cenracer1

I was running my new baja 5b yesterday when the engine just shut off at idle... was running fine through the first part of the first tank... I thought it stalled and would be a simple restart, but that wasn't the case... first thought was flooded, but after waiting 5 hours it did the same thing... decided to take the motor apart after determining it was getting fuel and spark... same symptoms as merchj... We run these together and purchased at the same time... as soon as I took the head off, I saw a large scrape on the side of the piston and the sleeve on the intake side.. Thought it ingested something until we noticed that the locating pin for the piston ring was not there.. upon further examination, we found it pressed too far into the piston.. It seems that the factory made a mistake and pressed it in too far causing the ring to rotate and get caught in the intake killing the head and piston... Spoke with HPI this morning and will be sending the head and piston to them to look at... wanted the whole engine, but I put a big bore kit in last night and was not going to lay up the buggy for weeks... They said they will replace it if it proves to be defective... Oh well... can always use spare parts... Customer service said he heard about a couple of motors with the same problem... Thankfully, ordered the big bore kit before ever running the original motor... cannot have enough power.

part-time

My Feedback: (1)

at least it sounds like hpi did not give u the run around

cenracer1

I wouldn't say that... they wanted to whole engine not just the head and piston.. I can understand that, but i explained that I just spent $1000 and was not about to let this sit for weeks while they decide what to do.. (evaluate the motor)

Mr. Mugen

Take pics before sending it! Just a word to the wise from a guy who has all the luck when it comes to sending companies their stuff back.

hndaman1

My Feedback: (6)

I hope you talkd too WES? he is the person too talk too there at HPI....He will just ask for a PIC of something......now what if something fell into your crank ?and has chewed up your bearings? and since your putting a BBkit in HPI will not cover that

cenracer1

pretty sure it was wess I spoke to.. vey nice guy.. he suggested a few things to look out for... as far as pics.. of course I will.. I'll also post them here tomorrow or wed... checked and cleaned everything out.. nothing in crank.. just piston ring scored the head and piston.. Not looking for HPI to give me the world here, just replace the parts under warranty.. I didn't even get thru a full tank of fuel... As for the BB kit.. I cleaned the motor as good as I could considering it was still attached to the buggy... Tested it very late last night and it fired right up.. Idle was great.. can't wait to finish break in and unleash it..