Andrew Lumley

Hello everyone,

About a week ago I picked up a Traxxas Revo 3.3 (5309) from my lhs. They ran the first tank through the engine and then I proceeded to finish break-in on my own as per the instruction manual. But since break in I have put maybe 2 or 3 tanks through the engine, but I have allready burnt out 2 glow plugs since, I thought at first that it was running maybe a little lean so I richened the hsn a bit but managed to burn out another and it's starting to get quite frustrating. When I idle it willl idle great for about 3-4 seconds but then it will die and when I accelerate it works great for the lower half of the power band but once it gets going the engine just almost idles again for some reason. What sounds like the problem could be, and what should I do about it? This is my first rc car so I am still quite new to this.

Thank you very much,
Andrew

thechap76

My Feedback: (26)

hey andrew sounds like ur hsn is to lean....thats the big screw that the fuel line goes into...give it another 1/4 turn and just keep on adjusting....keep us informed

Andrew Lumley

Thats what I first thought, but I have lots of blue smoke coming from the exhaust, so I don't think it could be all that lean

Andrew Lumley

Here is a pic of the first glow plug that burnt out to give you an idea.....




And here is a pic of the high-speed needle valve and where it is set too at the moment.....





Is that how a burnt out glow plug should look? Is that about where the hsn should be set too?

Thanks,
Andrew

alvinl

Andrew, I don't have an answer to your question about the plug. But I do commend you on such clear pictures. What camera do you have?

Andrew Lumley

They were taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-W130

Snook Man

There is No way to know where the HSN is set just by looking at a pic.
Stock settings for the HSN is 4 full turns out from closed
Stock LSN setting is flush with the inside barrel of the slide valve.
http://www.traxxas.com/support/index...mp;suchbegriff=

A plug with a distorted coil usually indicates a lean tune or debris in the engine.

Return the valves to stock settings and slowly tune for performance.

I also see that you are in Ottawa... Colder weather requires a richer tune than warmer weather conditions so the stock settings may be too lean for your conditions and may need to be slightly richer.

chuckstattoos

yeah looking at that plug your running really lean the darker the color the leaner you are. take your hsn and turn it all the way in and come out 4.5 turns just remember that you do whole turns not halfs and turn the lsn all the way in and then out 2.5 its gonna be extremely rich at those settings but that will work the best for a starting point. also try using the OS lc4 glow plugs they work alot better than the traxxas one's and last alot longer too. if it continues to do that then take the engine out clean it real good and then seal the crap outta it with sensor safe RTV. and re tune should fix any problem also take off your cooling head and look at the top of your piston make sure theres nothing in there and clean it out with a clean dry paper towel good hint if you wipe the topp of the piston and the coloring doesnt come off then you were running lean if it does come off then your just about right or a little on the rich side.

Andrew Lumley

Ok well, I tried it today with the factory settings and it worked quite well, I didn't burn out the glow plug this time so that's awsome and I did richen the lsn by a 1/4 turn and it has a really reliable idle now, it was idling stead for 30 seconds without showing any signs of cutting out. I need a new towlink end for the rear right towlink but otherwise nothing else broke today. But as soon as I fix that I can take it out again and lean out the hsn a bit more because it's a quite rich now and I'm getting tons of blue smoke! One last question, I can never seem to hear my model shift into 2nd gear???? I tried adjusting the tranny to shift earlier but I'm still not hearing it? Is there something wrong? Could it not be shifting perhaps?

Cheers,
Andrew

chuckstattoos

tranny shifting is kinda a pain to get right you need to get ur engine tuned real good then go from there im not really good with revo trannies but my maxx tranny took me about half a gallon of running to get it shifting right i know for my tranny the adjustment screw i put it all the way in and out 7 full turns that should get it shifting at least and you can go from there as far as shifting time wise

Mclovin350z

Don't mess with the trans shift point until you tighten the slipper clutch about 1/8th of a turn. Sometimes when it's slipping it will shift into second and you won'tnotice it.