Need help making my nitro engine run
 

I just bought a Ofna Hyper 7 off Ebay, and I can't get the thing to start. I'm running O'Donnel 20% fuel, brand new O'Donnel plug, new glow starter, and a brand new starter box. No matter what I do, I can't make the thing turn over by itself. I can make it turn over on the box, but the engine just won't ignite and get going. I set the carbs to factory recommended, and nothing. Turned the high end needle up, and down to no effect. Ditto with the low end. Even tried different combinations of high and low end!

The fuel, plug, glowstarter, and starter box are brand spankin new bought today, the car is who knows how old, but seemingly in pretty good condition. The engine seems like it has plenty of compression, so it doesn't seem to me like its blown or anything. Looking down the glow plug hole it looks nice and shiny, no black or dirt or anything that I can see.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! I havn't ran nitro in a few years, and that was just a car to bash around the driveway with (nitro RS4). Slide carbs, 3 needles, starter boxes, and so on are all new to me. All this trouble starting the engine is reminding me of why I sold that car and went totally to electric....

first thing I would do is find out what the factory settings are for the carb and then go from there....
nevermind.....lol I just reread your post and noticed you did that....

Dont take this as a dumb question but is your glowplug heater fully charged if you bought it today you would have to charge it first.... usually takes a slow trickle charge overnight for the first charge ..... Something to check....

i had a similar problem with an engine i bought. althought i dont normaly do nitro i am an electric guy. the reason my engine was not working was it was flooded with fuel.... so the plug could not "work" properly. well this seemed to be the problem but i dont know naff all about nitro so hey! lol

Pull out your plug, attatch the ignitor & make sure it glows. If it does put it back in. Remove the air cleaner while you turn it over & make sure you are getting fuel. If you have fuel, Glow & compression it should fire at least. Then you can adjust the carb from there.

The engine might also be hydro locked. Remove the plug and insert a clean cloth in there and turn the engine over without the plug to remove the eccess fuel. Then re-install the plug and try again.

If that doesn't work try starting with the fuel hose diconnected. You might be too rich/flooded. Also ensure that your throttle is open enough.

Other than that like the other guys said make sure your igniter is working....Its a new engine right? Mine was very hard to start when it was new...be patient...


John

Thanks for all the help guys.

I got it running today with the help of of one of my buddies. Turns out the glow starter I bought from my LHS was a POS and just barely warming the plug, I tried another glow plug starter and it started right up! Ran about 3 tanks throught it to get it set fairly well, still have some tuning to do and I'm relearning/learning all this nitro stuff... three needle carbs require alot mroe work than one needle carbs!

Oh, the car was used and had a gallon or two through it already.

Man this car is Sooooo much faster than my electrics, at half throttle I'm FLYING over jumps that I couldn't even clear at full throttle in the B4/T4! So much fun. :D

Dont worry about the 3rd needle. Unless you know what your really doing adjusting it will just mess the engine up severely.