020 start problems

Bought a used cox 020. Installed a new glow head and tore down and cleaned the entire engine. Opened the needle valve three and half turns connected one D battery 1.5 volt and no go. Any idea what the problem is. It's been

30 years since I ran one of these so I'm rusty on the troubleshooting.

Cheers....George Vancouver Island

Reply to
george farquharson
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One D battery probably won't cut it. Use a giant ignition battery, or get a glow plug extender, splice it onto your cox glow head clip, and use a NiCd glow lighter.

You've already gotten it clean and put a new glow head into it -- does it have compression? 3-1/2 turns on the needle valve seems excessive to me -- when I can't decide if an engine is flooded or too lean I just start with the needle closed (or almost so), prime it really heavily, and see if it'll "pop". If it'll give a good try on a prime then you can start opening up the needle valve & see if it'll actually run.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Cherrio, Cox engines like to have at least 2-"D" cell in parallel, or one of those Ole large 1.5 volt cells to start. You have to have the amps to fire the glow plug. And as Wescott says prime the devil out of it, just don't drown it. If it does POP after you prime it and it don't start and keep running, try checking the reed valve again, just to make sure it is seated down good and not bent. And usually 1 1/2 turns on the needle is enought, maybe 2 turn to get started.

Reply to
Flying Fokker

Make a primer bottle, small bottle with tube and give it a drop or two before every flip if needed. mk

Reply to
Storm's Hamburgers

Success !!!

I wired 4 D batteries in parallel, cranked the needle valve right down and gave the .020 lots of prime. After one or two flips away it went. The needle value must be not quite seating because it ran fine with the valve turned completly in.

Thanks for the help George Vancouver Island

Reply to
george farquharson

Those are fun little engines.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Reply to
Storm's Hamburgers

Check it by opening up the needle valve a little bit -- if it speeds up with a more open valve it's too lean. If you have a tach you should richen it up until it's 200-500 RPM slower than the highest speed setting.

I'd find out why the needle leaks and fix it, if I could. Check to see if the needle is bent or scratched -- if it's perfect then it's the seat. If it's the needle you may be able to fix it.

Can you get spare parts from Cox these days?

Storm's Hamburgers wrote:

Reply to
Tim Wescott

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