mikez104

Yeah, truck in pond. My son was driving it down the yard turned at the bottom and rolled it. The only problem is it kept right on rollin to the bottom of the hill and into the pond. So... Where do I start? The truck was about 3 feet under for a minute or so. I took out the receiver and dried it out. I pulled the fuel tank and engine out but am not sure if I should take the engine apart.

I have rebuilt lots of car engines and motorcycle engines in my time but have never taken one of these apart. Are there seals that would need replaced or is there anything I should be concerned about? They look pretty simple. The manual don't have an exploded view of the engine.

There is a ton of dirt caked around the engine and I would rather not introduce that into the engine if at all possible. The one thing I found was that there was only 1 screw holding the starter on and it was very loose. The others have all fallen out.

Does anyone have any experience in a waterlogged truck?

davido666

The engine are very easy to take apart. You need to worry if any dirt or sand got into the engine. The engine has a piston and sleeve. So if you wear the sleeve and piston with dirt or sand you will lose compression and you will have to replace the engine. The best thing is to take it apart, clean all the parts off and flush out the crank case. Reasamble the engine with after run oil so the engine is well lubed. If you don't want to go that far remove the 4 screws that hold the head on. Remove the cooling head and button from the engine in look at the top of the piston and the sleeve. Look for videos on youtube that show you how to take rc engines apart. There are some good ones there. Loctite the roto start screws in with loctite.

This video show you the basics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v4ePOjjKNE

-SomeGuy-

Take it apart as soon as possible and spray it all down with WD-40. You dont want any rust to form on the inside. And no they are not complicated at all, there are no gaskets you need to worry about.

Take the head off to get at the piston and sleeve, put a tie-wrap through the exhaust port and turn the flywheel to push up the sleeve if it doesnt come out easily. You may need to twist the conrod sideways to get it off the crankshaft if it gives you trouble. Wash any dirt off and blow it with a compressor if you have one if not just go straight to the WD. Make sure you get into the two bearings inside the engine and through the carb.

Do this right and your engine will be fine.

mikez104

OK, to avoid breaking something, how do I get the clutch assembly off or do I start at the head? Also, what about the servos?

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

The clutch shoes and springs should just pull off. Then there will be a nut holding the flywheel off. Once you get that off, you'll have to peck the flywheel with something probably to get it broke loose.

Honestly, If i were to have a motor that had been in water. I would take the head off, pull the piston and sleeve out, and take the backing plate and rear part of the crank out. Spray everything down with WD40. The WD stands for water displacement. Id personally leave the front part of the crank in, and leave the flywheel and clutch shoes on it. Spray out the whole inside of the block with WD40 real good and make sure and spray it in the front bearings from the inside while you spin the crank. Dry everything off with a rag, and then lube it all back up with some after run oil, or 3 in 1 oil(what i use). You should be good to go after that. Id run the motor pretty soon so that any water that is still in there will evaporate, and run it rich for a tank or 2 to make sure everything gets lubed back up good.

You should be good to go after that[8D]

mikez104

I guess the 4 bolts on the back in the picture are what I need to remove to get the rear part of the crank out like you said. sounds easy enough. I'll pick up some new screws up for the starter case tomorrow. Should I locktite the screws when I put them back in? While I was posting pictures I figured I'd post a pic of my non-waterlogged mmgt 3.0.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yes, you need to take those 4 bolts out, and take the head off. The back part of the crank will come right out with the backplate, and then once you get the head off you need to pull the sleeve out, and then take the piston and rod out. Clean everything up and reassemble.

I have never had problems not using loctite on the 4 backplate bolts, but it wont hurt anything if you use some.

While you have it apart, I would reccomend sealing it up with some RTV gasket maker. Sometimes engines get leaks around the backplate and carb, and can cause tuning issues. This is cheap and easy insurance. Here is a link:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8518396/tm.htm

Look at BudBud's post (#11),and he has great pictures and a small writeup on how to seal your motor up tight so you dont have air leaks. [8D]

Oh, and those MMGT's are sweet! For the price they are an absolute steal! Id like to have one myself[8D]

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Any luck?

mikez104

Got it done last night but too late to try it up so we did today after work. Drum roll...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DslKaB99o14[/youtube]

Thanks for your help! It is leaking a little burnt looking oil though. Benjamin (Son) noticed it on the bottom of the engine case. I can't tell where from. Maybe I should look into that sealing thread mentioned somewhere above.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Good deal man! Glad to see you got it running

Yeah, it never hurts to seal up the motor. A lot of the time when fuel leaks out it comes out of the front bearing area. I always had a little leak out on my 2.5 motor though. I think a little is normal as long as it isnt much. If it is real bad, then it needs a new front bearing, but as long as the motor is running good other than that, i wouldnt worry about it.

mikez104

Actually, I think it is coming out of the back where the starter thing bolts on. The good thing is that it is getting oil in there for the gears. The bad thing is that it makes a mess. I'll watch it and see how it goes.

Thanks again for your (and others) advice. You all were right, there's not much to these engines. The only thing that freaked me out was when I took off the back end of the engine a little pin and spring flew out and rolled across the table. I quickly figured out where they went and all was well.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, those little spring loaded pins can worry you until you figure them out

Id take the back plate off and seal it up if i were you. Its not that bad if fuel leaks out, but if it is sucking air in, it will be near impossible to tune correctly, and will run lean most likely. Its a simple fix though, and it may be fine anyways if the motor is running good.

davido666

The black oil is from the rear back plate seal leaking. I had the same problem with my engine. If I did a lot of runs the next day I when I tried to start it the one way bearing would slip and and the motor was hard to get started. Instead of replacing the back plate I just put a different engine in. Just keep running until the engine leak get to bad and you can order a new back plate and starter shaft for the engine.