O'donnell Speed Blend, wasted my time and money..
09-07-2011, 09:59 AM
#1
Tech Initiate
Thread Starter
O'donnell Speed Blend, wasted my time and money..
Im going to be blunt but, STAY AWAY FROM O'DONNELL SPEED BLEND FUEL...
Since March 2011 (when i first got into the hobby) i've been using O'donnell Speed blend on my Nova P5xlt. My car has not held a tune since day one. I tried everything, changed over 10 glow plugs and not even got thru 2 gallons. Almost all the guys at the track have helped me tune it but no luck.
Last night I was at Revelation raceway in Pomona, having another frustrating night. Then it hit me, maybe its the fuel. I borrowed a tank full from a guy at the track, i started up the engine and that thing sounded like a new engine. The engine refused to stall. I was so happy and relieved
. I thru away my last quart of Speed Blend in the trash. I have wasted over 5 months trying to tune the engine when the whole time the fuel was the problem.
To all the newbies out there, don't make the mistake i made.
Since March 2011 (when i first got into the hobby) i've been using O'donnell Speed blend on my Nova P5xlt. My car has not held a tune since day one. I tried everything, changed over 10 glow plugs and not even got thru 2 gallons. Almost all the guys at the track have helped me tune it but no luck.
Last night I was at Revelation raceway in Pomona, having another frustrating night. Then it hit me, maybe its the fuel. I borrowed a tank full from a guy at the track, i started up the engine and that thing sounded like a new engine. The engine refused to stall. I was so happy and relieved
. I thru away my last quart of Speed Blend in the trash. I have wasted over 5 months trying to tune the engine when the whole time the fuel was the problem. To all the newbies out there, don't make the mistake i made.
09-07-2011, 10:27 AM
#2
I know guys who are using this fuel with great success. How did you store your fuel? Were did you buy it? Here in MN there was many guys who had bad luck with some sidewinder fuel. Turns out the guy selling it had it in his non heated garage over the sub zero winter. There is to many factors to pit it all on the fuel.
09-07-2011, 10:42 AM
#4
by far, O'donnell has been the best fuel ive used and ive tried alot of different kinds of fuel.... OD fuel tunes a little differently, and once its tuned right, never have to touch the needles 
... i wouldnt run anything other than OD fuel. i know alot of people trying it and all say they wont run anything else.
... i wouldnt run anything other than OD fuel. i know alot of people trying it and all say they wont run anything else.
09-07-2011, 10:42 AM
#5
Maybe by chance you got a bad batch but I seriously doubt it was the fuel. I race against several guys running O'donnell fuel and they don't have any tuning issues.
It's never a good idea to Flame a particular brand of fuel or any other product due to an isolated issue you had.
It's never a good idea to Flame a particular brand of fuel or any other product due to an isolated issue you had.
09-07-2011, 10:43 AM
#6
Could have been a bad batch of fuel.
Unfortunately, it took 5 months to figure it out
Unfortunately, it took 5 months to figure it out
09-07-2011, 12:06 PM
#8
Tech Initiate
Thread Starter
I didn't mean to come out harsh this morning. It is definitely a possibility that i got a bad batch since everyone here is having such success with it. I just had a lot of built up frustration over the past few months with my engine constantly stalling and not tuning. I tried everything from changing the plugs, bearings (boca green seal) and even my clutch setup to found out it was my fuel the whole time. I wish you guys could've been there last night to see how my car was struggling with the o'donnell and then once I but Byrons into it the car changed and was running like it should.
I bought 4 quarts from Amain and for all for to be bad is kind of hard, but its a possibility. im just going to play it safe and go with Byrons for now. I really want to enjoy running my car without problems.
I bought 4 quarts from Amain and for all for to be bad is kind of hard, but its a possibility. im just going to play it safe and go with Byrons for now. I really want to enjoy running my car without problems.
09-07-2011, 12:17 PM
#9
I know guys who are using this fuel with great success. How did you store your fuel? Were did you buy it? Here in MN there was many guys who had bad luck with some sidewinder fuel. Turns out the guy selling it had it in his non heated garage over the sub zero winter. There is to many factors to pit it all on the fuel.
Also, was this problem confined to a single case / bottle of fuel, or did you have the same issue across multiple shipments? I keep my fuel in a coat closet in my house. The only time I've had fuel go bad is when I left a bottle in my garage for several months, so I don't do that anymore.
If the issues was truly fuel related, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that is was likely an isolated incident. Every brand of fuel can and will have problems. It's the nature of any mass produced product.
It's not really fair to condemn an entire brand because of your particular incident, which may or may not completely be the fault of the fuel.
09-07-2011, 12:20 PM
#10
The people that make Odouls make LOTS of other fuel... so chances are you used a fuel from the same manufacturer anyway
You started off saying you ran 2 gallons of it, now you say you bought 4 qts from amain? Something doesnt add up. Youve only ran 2 quarts since march? I havent raced nitro since july and Ive ran more fuel than that, thats alot of storage time for both the fuel and engine to develope problems
just sayin
You started off saying you ran 2 gallons of it, now you say you bought 4 qts from amain? Something doesnt add up. Youve only ran 2 quarts since march? I havent raced nitro since july and Ive ran more fuel than that, thats alot of storage time for both the fuel and engine to develope problems
just sayin
09-07-2011, 12:23 PM
#11
I didn't mean to come out harsh this morning. It is definitely a possibility that i got a bad batch since everyone here is having such success with it. I just had a lot of built up frustration over the past few months with my engine constantly stalling and not tuning. I tried everything from changing the plugs, bearings (boca green seal) and even my clutch setup to found out it was my fuel the whole time. I wish you guys could've been there last night to see how my car was struggling with the o'donnell and then once I but Byrons into it the car changed and was running like it should.
I bought 4 quarts from Amain and for all for to be bad is kind of hard, but its a possibility. im just going to play it safe and go with Byrons for now. I really want to enjoy running my car without problems.
I bought 4 quarts from Amain and for all for to be bad is kind of hard, but its a possibility. im just going to play it safe and go with Byrons for now. I really want to enjoy running my car without problems.
Turns out the bottle of fuel that he had cracked the seal on that morning was funky....like I said above, it happens. It could have been sitting at Amain for a while, who knows.
Try some quarts from random shipments. If you consistently have problems with the Speed Blend, but those problems go away with another fuel, then you'll be able to eliminate the "bad batch" variable from the equation.
09-07-2011, 03:21 PM
#12
I have been having trouble too. The clear was good but the new orange stuff gives me heartburn. So I went back to drinking the clear stuff.
09-07-2011, 03:53 PM
#13
09-07-2011, 07:57 PM
#14
Pull the lid off and take a big huff,if it burns your nose hairs and gives your brain a slight tingle its still good LOL.Seriously we've been running this fuel since its release and have had no problems.But with all fuels its possible to get a bad batch.