hey,
i have just purchased a losi 8ight rtr. i have been trying to break in the engine. i have about 5 tanks through it. But i am having trouble getting the engine up to 200 degrees. the highest i can get it up to is about 140. i am using a duratrax temp gauge. i am taking the temp at the glow plug and around the engine casing. should i just keep leaning out the high speed needle?

wrap the head with tin foil

do i need the foil if its over 80 degrees outside? puttin on the foil hahaha

Cut an old sock up so you can put the sock over the cooling head like a beer coozy,. You can also run a hotter plug. Try preheating engine with a heat gun.

thanks for your reply. after i get the engine up to temp and broken in, will i need to pre-heat the engine before every run? is this normal, not being able to get the temp up high enough. thanks

Lean it out! You dont need to wrap the head in those temps.

Don't listen to this horrible advice, when breaking your engine in you need it to run very rich. Like the others said above, heat it up with a heat gun and wrap the head in tinfoil.

I totally agree with sparko don't lean the engine out. Wrap the engine head with aluminum foil. You need to run the engine rich during break-in so wrapping the engine head with foil will help the engine get to and maintain temps above 200 degrees F. Once you have a few tanks through the engine running at temps above 200 degrees then you can slowly start to lean the engine with very small increments to help maintain those temps. Good luck.

well i was able to get the temp up to about 200 degrees. my god that is hot, i hit my hand on the engine while picking up the car wow that hurt. is the duratrax temp gauge pretty accurate? trying to take the temp at the glow plug but with the heat sink being so big the gauge only gets about an inch to an inch and a half away is this good enough? thank you

It's good enough. I have it and it's just a few deg off from way more (too?) expensive ones.

Those Duratrx temp guns aren't too accurate. You can still use them as a reference but I wouldn't completely rely on them. If you want to know where your engine temp is, try using the "spit test".

Put a drop of spit on the engine head. If it sizzles and burns off the engine is too hot (near or above 300 degrees F) If the spit stays on the engine head and just evaporates you are in a good and safe temp ange

who makes a good temp gauge for fairly cheap?

Duratrax

It's not as bad as people say. I compared it to an Excergen and it was only 2 deg off. Just make sure the sensor is clean otherwise it will read 20-30F too low easily.



Seriously. [8D]

The best temp gun I've owned, is defiantly this one:

http://www.airlandhobbies.com/catalo...7170026389.htm

Years later still working....

My first one got stolen... thats how good they are. LOL!

guys are correct you dont want to lean out teh motor too much and run it a bit rich as you run it in.
In the same breath though you dont want the engine overly rich as you will accellerate wear.
Best is to get teh engine up to temp and then let it cool down for 10/15 mins and repeat so you heat cycle the components.
The tune for decent performance and keep it a touch rich with a nice smoke plume from the pipe.
After a while you will notice the motor starting to feel better and it will also start running a bit cooler.
The temp gauge is a guide and not exact temp the motor is running at.
On most temp gauges it will be in the ball park but note that different colored heat sinks will give different readings.
I use the temp gauge in conjunction with the spit method and also noting smoke and performance.

Those duratrax temp guns have been known to be up to 100 degree off.

I use a raytek their suppose to be pretty accurate. I got mine for $50, but now I just touch the top of the head with my hand. If the engines around 230-250F I can touch the head with out getting burnt. (but it is warm to the touch) Guessing by how hot you said the the head was when you touched it, I would say it was 240-260 (maybe more)

I'm starting to use my temp gun less and less know. I know there's a few that won't even use their temp gun some times.

I use the duratrax temp gauge and I compared it to a $350 infrared temp gauge I use at work. It was only 5 degrees off. The gauge is used as a reference and should not be a used as a critical tool when tuning the engine. Just make sure there is always some smoke/oil coming out the exhaust pipe and you keep it tuned to operate at peak efficiency, that way you don't have to run WOT as much and don't overheat the engine. Is the carb set at the stock break in settings? These are the only settings I would use for the first couple of tanks at break in. The manufacturers test their engines and determine the best settings for break in procedures, so I would trust what they say to use. If stock settings don't allow the engine to get up to temp, then use the foil or sock method to get it up to temp. Or if it's due to wind blowing across the fins, just block the wind and it should get up to temp.

I would use aluminum foil, that way you don't risk having a sock on fire over your engine and you can always poke holes in the foil to allow a little airflow if the engine gets too hot. Of you could just throw a burger on it, then you can break in the engine and cook lunch at the same time.

What he said. It's accurate to within a few degrees as long as you keep the sensor clean.
'Known to be 100F off'...... sounds like user error to me and it's not 'known' to be 100F off.