Hi all,

If you've read any of my other threads, then you'll already know that I'm new to the nitro world

I'm having a few problems with getting my engine idling right. If I have the idle speed too low, then it stalls not long after starting. However, if I set it high enough that it doesn't stall, I find that the car starts rolling once the engine's running.

So then I'll drop the idle speed down, and the car stops rolling but stalls not long after starting...

Catch 22

Anyone got any suggestions for what might be causing this?

Thanks,

Steve

what type of car do you have

It's a CEN TR4 with a .16 engine.

You can see the full speel on the engine at http://www.cenracing.com/ - I still don't know enough to tell you what you'd want/need to know

you might need a new clutch. This happened to me with my HPI Rush. Your clutch may be worn out and engage at low rpms causing the engine to die. Try to find a racing clutch for your engine that has a coil spring that wraps aound the clutch shoes.

Well, my car (CEN TR4) already has a spring that goes around the clutch shoes...

It's also three days old, so I find it hard to believe (but not impossible! ) that it could have fried a clutch already.

Could it just be calibrated badly? What kind of adjustments can you make to a clutch, and what kind of adjustments do you think I might need to make?

Thanks

One more thing to add...

I find that I almost always have to give my car a fair bit of throttle to get it to start - is that usual? I'm not even talking fliddling with the trim here - I'm talking 50% throttle

Sounds like a clutch problem, but what you describe does not make a lot of sense.

If you idle down it quits, if you idle up it wants to roll out on ya.
Yet you also say that it takes like 50% throttle to get it to go.

So are you saying that you have to idle up 50% throttle to keep it running?


Dbow

Nope, just to get it started.

I start it with about 50% throttle, let it run a few seconds, then remove the glowstarted and let the revs drop down to idling.

Then, if the idle is set too low it stalls. If I set it to the point where it won't stall, it starts to roll forward (sometimes fast, sometimes slow - not noticed a pattern in this yet...).

Can I really get clutch problems on a brand new car though?

Maybe I'll have to make another visit to the shop...

All the references I can find to the clutch from the specs:

"High performance Teflon clutch shoes"

Everything else in/on the clutch seems to be metal of some sort, and there is a spring around the clutch shoes.

Hope this helps

Thanks

Steve

There are other things that can and will affect your idle if set incorrectly. Lets talk about how good is your engine tuned to begin with.

You must break your engine in and tune it properly before attempting to set your idle speed since it can be affected by both your low and high end settings. For break in you should set your idle opening enough to keep the engine running. Dont worry about your car rolling since you have to drive it anyway to break the engine in. First tune your high end needle. After doing this then adjust your low end needle. And finally set your idle speed screw. You must have a properly tuned low end in order to achieve a correct idle. If your low end is too rich it will cause the engine to load up with fuel too fast. If your idle spped screw is too high it will give you a false sense of idle and will make the engine hard to tune and unpredictable. You will have an engine that is giving you poor fuel economy because of the waste of gas while on the low end.
Here is a very good link to tuning your engine and setting your idle speed. http://www.parisracing.com/engine_tu...coversheet.htm

If this doesnt help your stalling problem, it will teach you how to tune better for sure!

I'll bookmark that one now, give it a try tomorrow after work

It's 3AM now anyway, so I guess I'd best try to get some sleep. Long evening driving tomorrow

Thanks for the link, I'll let you know how it goes...

Well, I've figured out the cause of the problem

I dismantled my clutch to see if there was some dirt or anything causing trouble, and it turns out that the clutch spring has snapped. I'm amazed it didn't make more of a mess in my clutch bell to be honest, quite a clean snap and no shrapnel anywhere.

So, if anyone else has a similar problem, you know where to look first

Any ideas if that's the kind of part that'll be stocked at my LHS, or will I have to get one ordered?

Thanks for the help all