Glow plug eater!
 

yo guys...today i ran my turmoil for a number of tanks. halfway through the bash, my glow plug died. then 2 tanks later, another one died again. then about 2 and a half tanks later, 2 glow plugs died one tank after another. its eaten about 5 glow plugs so far, and it did about 10 tanks today. i tuned it nicely, its not too lean its not too rich. after the 2nd glow plug i richened it cuz i thought lean would kill the plugs. why are they dying all the time? i used 4 MC-9s and one XTM #3 (last resort)

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

I know you said the tuning is correct but if you are burning out glow plugs most of the time it is because of running to lean. Are you sure you have not developed and air leak?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

i hope not [&o]. the engine stays at about 230-250 range. ill reset to factory when i get glow plugs...

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

How is the smoke when you open the throttle wide open and how does it perform? How much fuel do you have through the engine till this started happing? Is the wire on the plugs broken when they go bad?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

Here is something of OS web site on glow plugs.
Fuel-air mix not only affects how your engine performs; it can also have an impact on how long your plug lasts. If you run rich, it means that you're using more fuel than necessary for top performance. Modelers are often advised to run rich during engine break-in, because it helps cool the engine. However, running too rich can also cause an engine to "bog down" or quit entirely. In addition, it also means that the glow element is being exposed to more contaminants than necessary, which shortens plug life.
Running lean means that you're using less fuel. "Leaning down" an engine has a positive effect on performance. However, care is needed here, because over-leaning an engine can harm it, by raising operating temperatures, "burn up" a plug before its time.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

what % fuel are you running ?

higher % fuel are often happier with a colder type plug..

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

oddonnel 20%. ive gone through one and a half gallons. there is a good amount f smoke coming out, not too much and not too little. some glow plugs look perfectly fine, but when i used my friends glow ignitor and mine it doesnt glow. one of them had a broken coil. and one of them had fuel where the coils are, is that normal?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

sounds a little rich to me... make sure you don't have air leaks anywhere causing you to have to run pretty rich to keep the temps down... i run my RB right around the 260's that's where she seems to be the happiest with 30% fuel... and i happen to blow one in my first heat yesterday after almost 2 gallons of fuel...normally i change them every gallon orso...bad or not...

and if your plug dies at a decent speed it's pretty normal to have lots of fuel on the plug... the einge won't fire but is still running at high enough RPM's to suck in good ammounts of fuel without burning it...

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

maaaan, i hate seeing peope using glow plugs that last over a gallon (sometimes even 3 [:'(])...it makes me jealous! lol. im gonna get a McCoy MC-59 glow plug today, reset to factory, then try from there again.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

if a plug shows no sign of damage and is normal looking, but wont work, what does that mean?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

hav eyou checked the battery in your glow starter? also check that the coil is soldered to the body, sometimes they come unsoldered & don't form the circuit to glow.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

What blend of O’Donnell? Race, RTR or what as what blend you run has to do with oil content even thaw O’Donnell dose not publish oil content the RTR in my opinion is to high. I run the Race blend and most of my glow plugs last 2 or better gallons.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

sounds like cheap plugs to me.....try using a rb 6 an os 8 plug...

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

its the race blend from oddonnel. ive used the MC-9 snce i started running my car. engine is .26. should i switch to a colder/hotter plug? the glow ignitor is still good, i used mine which has a beep tester that tests the glow plug's life, and i used my friends which he uses on his revo. i plugged my tester ignitor in mine, no beep. i plugged it on the revos plug, theres a beep. everytime i plug my tester to my glow plug im always scared it wont beep :(

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

your rod may have slop in it.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

Well i was going to say add an extra thin shim, but yeah rod slop might account for that.

Dann

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

I have to agree and I would either change or charge the battery. Are you sure the plugs are bad? After making sure you have a good battery put the old plugs in the igniter and see if they glow red. So you only have about ½ gallon of run time on the engine? What engine is it?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

I was going to say that.
Also.... check your bearings. They could be well on their way to a catastrophic failure.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

1-1/2 gallons through the engine.
Can i ask, what is the rod you guys are talking about? the pointy thing on the glow plug? never heard of the rod...
I tested the glow plugs using 3 different types of ingitor, none of them work.
Clutch bearings were recnetly changed.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

ok i reseted to factory (twice today), and used an MC-59 glow plug. it worked fine now. by any chance, is it the engine head shim causing this problem? ive opened and close, tightened and loosened the engine head to the crank case about 20 times since i got this buggy (july). maybe the stress put on the shim made it thinner, thus making the piston get that much closer to the glow plug? just a guess..

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

Could be a shim problem, if it keeps going through plugs and its not tuning add an extra head shim. The rod that they are talking about is the conrod (connection rod) from the crankshaft to the piston if it has slop it can travel further up the sleeve and cause damage to the plug, an extra shim may stop the plugs being damaged if its the rod but it would just be a patch job for a bigger problem. How much play in the rod is acceptable? to hard to answer with out seeing it, may be take it to a local track and ask a couple of experienced people to take a look.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

oooo the conrod, shoulda told me that a long time ago [&:]. if i were to get an extra shim, would i get a thin one, or one that is a bit thicker than the stock one? i just hate the fact that the conrod can break, i just saw someone experience this this weekend :(. and yes, an extra shim would bring some more troubles, but ill see what happens.

btw, since im using a hotter plug, the engine gets to 247* at rich settings. would this be normal?

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

rod = conrod = connecting rod = the thingy that connects the piston to the crank.

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

yes, i know. but i thought the rod was the little pointy thing on the glow plug, since i was talking about glow plugs :)

RE: Glow plug eater!
 

So did you figure out what was causing so many glowplugs to fail???