I am not usually prone to complaints or negative posts. This post issomewhat lengthy, but I strongly feel that it needs to be made. I am reasonably active in scale competition including events such as Top Gun. I have been building and flying RC models for 20 years.
Many of my models utilize gas engines. I have purchased and used 9 engines from BME. I have also purchased and used numerous engines from 3W, DA, Taurus, Zenoah and Fuji. I make this point solely to demonstrate that I have a fair amount of experience in the installation and operation of gas engines.
For Top Gun 2005, I designed and built a Vought Vindicator. The cowl on the Vindicator is relatively narrow. I wanted to have an engine that would be fully enclosed in the cowl, and yet have adequate room for cooling. I designed the model to a scale that would accommodate a BME 110. I chose this engine as it presented the power level I felt was appropriate, and had a cap to cap measurement that would fit within the cowl. I was more concerned with size and power, than I was with one of the advertised features of the engine; light weight. In fact I was a bit concerned that the weight reduction might have impacted on the durability of the engine. A phone call was made to BME to discuss this. Since it was an impending purchase Keith Baker was surprising easy to reach by phone. I purchased two 110 engines from BME. Upon arrival of the engines in Thailand, I mounted the engines on test stands and began a 2 hour break in procedure. Both engines exhibited problems after about 45 minutes of run time. I tested the ignitions on an oscilloscope, with a pulse timer circuit to simulate prop pulses. Both ignitions were not working properly. My flying partner Ray who lives in the United States called BME several times. He was politely told that no one was available to discuss this, but that he could call CH who made the ignitions. A call to CH, resulted in confirmation that there was a known problem with the ignitions in warm climates (Thailand is quite warm). CH had us send the ignitions back, and effected modifications very expeditiously. It was disturbing that BME being aware of the problem never addressed it or gave notice to users. If the engine had acted up in flight due to a known defect in the ignition the potential consequences are obvious. The break-in process on the two engines was completed with no further problems. One of the engines was installed in the Vindicator. The Vindicator was put through 12 test flights in Thailand and no problems were encountered with the engine.
After static judging at Top Gun, the Vindicator was taken out for a trim flight. Prior to flight, all the rigging was checked, the engine was checked and run up for about 5 minutes. The petrol used for the engine was kindly supplied by Frank Tiano, and was premixed with the appropriate amount of oil. Frank was also using this petrol mix in the plane he was flying, no engine problems resulted in that plane from the petrol. Five minutes into the trim flight the BME 110 seized in the air. The airplane was landed dead stick without incident.
Upon inspection of the engine, it was obvious that the pistons were frozen. With the flying part of the competition starting the next day, a number of rather desperate calls were made to BME in an attempt to get a replacement engine. Despite promises to get back to us, no return calls were made. One of the members of Imperial RC generously provided a BME 102, and I was able to modify the cowl, exhaust and engine mounting system to use this engine. The plane flew all four rounds at Top Gun and placed within the top five in Team Scale. There were no difficulties with the replacement engine.
Post Top Gun, my flying partner made numerous calls to BME to attempt to discuss the engine issue. The lady who took the call was very polite but was not in a position to discuss technical issues; regrettably no one with any technical knowledge would return Ray’s calls. The engine was sent to BME with a request that they evaluate the engine, and consider a refund. After the engine was sent to BME, a number of phone calls were made to them to inquire after the engine. No one knowledgeable about engines was available. Again, no calls were returned. Just shy of two months after Top Gun, BME wrote a letter which said “Hi Ray, We sent you a letter regarding your engine. I am sorry but the engine has been severely overheated. We checked your carb settings and found them to be set way to lean. This type of damage only happens if the engine is run to hot,to lean or without oil. This is not covered under warranty and we cannot refund your money or repair the engine for free. As I told you on the phone engines dont do this by themselves and it is the end users responsibility to make sure they are tuned properly. The cost to repair this engine is 400.00 plus shipping. ”


