I got my son his first nitro and went with the Tsunami because I have read alot of good things about it and did not want to spend a ton of cash. I have also read about guys that have had overheating problems with the VX.18 motor. I too was having problems. I could not get it below 280 for nothing. Rich as rich could be. Well today I got my 13/18 clutch bell and decided Im gonna take the motor apart just to see the quality. Well to my surprise it did NOT have a head gasket. I know from past experience what not having a head gasket would do. Although the head did seal quite well the compression was very strong and too much. To everyone that has the vx motor and is having the same problem with heat, remove teh head and see if there is a gasket.

There must be a head gasket. Are you sure it wasn't stuck inside the ring on the head and just looked like there wasn't a head gasket, sometimes they get in there so tight it apears to not have a head gasket. I would definatly double check that and be sure. 95% of the VX motors I've worked on that are over heating it turns out to be miss tuning or Exhaust or fuel tank leaking pressure. I'm nto saying your wrong I'm just sharing my experiance as a dealer and having the chances to work on a large number of the Redcat cars and engines.

just thinking about it, make sure your fuel tank cap is sealing good, i was fooling with my volcano last night, filled the tank and realized it was 10pm so i didnt run it, i took the fuel out and was blowing on the exhaust time and was blowing air from the o ring on the top of the tank, i just ordered a new tank. the engine ran fine the last time i used it but i am almost certain it wasnt leaking like this, when i turned the truck over, fuel was pouring out of the cap. this can make it run lean since its not getting pressure in the tank.

Is the gasket gold or aluminum color?

both colors but i mostly see the silver on the vx18

OK NEVER MIND!!! It has one. Its aluminum.I was able to take a needle and dig it out. Now What. I know its not tuning. I hae been doing nitro for over 15yrs and I race a Jato with numerous other nitro's. I can have the needles almost all the way out and it still heats up. I will check my tank. Sorry guys for the lame post!

lol, mine were all gold, well at least you didnt go crazy looking to buy one and put it one then you would have a problem of less compression. check the tank, also make sure the fuel nipple in the tank is not clogged behind it.

Do you think its because of the high gearing? Too much for the motor? Although if that was the case alot more people would have complaints about overheating or they just dont check the temps.

Well worse case is that I still have a os .12 cz to install.

sounds like its either sucking in air or fuel is being blocked, also check the needle, make sure nothing is blocking them, take them out and see if something is clogging the opening.

Don't forget Redcat's engine replacement program.

brushedtooth,

The truck is only about 2 weeks old. It runs fine it just runs hot.

I thought you were stating if the engine broke from overheating you would put the .12 in there.

I have the same problem. Just pulled the carb and needles and sprayed them with nitro cleaner and carb cleaner. Dropped some after run in it, and it ran fine for a bit, then got really hot.

It might be that the plug is no good? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but a too-hot plug ignites earlier? Maybe there's a hint of pre-detonation in there. Perhaps try a plug one step cooler

Also what fuel are you using? perhaps you have a bad batch, or with too little oil?

I would put the cz12 in it if the motor goes bad but no reason to do a replacement through redcat if its only 2 weeks old. Thats another 50 I would have to put up. I think the cz.12 will have more power than the vx18 anyways even though the 18 is much larger cc but the cz is a great motor.

well, I'm still on the first gallon. It was running absolutely perfect untill it met dirt (About 30 tanks in). The air filter was oiled, and it wasn't like severe dirt. Just dust and stuff it kicked up. Full cleaning did it good, then about 15 minutes to my run the next day it was running horribly. So, i stopped running it, and picked up a Mccoy hot plug, re-tuned it to the plug and it ran fine for around 20 minutes. then it did the same thing. that led to my idea of cleaning the carb well. When i put the engine back on it looked BRAND NEW. not one speck of dirt on it anywhere. same thing. now, i was going to try to pull the head off and clean the entire engine. (I was planning on porting the engine while i was at it) but one of the screws on the cooling head wouldn't grip my allen wrench, which gripped the others fine. It was like the bolt was stripped. So i'm pretty much lost now.

I guess this leads me to the assumption that, redcats are wonderfull cars. Just change the engine out and you'll have one monster for a good price.

Ahh, sorry don't want to snatch your post from you : \

Twomany I've replaced more fuel tanks on 1/10 models than I like to even say[] been working on an easy replacement but don't have one yet.[:-]

rclynx, On the redcats?

Yea if they are good there great but the ones that don't seal around the tank lid where the O-ring is I've tried all kinds of different O-rings and they never seem to seal right........replace the tank and there good to go. I've replaced 3 tanks and O-rings on 3 or 4 more........presure leaks causing lean problems..........never had any problems on a 1/8 but I love the Redcat 1/10's

Yeah. My egine is always overheating and leaking so I am going to seal my entire egine and carb with some RTV(red sillicone). Oh yeah can you use RTV red sillicone on the cooling head as a gasket sealer? I was thinking about my fuel tank was it, but i flipped it upside down and nothing leaked out of there, unless it is clogged. Hmmmm. Good ideas I guess. The only thing is that I had my volcano for a long time about two gallons through it and now it starts to overheat!
But we'll see.

you can use it, it will work. check the tank though, i just had to replace my tank and out of no where, i didnt even run it to find out, i just tilted the car over and gas was flying out of the tank.

Yeah that happened to me to but my tank was more than a year old. lol I think the spring weakens after being opened so many times. Happened on my friends t-maxx too.

Last night I tore my motor apart and sealed the whole thing. I let it dry over night and threw it back in today. I also put in a cold plug and new head gasket. It took about 5 pulls and fired right up. I noticed right away that it sounded rich which it did not proir to resealing . It had a nice girgle sound at idle. I let it warm up and did a few wot runs and could notice the difference. I had both needles set as far rich as I could to keep it cool before the sealing and now I am able to lean it out . The highest temp I was able to reach was 260. Prior I could not get it below 280.

Let me tell you that if you have not replaced the clutch bell to a 13/18 you are missing out. A HUGE differnece in power and speed. It takes off like crazy and hits top speed pretty quick. The biggest part is that prior to the clutch bell when it shifted into second it did not have anough power to increase in speed and you can hear the rpm's drop off. Now with the 13/18 it takes off quick and hits second and rpm's increase. The way it should be. Now REDCAT needs to use this gearing to make the truck act like it is supposed to.

Now I think I have a great truck for my son to run. I knew I was going to have to do some changes to get it up to par. I was not expecting the overheating problem right off the bat. My son has had the truck for 2 weeks and has only been able to run it once. It was killing him to not be able to run it till I got all the issues fixed. He dont know it yet but everything is all good now and he will be able to really run it when he gets home from school.

Well I got home today to tell my son I had fixed his truck. Started it up and it ran real strong. Did a few passes and temps seemed ok. After about 2 min of running and not running hard I rechecked the temps and they were up to 300. BACK TO SQUARE ONE!!!!!! Starting to lose faith in Redcat. Maybe I should write them to see what they can do.