Starting an engine

you can do the same damage or even more with a electric starter and if your still over priming the engine now with years of experience you need to change your starting technique I have never damaged an engine with either the d type or a tapered driver by hand starting from the web and its basically the same for me with the changes by me in brackets{}

To Hand Start any Engine

1. Move the throttle to idle, hook up the glow igniter and turn over the engine slowly by hand{I would have a good hold on the prop at this point}. If it kicks then skip to step 7. If you do not feel a slight kick then disconnect the igniter and continue with the next step. 2. Open the throttle all the way. Put a finger or thumb over the carburetor to seal it. {or if its fully cowled then a finger over the exhaust does a similar trick} Turn over the prop by hand ? you will see fuel moving up the fuel line toward the carb. This is called choking. Continue doing this until you see the fuel enter the carburetor. After you see the fuel enter the carburetor give it only one more flip. If you flip it more than once you will probably flood the engine.(and this is how you damage your engine buy then flicking by hand if you have flooded it, aim the exhaust at the ground and empty all the extra fuel out first} 3. Remove your finger from the carb and move the throttle to the idle setting. 4. Flip the propeller over sharply a half dozen times to get the fuel distributed throughout the engine. 5. Connect the glow igniter. 6. While holding the propeller, turn (do not flip) the engine over several times until you feel a definite "kick." The kick means that it is ready to start. If the engine is flooded then be careful when you flip the prop ? it may backfire and smack your hand pretty hard giving you a nice cut. 7. Give the propeller a good flip and it should start immediately. If it does not start continue to flip the prop until it no longer kicks. If it still does not start then disconnect the glow igniter and go back to step 1. Once or twice through these steps only does not even take a minute and your engine should start

Your change in Step 2 is true only if you are using muffler pressure.

Otherwise putting your finger over the exhaust won't do anything

-- CafeenMa

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true but I never have not used muffler pressure apart from years ago when we never had then

I have until recently not damaged an engine by hand starting and always started them using that procedure. Possibly you can damage an engine with an electric starter, though i have not come across anyone who has (perhaps using a starter for large engines on a small engine?) Modern engines like the irvine are highly tuned (a 53 producing the same power as a 60), its also new so i have it running a few clicks rich and many models have the engine mounted upside down. I believe it was this along with hand starting which led to the damage (the flat on the prop driver looks a little inadequate too.) As a beginner Erik's best source of advice is those experienced model flyer's at his club. Where he can ask someone to demonstrate or teach him hand or electric starting. The majority of model flyer's are happy to aid beginners. My next outing to the local power field will be my first time with an electric starter, you can bet i will be enlisting the aid of someone with a few years experience to illuminate possible pitfalls and demonstrate the correct technique. I note even those with electric starters mostly start four strokes by hand.

Starting equipment:

1.2v - 2v power source for the glow plug, most model shops carry a re-chargeable nicad unit, around 10 - 14GBP ideal for this purpose. And either: An electric starter with suitable 12v battery, most at our club use a 7ah sealed lead acid battery around 15GBP. Or A chicken stick, i use a length of dowel wrapped in a piece of old inner tube.

Oh the slander of the diesels! Actually, I've recently been exposed to and love RC diesel engines. Fuel is cheap and ultra easy to make. No matter what engine...a IO-540 in a private plane or a .15 in a RC the key is KNOWING YOUR ENGINE. When I first started the diesels, an electric starter was the only way. Now....after a few months, I can hand flip them cold or hot in just a few flicks. I learned the correct prime/choke. How it should "feel" and sound. Again...the key is KNOWING YOUR ENGINE.

Rick wrote:

"Rick" wrote

By far, the BIGGEST danger of damaging an engine with an electric starter is trying to start it when the engine gets flooded.

Whatever you do for priming, I would suggest not using a squirt of fuel in the carb. That can fill the combustion chamber with enough fuel to cause hydraulic lock, which simply stated, is that if you have enough fuel in the cylinder that is attempted to compress by turning over the engine with the starter, the liquid will not compress, and you bend a rod, or crankshaft.

The cure is to turn it through a couple revolutions by hand (important: without the glow battery hooked up) and make sure it turns easily. You can then use the electric starter, assuming that you do not have fuel siphoning in rapidly, or something strange like that.

My favorite method of starting is to hold the engine by the muffler, (that gives you a good grip on the motor, to resist the pressing on with the starter cone, without damaging the aircraft fuselage or wing) After it gets spinning good, put your thumb on and off of the muffler outlet, to feed in the necessary extra fuel to get it starting. This assumes you have muffler pressure on the tank, which I personally thing is the far superior way of plumbing it. There are exceptions for engines with pulse fuel pumps, and other unusual plumbing jobs.

Good Luck!!!

Thanx for the info, I went to the field yesterday and asked one of the younger members to talk me through electric starting, this is the same method he suggested. :) After spending some time setting the engine up again (i had stripped the carb to inspect and clean in case there was anything wrong) all went well.

This is a dangerous (for the engine) way for a beginner to start an engine (and specifically warned against in some engine manuals). It is not advisable to use any kind of priming technique while you're turning the engine with an electric starter. If the engine floods and hydrolocks, you can damage the engine.

Good flying, desmobob

"Robert Scott" wrote

I didn't say to put the thumb or finger on and off the outlet quickly, in short pulses, but that is what I do. I've been doing this for 15 years, and never even come close to hydro lock, or been bitten by the prop.

Common sense must prevail, as always. I stand by my recommendation.

On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 08:36:12 -0400, "Morgans" wrote in :

I've done it, too, though not habitually.

I usually try to prime the old-fashioned way, if the carb is accessible: glow driver off, thumb or finger over carb, flip prop until I can see fuel come up the tube or until the engine seems wet.

Marty

"Martin X. Moleski, SJ" wrote

I do a good bit of my flying with an air cleaner over the carb, so that is a hard thing for me to do.

I'd agree, but a bit of experience helps to know when it's needed. If the damn thing isn't firing, a brief bit of pressure into the tank to force fuel into the carb often does the trick. You certainly wouldn't initiate starting with the muffler blocked.

On the subject of hydraulic lock, in my younger days I used OS .10 size engines in airboats which often got dunked and were a bastard to get started again, but with all the warnings about breaking the conrod etc.in a flooded engine it never happened, and I wasn't exactly gentle when jamming on the starter. In fact, one of the same, regularly dunked and generally mistreated engines now, 15 years later, happily pulls a little Extra around the sky.

On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 09:27:14 -0400, "Morgans" wrote in :

Yep.

I seem to misremember having a Saito that was mounted inverted and mostly cowled in. I think I used to use the block-the-stinger method to prime it. I may have done that when flipping the prop by hand. It seems to me that I was able to get that engine (a .91) started mostly by flipping the prop backwards after priming it.

Marty