My Ram 500 exhibits a slight popping at idle. Other than that it runs great, run-up and performance are fine. I am guessing that one of the injectors might be plugged or partially blocked.

1) Could that cause the popping?

2) Has anyone tried using automotive injector cleaner in their fuel?
If it works that would be a lot easier than taking the engine apart or sending it in for service. Since it runs fine I'm reluctant to mess with it.

Joe

Don't worry about it...The injectors that are in vehicles are nothing like what is going on in the turbines we use. They really are not injectors at all, but small injection tubes. When the fuel rail becomes clogged really the only way to correct this is for it to be replaced. I f your engine is running fine then just fly. The popping at idle is pretty normal on the RAM engines and some others. Try looking up this topic in the Turbine Clinic forum.

I definitely would not run any form of injection cleaner through the turbine.

Joe,

I don't know about the current breed of turbines since I don't use any fuel injector cleaners in them but I still have a couple of the GWM FD 3/67 engines that I use and still do (recommended by GWM) a small amount of injector cleaner mixed in with the fuel. In close to 200 -250 hours of use, I've not needed any service including bearings etc with those engines.

The fuel composition for the FD 3/67 engine is white gas (coleman fuel) + Kerosene + 4-5 oz of "OUTLAW" brand of fuel injector cleaner per gallon.

I don't think you need them for the newer engines but they WERE and still being used. I believe they do help in resisting the carbon build-up in and around the fuel nozzles in the turbine.

Adil

That was a major issue with the GSW turbine. Those things clogged all the time. They sucked about as much fuel down as a Pegasus also(G). You don't need to worry about the RAM500 with the popping. It's normal.

The popping is caused by the fuel boiling in the distributor ring. At low power setting, the fluid flow is so small that the kero gets the cance to heat up to boiling temps. When the air bubbles exit through the needles, they cause a slight flame surge, and when it comes back on line it makes the pop. Throttleing down even more, you will probably start to see rpm vary, all the way to a flameout...
Solution is either to use high grade diesel fuel (higher boiling point), or modify your injector ring to a slightly larger diameter to get it away from the heat and into the cooling airstream...
Regards
Hank

Great explanation. Thanks, Hank.

The larger diameter doesn't work unfortunatly. Tried many times and tried to get RAM to do that, but they new best. I did wrap the front of the can around the fuel rail/manifold with some thermal tape and it went away. I still hear lots of them popping so I guess they never fixed it. You can try the different JP fuels IF you can find them. They are usually very expensive and you can only get them near a military installation. Where are you currently getting your fuel? It's not K1 Kero is it?

I'm using dyed kerosine from the pump of a local gas station. I'm not sure if it's K1 or K2, at any rate the boiling point is the same. It's the same stuff the rest of the guys in my club are using, and their Jetcats and Wrens don't pop. Previously I was buying K1 clear from a local hardware store and it also popped with that.

I may try the thermal tape if I have occasion to open the engine up. Since it runs fine I'll let it be for now.

Joe

Can you get at least JetA? You would be better off with that or the K1 Kero. The dyed fuel is not the best to use. You can tell instantly the engines that run dye-based fuel. I wouldn't attempt opening the engine. There are too many flights waiting to be flown vs. tearing the engine down to fix popping. It's not going to improve anything anyway. When you send it in for maintenance just mention the popping. Unless you start having flameouts or starting problems I wouldn't touch it.

Strrurrer, i had the same on my MW54, and it works. Ram500 is just a copy of that AFAIK...
I made a totally new injector ring with slightly smaller tube thickness to increase flow speed and reduche stay times, and opened up the diameter so the inner "diameter" of the distributor is at midpoint of the vaporizer sticks. It works perfectly...