6speednissan

I finally have everything ready to go. I tried to fire it up and nothing. The carb slider is where its supposed to be, the needles were at factory settings, glow plug lit up, full roto battery, and I blew into the fuel line to get it primed. It would seem like it would try, but not turn over. It got to the point that the roto start kept getting stuck at TDC or flooding, one of the two. I took the plug out and cranked it upside down, but no access fuel came out, so I don't think it was flooded. Is this motor that tight that it won't start, or is my tuning just messed up? I thought at factory settings motors almost always start. I'm running Top Fuel 33% with the stock os plug that came with it. I was trying to tune it, and now it won't start AND I forgot the factory settings. The manual doesn't show the high speed factory setting. I'm afraid I'm going to mess this motor up cranking on it and its never even run yet. I know once it gets broken it I'll be fine, but so far it really sucks.

DaveG55

I think that the factory settings are on, like, page 22 of the manual.
Yes, the TM is a very tight motor when new.
I had to lean my HSN out about 1/4 to 1/2 turn to get it to fire. I also had to lean the LSN a bit after the 2nd or 3rd tank.

My TM was a pain to get broken in but well worth the effort in the end

fatkidjoey

i was in the same boat 2 days ago os 18 tm for maxx and i had to adjust the idle on it, it was all the way shut... yea i was kind POed , but got it runnin

DaveG55

One other thing, On break-in it really helps to use a seperate glow ignitor Some people say use one all the time but, to me, that just defeats the convience factor of the ez-start. Using one for break-in will help with a couple things though. Besides letting the ez-start use all its energy towards turning the engine over it keeps the glow plug hot after you release the start button. That alone is really helpful with a new, overly rich engine.

KRO

If you use an igniter you could loosen the glow plug a little , then tighten after it starts .

That or take a hair dryer and heat up the motor before you try to start it .

6speednissan

Thanks for the advise guys. I actually switched to roto start when this motor went in so I have been using a glow ignitor. Today when I got home from work it was the same way. It kept getting stuck at TDC with every crank. I loosened the glow plug a hair and it started to crank. Then my roto battery ran out when I was starting to get excited. [:@] How much should I loosen the plug so it will still start?

NitroVenom

Like a 1/4 of a turn from snug. You'll hear it just about to fire and then use the ignitor to tighten it back down. When it really starts, tighten it all the way with a wrench.

6speednissan

Thanks, I'll give that a try tomorrow.

DaveG55

As said before, pre heating the block will really help with that sicking at tdc. A hair dryer will work but a heat gun is better. Heat it until it's almost too hot to touch.

weez440

my os was the same way but it was well worth the pains of breakin. as dave said i had to lean mine out right away to. i got mine started with the factory settings but it was to rich and would wanna flood out on me and i couldn't get the engine temp up to 220 for heat cycling.

silverman1

MY sh.28 would not even run on the reccomended glow plug, it spit and spewed fuel all over the place. I heat cycled it thinking i blew its cookies. I went back to stock settings, a fresh glow plug, and wow does that thing seem to be coming into its own.


Moral of the story: some engines are a pain in the ass to break in, but ultimately well worth the trouble!!!!

jarett 92

dude the EXACT same thing happened to two O.S.'s i tried. both 18tm's and they screwed the OWB over. here is what mine did in this video. i took them both to the LHS he said he couldnt do anything...its getting stuck at TDC and theres nothing he can do strong enough to force it out of TDC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPIiNsjQqMk

6speednissan

I may try to lean it just a tad to see if I can get it to go. I also have a heat gun I can snag from work for a night. My OWB still seems to work great, and when it does get stuck it will get unstuck pretty easilly with another press of the roto start. Thanks again for the help. Hopefully now I can get this thing going by the weekend.

oompwa

You are going to have to heat it up with the heat gun for the first couple tanks. What I did was, heat it up to 200 deg. with the heat gun, then start it up. After about 5 tanks or so, I did not have to preheat it, but I did have to loosen the glow plug to start it. I am on about my 15th tank and I still have to loosen the plug. So far as turning the HSN and LSN, I followed the instructions.

6speednissan

I'm done messing with this thing. It broke a OWB when I was messing with it earlier. I installed my replacement, heated the engine up to 150 with a heat gun and the OWB broke almost instantly when I tried to start it. I'm not wasting another 10 bucks on a OWB. I think I may just sell everything. I've had nothing but problems with the 3.3 I had, and now this .18tm.

vulgrmike

Just hang in there.

6speednissan

I may just do what you did. I'll see if OS will send me a new one and sell it so I can buy a motor thats already broken in.

PiccoLow

are you certain the shaft isn't marred some how?

6speednissan

Thats kind of what I'm thinking. I'll take the backplate off tonight and see if the shaft has some sort of issue.

6speednissan

I just got off the phone with O.S. tech support, and they told me to send it in for a replacement. I found metal shavings all over the rear of my chassis when I was looking really close at it. It looked like someone sprinkled fairy dust on my truck. I'm assuming the "fairy dust" was my brand new piston and sleeve. Oh well, I'll get another chance at it in a couple weeks. I'm going to send the bearings too, and hopefully they will throw a couple in the box as well.

PiccoLow

Good good...I don't know man. As little as I know about this hobby compared to some guys, I am suprized at all the threads to spring up about OS18tm problems.

6speednissan

I was getting the motor boxed up last night, and I noticed that the starter shaft does have rough jaggy spots on it. Thats probably the cause of the bearings being ruined. POS motor. I have such bad luck with my R/C vehicles.

oompwa

This motor is tried and true and has been out for years.

It seems to me that a lack of patience may be the biggest issue you are having to deal with.

When your new engine arrives, heat it with the heat gun to at least 190-200 degrees before trying to start it. If, when you are using the heat gun, you can see the fuel bubbling and travelling away from the carb and back to the fuel tank, pull the heat gun away. You are boiling the fuel. DON'T MESS WITH THE NEEDLES YET. Follow the instructions, by leaning the HSN one hour each tank, for four tanks. You are going to have to use the heat gun, and possibly loosen the glowplug for at least the first 5 tanks. After that, the pinch should loosen up some, but the compression will dictate having to loosen the glowplug in order to get it started. I wish you the best of luck with your new engine, but be patient.

Dil

had the same issue with my one,, lots of compression is a good thing,, yeah but its a pain to start up,, i had to plug in a 9.6v battery directly to my starter motor to even try to get that motor moving,,after a few tries and some heating it fired up and there were no probs after that,, its a really nice motor,, one of the best i used,, also i used some 30% nitro fuel to fire it up,, i usually run only 5% mixed,, but seemed it was not gonna be enough to get this motor fired for the first time,, so i dropped in some 30% and it fired up!!

phil3842

i was just wondering what pipes are you running on your os .18tm. and can you provide a link if possible.