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My only advice was to check the glow plug and tune it. Its been a while since I messed with nitros. Maybe try rcuniverse.com for some advice?

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I just cross posted this over there.

it's a brand new glow plug and I've tried screwing with the needles while starting it to no avail.

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Any ideas?



ETA: I've only found one problem online similar to mine and he took his engine completely apart and soaked it in WD-40 after which it worked. I took my carb apart and inspected it, but have not yet done a WD-40 soak, so there's that....

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Reset the needles to factory settings and change the fuel lines.

Make sure you have the right plug in there.

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New glow-plugs can go anytime - check it to make sure it's still GTG.

Replace if necessary.

Next will be to make sure fuel is getting to the engine - might be worth priming the carburettor and giving it a go at that.

Make sure fuel lines and any connectors are clean and free flowing.

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Hows the compression? If it was run out of adjustment it may have gotten too hot. Turn the flywheel with your fingers. The motor should turn easily until the piston gets to the top then it should be alot harder to turn. If it spins freely it probably needs a rebuild

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Compression  seems decent. When I accidentally flood it, it gets REALLY hard to turn, so I think it's still got a tight fit. The compression feels similar to my .40 on my plane, so that's the only reference for "good" that I have.

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Couple of things, Mitch:

1) Never mount an engine in a vise-clamping pressure is so great you can easily distort the case and fuck the bearing/deform the cylinder

Thought about that and it's just barely secured. Basically just wanted to keep it from rotating due to torque, but will discontinue to be on the safe side.

2) If it is mounted in a vice, you don't say what is attached to it. The first problem is that without a load on the motor you will likely damage if you get it to start. If you tell me what size it is I can recommend a propeller size to act as a static load for bench work. The second problem is that it may not start at all without anything attached to it because it will need some flywheel weight in order to run.

Had NOT thought about that. I was gonna throw a prop/spinner on it just so I could use my electric starter on it, but it has a clutch assembly already on it, I didn't want to mess with removing it since I am unfamiliar with them as of yet. Definitely hadn't considered that the mass would be required to act as a flywheel.

The first order of business is to get it back in the car. If you can do that we can go thru a few steps to troubleshoot it.

Engines need three things to run: fuel, spark/ignition, and compression. Given that you say your glow plug is good, and the engine suddenly didn't want to run, that pretty much rules out compression. Fuel deliver problems are pretty common, and easy to check... Put the engine back in, open the carb all the way up and dump 2-4 drops of fuel in the venturi. Try and start it. If it runs hard for a few seconds, you have a fuel draw problem. This could be from a piece of grass/trash in the line, it could be from a pinhole in the fuel line.
I will try this, but I have to rebuild the dang pull-start....again. The spring likes to uncoil itself if you don't pull it off just right. I will report results when I test it (might not be tonight).

Connect a piece of fuel line to the carb and blow in it. If you can feel/hear the air escaping in the carb,  then your problem is in the tank.
I tried this already. It passes through but seems very restrictive. I loosened the HSN while doing it to reduce the restriction and wound up loosening it completely before it felt "free", but that's probably just due to me lacking a frame of reference.
Plug the tank vent hole and blow into the fuel ling going to the tank-the tank should pressurize unless it's one of those trapdoor tanks you car fags use. If the tank uses a clunk, make sure the lines aren't kinked.
I did one better. I removed the line at the carb and plugged it. then I removed the line from the muffler pressure fitting and blew into it. It pressurized so well that it lifted the fuel tank filler door. Lines and tank are Good To Go.

Let me know how it pans out, I might be able to swing by the shop and take a look if you can't figure it out.
This is a potential option, too, if I can't get it. I travel the state a LOT for work, so It's pretty likely I could probably bring it to ya wherever you may be.

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No, that's hydraulic lock when the engine floods, and it's a good way to bend rods or break cranks. if it happens again, pull the plug out and turn it over manually a few times to start clearing it, then put the starter to it to blow the fuel out.

Car engines don't run a lot of ABC pinch at top dead center, especially when warm, and you'll only ever feel it when the plug is out. Compression doesn't just go away, unless you sucked up a sandbox in your last crash. That's why they run air filters.

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Hope you are running ground vehicle fuel in it and not your aircraft fuel.

Ground cars have a different oil and nitro mix, using aircraft fuel in a car will hork it.

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is it at least poping when you turn it? or is it completely dead just turning over?
Before I took it out of the car it was hit or miss. Out of the car It never tried.
if you pulled it out of the car, I would assume you have left the flywheel on?
Yup.it has 2 or 3 clutch shoes with a spring wrapped around it, those slide onto the flywheel, you don't need a airplane prop to get it started, the flywheel is more than enough to get it idling.
if you took off the flywheel for any reason put it back on, leave the clutchshoes and spring off for now.
Didn't want to try to take it off and risk wrecking something.

make sure your carb it self is tight against the motor casing, I allways put mine on with some pressure when I tighten the bolt.
Yup. Just disassembled the carb and put it back on good and snug.
how old is your fule? did it come with the truck? RC fule dies very quickly, a lot of starting problems relate to old fule.
This is a GOOD possibility! He said he bought the truck last year and I assume he got the fuel then, so It may be over a year old. I might shell out the $40 for another jug before I try to tune it again, that way one more variable is eliminated.

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UPDATE:

Dave, YOU ROCK! I just rebuilt the pull-start and put everything back together and into the car. I did the 2 drop fuel test (forgot to disconnect the fuel lines, though) and BOOM! It started right up with less than 5 pulls. I stalled it trying to get the idle low enough that I could set it down without it running away and it wouldn't restart again, but I'm sure that's just a tuning issue. If I can't get it tuned could I hit you up for a meet?

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Nope, it came with a jug of traxxas fuel. I had  read about not using avfuel in cars, so no probs there.

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Sure.. Any time you have starting issues, the first thing you do is check the plug/battery, then disconnect the fuel line and try to clear the motor with the plug lit. If that doesn't work, you pull the plug and clear the motor of fuel, then try and start it again with the fuel line off. Once you get the engine to fire off of what fuel was in the engine, try and start it again with a drop or two of fuel just to see how much prime it likes. Once you have the hang of it, put the needles to the factory settings and reconnect the fuel lines and start it with a drop of prime. That should get you a running engine you can work from baseline settings to make it run right. Expect that it will run rich though and don't let it sit like this because the HSN setting will allow the engine to flood under gravity feed.