Many years ago, I bought a CEN Racing Matrix R2 (Chinese Kyosho knock-off) 1/8 nitro buggy for casual use. I had a lot of fun with it but eventually it got put on a shelf and has been sitting for a long time. It's the only nitro car/truck/buggy I ever owned, other than an .049-powered Cox dune buggy when I was a kid in the 1970s.

I decided to fire it up for old times' sake and I was quickly reminded of one of its issues: the one-way bearing isn't reliable. I can pull on the pull-starter four or five times before it will briefly engage and turn over the engine. And even then, it only engages barely long enough to get one compression stroke.

Is there a fix for this other than trying to find a replacement (which I'm guessing is unlikely for this old CEN .30 engine)? Wrong lube? Degrease it? More lube?

Thanks for any tips,
Bob