Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

I have a new .46..Followed the break in procedure and am having a bit of a problem getting a needle setting. Once I set the needle on the ground after about a minute or 2 of flying the engine just quits as if someone pinched the fuel line. When I set it rich and it flies very good..however it is really really rich and the plane is extremely oily..If I lean it out by 3-4 clicks it quits in the air after a minute or 2..Any ideas would be appreciated..

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

Redrum,
I am not really impressed with the carburation of the FX .46. I own one that has not displayed any bad habits, but I tried to help another pilot dial in his fx and had a challenge. When I dialed in the top end, the low speed mixture seemed very rich. I dialed it in to where it had a decent acceleration, and when I took the plane up, it was very irratic. The rpm's went up and down as if there was an air leak (we checked and found none). The best we could come up with was to run it rich and put up with the poor performance. This one mystified me.

sport10

There are many factors that can cause and engine to lean out in flight. Most are fuel related. Check to see if the clunk is stuck in the front of the tank. Also look for air leaks in the fuel line. A small pin hole in the pickup hose inside the fuel tank can cause the engine to lean out in flight. Excessive vibration from an unbalanced prop can cause the fuel to foam causing problems like this also. It is more than likely not a carb issue with the FX 46 engine. The one that comes with the engine works very well in my experence with them. I have tuned quite a few of these engines too. Focus on the fuel tank and lines first.

mrbonk

Redrum, just out of curiosity, what type of oil are you using and what fuel mixture (oil/nitro %) are you using?

The reason I ask is because I had lots of trouble getting my .46FXH to run consistently when I used some Coolpower oil in my home-brew fuel. I couldn't get the Klotz KL200 I normally used, so I tried the Coolpower. I ended up spending all my time chasing needle settings. When I could eventually get the KL200 again, all went back to normal.

FlyingPilgrim

My Feedback: (26)

Sport10, good idea regarding the fuel foaming. I just realized the plane in quesiton had the tank mounted in frame without any foam surrounding it. My fx (which runs fine) is mounted in foam, eliminating any foaming tendancies. Thanks for reminding me about this.

Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

Thanks for the good advice..I found a great article about how to adjust these engines..After reading and following the instructions I eneded up adjusting the low end valve about 2 whole turns leaner..now when I give it throttle from idle there is no hesitiation and it idles alot better too..Im gonna fly it today and see what happens..I also replaced all the fuel lines in the tank and to the engine..

suitcase

My Feedback: (1)

I'm new to the sport so I can only say what I've experienced with mine. It ran flawlessly out of the box. I let a friend fly it and he really put it through th wringer. The engine now has a brownish tint to it. I flew it afterward and it did what you describe, leaning out in flight and even stopped running a few times. It finally got to where I would start it but couldn't get it lined up for takeoff before it would stop. I changed the glow plug and it was like a new engine. I haven't had another problem with it.