I have nitro vee...I never had a nitro motor before but my brother has been flying planes and he some what helped me... My rc experience endended in the late 80's with a blackfoot,so i have some r/c experience im also a automotive technician. On its maden voyage right out of the box with no adjustments the prop fell off at the u joint....It ran at idle for about 15 to 20 min untill it drifted to shore... ever since then i have had problems... I had to change the one way bearing in the starter and I replaced the electric start with a pull start(thinking less weight it will go faster even tho i only drove it for about 4 mins) What can i say!!!! And since i lost the stock prop i put an octura 440. Also i put a bigger water pickup tube i read somewhere to do that. And I bought a chrome metal muffler.. Second voyage (the prop stayed on) It runs for a while then dies.3 4 5th voyage same thing it runs strong then just dies my brother says its not running too hot or im not too lean so what can be the problem???Im thinking the engine got screwed up from the firt day idling with no prop.. Im half tempted to just buy and try a new motor..If i go that route i want to put a bigger motor in.. Is a bigger motor possible ??? bennificial??Also can i keep the return to shore motor with a different motor??? the return to shore motor works great as long as the prop stays on... Any help would be nice i need something to play with... I just want to go through 1 full tank of gas with no inturuptions!!! Thanks!!!

what size engine do you have on ate this time?

before buying a new engine go richer on the HSN about 1/8 of a turn out at a time. reason I ask you to do this is that planes, cars and trucks are not the same as a boat.
a lean HSN will make the engine quit.
not knowing the size of the engine (I'm thinking it may be a .15) a prop that is to big for the engine will also cause the same, a 440 is a big prop for a .15 and a few .18
There is also the possibility that the idling for that much time without cooling may have damaged the Piston and sleeve.

Dan.

I just checked "nitro v" and there is one offered by Traxxis that has a .15 engine in it... is that the one you have?

First, your brother's experience w/engine tuning for planes isnt going to be applicable... its apples to oranges.... so the "its not too lean" opinion is likely wrong. Actually it IS probably too lean.... boats that are too lean will run for a short distance and then die. Car & plane guys who get a boat for the first time routinely make the mistake of trying to tune their engines out of the water on the bench and end up to lean. Start over by resetting the HSN to factory suggested settings (probably 3 1/2 turns out). If you dont have the manual, when the boat is out of the water, tune the engine rich enough to where there is a lag/delay between when you squeeze the throttle and when the engine responds. This is where you want to start from. A rich engine wont be fast, but it will run thru a whole tank reliably.

I'm assuming the boat was bought new? If so, at only 4-5 tanks of fuel, the engine hasnt even begun to loosen up yet (the fit between the piston & sleeve has to get worn in to fit together well). Usually you dont want to start leaning down the engine til gets loosened up some; I have a new .12 and it wasnt till @ the 15th tank (2/3rds of gallon of fuel) that I could fnally turn the engine over by hand; I started leaning it down after the 6th tank in 1/8 turn increments. Also when breaking in your engine, it is a good idea to run your boat for a distance at full throttle and then a distance at @ 1/2 throttle..... the idea is to heatcycle the engine (get her hot and then allow to cool some) to acheive a good fit between piston & sleeve.

IF your engine is new, a small prop to start w/is best (they are easier for the engine to turn) because when they are new they are fighting the friction from the piston/liner as well as trying to turn the prop. I think my .15 hydro has a sharpened/balanced Y535 prop on it, but it has been
so long since I've had it out that I'm not 100% sure. Anyhow, too big a prop will load the engine too much, and it wont be able to turn it fast enough to get up on plane (up out of the water). So once you've dealt with lean fuel issue, you may notice this happening.

Lastly, I doubt you hurt your engine (though I could be wrong) when it idled in. I was told by an engine expert that car engines can run up to or past 300 degres w/o harm.... boat engines usually run best @200 degrees or so... so putting on a bigger water lines wasnt really helpful.... you want the engine to get hot to make power. Rod Geraghty (the engine guru) actually restricted the amount of water going thru my engines instead of increasing it so it would get hotter.

i have the .15 motor. I have the HSN at what the manual said for break in I checked it and it was right on the money.. 2.5 or 3.5 turns i cant exactly remember(wish i would have checked the prop for tightness!!!).
It has a lag/delay after wide open throttle and a decent amount of smoke. Thats why my airplane brother dident think it was too lean but im going to richen it up 1/8 a turn put/buy a stock prop and replace the stock water pick up tube.or would there be a better prop than stock i could use?? How will i know if its too rich??? The reason i think it may have gotten too hot is because of my one way starter bearing no longer worked after that. Was it just defective? will too much heat make them go bad???? It worked fine the 2 times it started befor the maden voyage then after the extended idling it no longer worked. Another question will the nitro go bad sitting in the boats tank?? I havent even gotten a full tank out of it yet its been out about six times and probally only ran for 1.5 min at a time?? Its been sitting in the tank for over a month. I run the pink omega like the book said 10% should i replace it?? Any pointers i would greatly accept and try.. I just want to run a full tank!!! My new hobby is not working as smooth as i wanted but i wont give up.

Funny you should mention the "old fuel".... I got an email from Marty Davis yesterday on that very issue. He stated that he has in the past had fuel that had absorbed water and caused the boat he was setting up to run much slower than expected til he switch to a different jug. He said he was of the opinion now that he wont even puit unused fuel from the tank backl into his jugs - he just tosses it. So I guess it is worth replacing. If you'd like to read the email for yourself, PM me your email address and I'll forward it on to you.

todd

is the pressure line from the exhaust to the fuel tank clear? it sounds like it might be starving from no pressure.