bassmanh

My Feedback: (5)

hello all,

just wondering how many of you change glow plugs at the begining of each flying season ?

reason i ask is i just realized while getting planes ready for the new season that some of the glow plugs are more than 2 or 3 years old and were still working fine when put away. and i was thinking about replacing them BEFORE i have a problem

so any of your thoughts would be great and thanks for looking.


bassman

aerowoof

they do not go bad sitting.I change them when needed usually when engine adjustment is needed.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I said no. But we have 4 flying seasons in Houston

blvdbuzzard

No reason to replace them if they are working. I use Thunder bolts for $4.99, the Thunder Bolt 4S plug on sale for $2.99, good plug by the way, Fox Miricle plugs go for about $5.50 and the only plug I use in my nitro helicopters is an Enya #3, they go for $6.00. I may be cheap so I get all the life out of them I can. If I have any idle or transition issues, first thing I change is the plug.


I keep the old plugs for motor break in.

Dru.

TFF

Sometimes they last years and sometimes they last days. If it makes you feel better, do it; cant hurt. If I have a special plane, I tend to change them before they go bad. Every day stuff I wait until it starts acting funny.

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

Delete.

This is going to be my second season so my thoughts on this subject matter don't mean much

Crash Campbell

bassman,

The plug in my ST75 (YS plug) is seven years old. The model is used twice a week if the weather is ok and usually has at least two flights per outing, (i usually take at least two models out to the strip and fly both.........at different times. I did have to replace the plug twice when the motor was new as the running in creates minute particles of metal that destroy the plug. Once run in they last a long time unless you are pylon racing or connect twelve volts through them by mistake[:@]. I'm not sure how old any of the other plugs in my other motors are???

Cheers,

Colin

Mode One

I only change glow plugs when they fail. At the first sign of a balky engine, I pull the plug and see if it still "Glows" if it does, it goes back into the head and look for other problems. If I can't detect the problem, then I may change the glow plug to see if that helps. If it doesn't, I will pull the new one out and exchange it with the original. Back when glow plugs were far cheaper then they are today, I probably would have just left the new one in and kept the original in my field box as a spare.

Deadeye

I burn 20 gallons of glow a year in about a dozen different airplanes with both 2 and 4 strokes. I have been flying for 6 years. I have only had one glow plug go bad in all that time and all that fuel. Run slightly rich, and they last forever.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

When I fire up my engine and remove the glow driver and the engine quits running right away then it's time to change plugs. When I used to be a pit man at races the pilots would be changing plugs all the time, I would ask if I could have the ones they pulled?? I had a fine collection of OS #8s that were only used for a few minutes.[8D]

richardgerardi

For me flying season is all year round!!!

carrellh

If it's not broken, why "fix" it?

Rcpilot

My Feedback: (78)

I used to change them every couple gallons. With the high prices of plugs in the last yr, I have decided to run 'em till they quit. I remember when a glow plug was a buck fifty!! Now they are $6 apiece ~~ [:@]

Fastest way to ruin a glow plug:

Lean it all the way out to peak for more than a couple seconds. That'll cook a plug in seconds.

I tune to peak and then richen up 1/8 or 1/4 turn pretty quick.

David Bathe

It totally depends on what you're flying. Junk sporty throw around or a serious F3A investment.
With the later, I'd be changing regularly.
Glow plugs start deteriorating the moment you brake the seal and start up the engine! how long that deterioration takes before the plug expires is anyones guess... could be a year... could be a couple of weeks... irrelevant.
After so many hours the plug simply isn't delivering maximum performance for high performance engines. It's just gotta go... even though there could be a several months "glow" left in it.
Regardless, there's a great deal that can be gained by changing plugs at least at the beginning and then couple of times during the season.
I'd say 50% of normal bad running sports engine problems I've come across can be solved with a 1: a new plug, even though the old one seems to be working fine and 2: a change to a quality plug (OS F, Enya 3 or similiar) even though the cheapo ones I've used for years work great.
Even the expensive plugs are cheap compared to the consequences.

Mode One

Per David Bathe: "Even the expensive plugs are cheap compared to the consequences".

To me as a simple sport flyer, the most extreme circumstance that would happen with a bad plug, is a dead stick landing. Am I missing something here? The way you have worded using glow plugs beyond a few weeks; or, a month, sounds like you're predicting dire consequences. Can you explain?

Stick 40

I have some glow plugs that are 15 or more years old and still working. Course I took a few years off RC to raise the kids, but why change just because they are old. Don't let that start happening, the wife might get wind of it and I ain't working now. So I'm worse than a old glow plug??????????????

sticks

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I too would like to know what the consequences are if you get a dead stick?? Unless you are one of the lift off the ground and pull straight up pilots it's just a dead stick landing just like the ones you see happen all the time. I can see a problem for a 3-D pilot but that's something a bit different then weekend sport pilots that make up the bulk of RC flying. Just wondering??

TCrafty

I've got a few engines that are still running glow plugs over four years old. That's how long I've been in this crazy hobby.

rc-fans88

flying season is three season to me, I change the glow plugs when it work not good

bassmanh

My Feedback: (5)

hi everyone,


thanks for all the reply's , i figured that the poll would show most use glow plugs untill they start to show a problem. i just wanted to make sure after the last 7 or so years i wasnt doing something i shouldnt .

i have always left them and used them every year untill they started acting up i am always ready to save some cash like most every1 else so if i dont have to change em im not going



have fun flying and again thanks for the replys.


bassman

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

I think he's referring to a $2-3000 (+ endless hours) F3A investment. Weather it's a simple dead stick landing or not, I'd choose the $6 to avoid the panic too.

aerowoof

A buck fifty ,heck I used to buy them for 49 cents,still have a fox short plug somewhere with the price still marked on it.

Mode One

Aren't the $2-$3,000.00 airplanes all gassers with Spark Plugs?

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Nope.

Mode One

Yep.