help newbie problem with nitro rustler-kind of long

[dhoboy]

i just got a rustler about 3 weeks ago, and this is my first nitro rc car. when i first got it, it did not start, so i took it to a local shop and had it cleaned up and tuned. it ran good after the cleaning and tuning. so me and my friend took it to a huge dirt lot, we ran it for about 2 hours. about 30 minutes later we took it to a asphalt lot and ran it there for about 30 minutes. then the car started to act wierd it would stutter and had a loss of power. i called the same hobby shop told the tech of my problems and so i picked up some nitro cleaner and some after run oil. i ran the oil through it, cleaned the filter and clened it up a bit. i took it to the park about 2 days later and the car had the same problems with it. except now the car would stall when we started to do doughnuts once we would get to about 3 rotations it would stall. and just about everytime we full throttled it. and it would also stall going through light grass. i the after run oil through it, and cleaned it up a bit. but i am concerned about its sluggish performance.and every time i call the hobby shop they just say "bring it in and we will tune it for you", which means they will have it for 3 weeks and it will do it again right afterwards. i am goig to replace glow plug today. also if you guys could tell me how you clean up your nitro when your done. also how you clean it when you run it hard and get it very dirty.
thank you very much....chad
any help is greatly apprecited

[24601]

OK, couple of things.
First, it would help if we knew what engine, fuel, glow plug you are using and what condition the engine started in (new, used, used by you, etc.)

Just from what you wrote, (working good, suddenly working bad) sounds like it could be a few things:
Glow plug bad
Filter clogged
Dirt got in (if the filter was too dirty)
Ran too lean, overheated.

Maybe you can give some more specifics.
One, thing. I would't keep taking it to the hobby shop unless they can teach you what they are doing. There is nothing worse than people that tune a car for someone without helping them understand how to tune it themselves. Every time you start your truck you will need to consider tuning it for that days conditions. Somedays it may be a 1/16 turn tweak, others may require drastically different settings. But if you don't know what to do, you are up a creek.

Last thing, check out the Traxxas home page. There are troubleshooting guides, tuning guides, and a Traxxas board where you might get a little more help.

[rocknbil]

Yes, if you just dropped and rocked I am going to guess it was running too lean and hard and is overheating, and if there's no other damage it can quickly burn out a glow plug. Take some time to search the nitro forum for tuning, there's lots of good advice here.

[dhoboy]

its a new rustler, i am not sure of the fuel, all i know is its blue and i think its called blus thunder. it has a A3 glow plug(i belive) which the tech put in when he "tuned it". the engne is the new trx 2.5.

24601 you hit the nail right on the head. they work on it but they wont tell me what they do. and what makes it worse is that the hobby shop subs out the work to some other guy who is not in the office. so i have no communication with him.

[LosiRacer89]

i agree with rocknbil if you keeep doing donuts and whatnot your car could over heat and stall and when you run do you see blue smoke come out of the exhaust?try and richen it out

[dhoboy]

yes i do see blue smoke, almost the whole time its running.

[24601]

The A-3 plug is wrong for that engine--get a Traxxas one or Mccoy MC-9 or 59, I believe dynamite distributes those as well.

The OS plugs are good plugs, but they are short plugs and will alter the compression of the engine.

I think your best bet is to defauly according to the instruction manual with a new plug. I would reccomend Traxxas fuel as well, there have been some issues with Blue Thunder and the 2.5. If it is all you can get, don't worry about it, you just won't get as good of performance with it. You will need to run it a little richer as well.
The new instruction manual is top notch--read it 100 times, follow the instructions exactly. Was the engine broken in exactly as the manual says? If not it might very well be toast.

I am hearing lots of stories of people who followed their own break in method on the 2.5 or tuned it using the methods they would with "any other engine" and they all seem to have problems. Why do people think they know more about a Traxxas product than Traxxas? I don't get it.

Again, read the manual. It explains how to tune the engine and the default settings. Follow the manual exactly-don't do anything except what it says, and I bet you will be up and running (assuming the engine isn't blown.)

[robc]

Gotta agree with 24601's whole post. The 2.5's break-in is very specific and doing donuts with a totally over-powered stadium truck (IMO) without a proper break-in (or even with one) and the piston/sleeve could be toast. Also agree with the Blue Crud fuel, heard enough bad things about it that I will never try it. I run my 2.5 Maxx with the stock Traxxas plugs and they have worked well, but McCoy makes a good plug. I suggest you call Traxxas customer support, it doesn't sound like the guys at the LHS know what they are doing. I love the 2.5 engine but I'm beginning to think it's not a good "first nitro" for everyone.