, I doubt your engine is anywhere near dead. Nitro engines are more durable than what everybody makes it out to appear. Mechanical failures are the only real way to kill em.

As for the increased temperatures, when your running on grass, the engine has to work harder to move through it. So there is more fuel burned = more heat. Notice how you have to use more throttle and there is more clutch slipping just to get going from a start to a roll. That and since your speeds are drastically slower, there is less air flow over the engine to cool it down. So you can see 2 things there, less velocity and more work = more heat.

Oh as for teh shifting, I'm not sure about traxxas optidrive system, but I'd think it's based on speed. So if you can't get enough speed on slower terrain, it'll never reach the point to shift.

Plus if you shifted early, the engine would bog and you might even slow down more because of the loss of mechnical leverage at the wrong shift point.

well i got it out for a little while tonight and i turned the adjustment screw for it to shift earlier, i think i heard it shifting. i think what is throwing me off is that my back yard is very bumpy so the sound of my motor varys as it hits the bumps which makes it hard to recognize that between it shifting. it flys down my backyard, if its not shifting how fast will first gear let it go? and wouldn't it sound like it would be revving high if it wasn't shifting??

2nd gear may not be able to be achieved in a bumpy high grass situation. When it is bump the truck cannot achieve the speeds needed to shift into 2nd gear. But it may also be that when it is being thrown around from the bumps that the engine is able to rev freely and will then shift earlier because it will think the speed is higher because of the free moving tires. Which means that you may not be able to tell by the sound of the engine. But if it is not shifting yes the engine will rev kinda high if your going as fast as you say your are. But i would not be worried about the truck shifting into 2nd when driving in the yard. If the truck thinks it should shift then it will and I wouldnt be concerned but then again thats just me.

If you have any more Q's just get back

how long is the screw in a jato that adjust the how fast it shifts?? the manual just says be careful or you loosen it to much and the spring will pop out which means major taking apart [:-] i think i have backed it off about a half a turn but it still needs to shift just a little bit sooner, so i was just curious how much more play i have????