Thank you
Keith Baker
BME

The phone call Keith referred to was the sole time he took a call and occurred prior to Keith receiving the engine. His “diagnosis” was done without seeing the engine and never even allowed for the possibility of manufacturing related problems. The carb settings were proven to be correct during 12 flights and a 2 hour break-in. Where the carb settings may have been and who may have turned the needles in or out after the engine was removed, who knows. Quite a few people at Top Gun handled the engine after it was removed from the plane, hence the comment on needle settings is not relevant. If Baker had taken the time to answer a phone call he would have been made aware of this. The engine was obviously not run without oil. The cooling system was looked at by a number of other participants at Top Gun, and was clearly not at issue. The same fuel and cooling configuration was used on the aircraft with a BME 102 with no difficulties.
A number of polite calls were made to BME after receipt of this letter, and a number of e- mails were sent asking to talk with Keith Baker.
Below is the response of Keith Baker
“Ray, I just received your message from my wife. I am sorry but my time is valuable to me and I am not going be on the phone arguing about an engine. I told you what was wrong with it and what caused it. We dont warranty burned up engines as does no other manufacturer. I dont want to loose you as a customer but either you have to take accountability for what you have done to the engine and pay for the repair charges or we can send the engine back to you as is. If you choose to sell the engine you should have no problem as we have hundreds on backorder with thousands of satisfied customers. I have taken photographs and made notes about the engine. If you feel we are unfairly treating you I would be happy to send the engine to any engine expert you choose and let them tell you why the engine failed. “


Thank you
Keith Baker
BME

At Top Gun, there were a number of engine experts. They did in fact not only look at the engine, but at the installation. The thinking was that there was a manufacturing defect, since the setup was not wrong. Notwithstanding the fact that the engine was not setup wrong, it is amazing that Baker over a two month period refused to discuss this at all. At no time was an aggressive or argumentative tone taken with his company. Since Baker would not even come to the phone, this would have been impossible in any event. The statement that his time is too valuable to him, gives a message that any potential customer needs to take note of and consider very carefully. I have had occasional problems with engines from other manufacturers, fortunately none have been of this magnitude. I have however never seen this type of behavior or response. It is truly surprising and totally unacceptable.
I am obviously not going to take any legal action against Baker or his company. Such action would ultimately be a pointless waste of time and money. Baker insisted on a payment of $400.00 to repair the engine. The value of the engine gave me no choice but to have the repair made and sell the engine off. I will use the BME engines that I now own, with the exception of the other 110, since I have no faith in this engine, its build quality or BME’s quality control. I will not under any circumstances purchase another BME engine, and I will certainly convey my view to others.

Mike Selby

Michael,

I just want to say that I indeed did witness your problem at Top Gun and can vouch for the fact that you did not run the engine lean and that the fuel we shared certainly did have the correct oil mixture. I witnessed sesveral flights of your Vindicator before the engine seized. We flew the same fuel a total of 10 flights with no problem! Sometimes, when a company finds a bad product ihas found its way into its line, they are the last to acknowledge it .........because they believe that by doing so will be an admission of guilt on their part that the rest of their product line os crap as well. It takes a real classy person to admit that their company may have a problem, obviously, this is not one of those people! Good Luck.
FT

Prodduct aside, it sounds like Mr Baker has a real attitude problem.. His time is more valuable then his customers.. Hmmm... This should help him solve his backlog problem though... Hopefuly...

Iron Cross, you have synthesized the key issue well. At the end of the day it was Baker's responses that were just as disconcerting as the failure of the engine.
Mike

BME seem to limit their own liability to such a degree that what they are actualy liable for is very small number of incidences. For example they wont warrant the carb or the ignition, the reason is that ignitions are made by CH so you have to go back to them and the walbro carbs are supposed to be so complex or open to user abuse so they dont warrant them either.

Its ridiculus that BME sell an engine using other manufacturers parts but wont warrant the bits they havent actually produced from scratch.

Its a good job car manufacturers dont do that or you'd be chasing around the world after the thousand or so comapnies that produced the origional bits. The only reason for it is money, they just cant afford to give a warranty on the whole lot. Companies like Fuji or Zenoha or Cimmaster are big enough to bite the bullet when things go wrong BME dont and wont.

Its my way of thinking that if you produce a product you warrant the whole lot for 12 months not send customers off to sort out issues with their (BME's) own suppliers.