Jato decided not to start this morning

[juan1213]

Hi, I'm the owner of a Jato 3.3. Yesterday, while i was turning on my engine with the EZ-START, it run out of battery, leaving unburned fuel inside the engine. As my ez didn't have battery, i wasn't able to do some after run. The fact is that today when I took my Jato out to use it, there was no way of starting it. My first thought was that the engine may be flooded, so I removed the glog plug, turned the truck upside down and spined the engine with the ez, but there was no fuel coming out of it. Then, I reset the carb to factory settings, but again the Jato didn't start. I even cleaned the tube coming from the fuel tank to the engine and nothing happened. Howerver i could observe that 1) there was fuel in the piston (i saw it through the hole when the glow plug was not installed) 2) as i was sipining the ez start and accelerated, the noise that the truck made was different. Any suggestion? Thanks in advice...

[hnnguyen85]

I'm no expert but I notice you haven't checked for a locked piston. Have you checked to see if your piston is locked at the top? Again, I'm no expert on this and I'm still waiting on my jato to arrive, but my nitro 4-tec piston always gets stuck when that happens to me.

[Desert JATO]

also you might need to replace the glow plug with a new one. try placing your finger on the pipe stinger to make internal air preassure so that you'll observe the fuel coming too fast from the tank towards the carb inlet via the fuel tubing.

[juan1213]

I've done all the things you both say... I've tried replacing the glow plug and nothing happened, I've tride spining the engine to check the piston wasn't stuck at the tdc and nothing happened again... And i've also primed the engine with no results.

[chadkillzone]

Have you looked at the glow plug when you pull it out to see if it works (make sure to ground it on the side of your engine block w/o the paint to test) I assume you have fuel going to the engine/carb as you said the piston had fuel on top of it? Amanda make sure your ground wire has a proper ground as well. I would give these few things a try if you have not already, and see where you stand. Not sure how old this is but also making sure your piston is at BDC helps when starting as well, if new they can have a tight pinch until broken in.

[juan1213]

Have you looked at the glow plug when you pull it out to see if it works (make sure to ground it on the side of your engine block w/o the paint to test) I assume you have fuel going to the engine/carb as you said the piston had fuel on top of it? Amanda make sure your ground wire has a proper ground as well. I would give these few things a try if you have not already, and see where you stand. Not sure how old this is but also making sure your piston is at BDC helps when starting as well, if new they can have a tight pinch until broken in.

Thr engine has some months (i bought it used in december and was told ir had less than one month of use). Where and how do i ground the glow plug? The yellow wire (which is the ground wire) is attached to one of the engine's screw, but this has allways worked for me...

[hnnguyen85]

Do both lights (motor/glow) light up when you try and start? You can test your glow plug by taking it out and connecting it to your ez start (blue cable) and touch the glow plug to the side of your engine (metal part) and then try and start it with your ez start. If your glow plug doesn't light up bright orange then it's either you have a bad cable or a bad plug.

Also, here's something else I found out, a few day's ago my 4-tec wouldn't start and I tried everything you did as well. Both lights on my ez starter came on but my engine won't turn. I took it to the LHS and they saw that one of my wires (ground wire) connected to my ez start motor came off the clip. They soldered it back on and she started up like new. Check your wire connection at the ez start motor and see if they are secured.

[Desert JATO]

As long as you bought it already used, maybe the one way bearing that connected to the ez start is slipping. i would inspect it if i'm sure that all other things works ok.

[juan1213]

My piston moves when i press the button. Now i'm going to check the wire, but i was told i had to ground the glow plug to a place with no paint and as long as i know all the engine is covered in paint. A few days ago i replaced all the witrs of the ez...

[Desert JATO]

are you sure there's no air leaking ? sometimes with minor air leak, the engine fail to start.
i know that if you put your finger on pipe stinger then the fuel pass to the carb that's mean the air preassue is good, but checking this again might help you discovering what wrong.

also have you tested the glow plug while it's out of the coolong head ? take it off, the hold it with a pailar and connect the blue wire to it and start the ez start, if the glow plug glows, it's ok.

[juan1213]

Both lights turn on, i've also tried to start it with a new glow plug. How do i check if there're air leaks?

[Desert JATO]

Bring a sponge with a soab and make some heavy bubbles by sqweezing the sponge then apply gently around the engine and over the exhaust header to see if the bubbles becomes bigger.

[juan1213]

I don't see that any of the glow plugs i've tested turns orange. However, the two lighs turn on.

[hnnguyen85]

If that's the case, have you tried checking your wire connection at the ez start motor? Like I said in the above post, I had that happen to me and all it was was a loose wire.

[Desert JATO]

I don't see that any of the glow plugs i've tested turns orange. However, the two lighs turn on.

sorry, do you mean that the glow doesn't glow ? then hnnguyn85 is correct .

[TopGunn]

No glow = no start

[juan1213]

The fact is that i don't know why the plug doesn't glow. I've tried with a new plug and nothing happens, ad the two lights on the ez starter glow when I press the button.

[Desert JATO]

Watch out for star signs appear in your post. This mean that you have to edit your post.
Anyway, in this case I suggest that you should check if there's an airleak any place around your engine, and the header.
Put some heavy bubbles by a cleaning song around the header and the engine from sides and try starting while closing the pipe stinger with your finger, if those bubbles went bigger, there's an air leak.

[juan1213]

Problem solved, i took it to my LHS and they told me my ez start controller was broken. I bought a new controller for the equivalent to u$s30 (repairing it would have cost the equivalent to u$s 19, but the LHS is no way near home, so i bought a new one). Anyways, they told me that the bearings we're about to have to be replaced or they we're going to start to break glow plugs and they told me this was partly because I use WD40 instead of an after run. I'm going to change the bearings myself when i have time because they told me I should pay the equivalent to u$s80 for they to install them (this includes the bearing's cost). Is wd40 bad? Is it difficult to replace a bearing?

[Desert JATO]

which bearings they advise you to change with new ones ?

[Mind_Reader7]

WD40 apparently slowly melts down plastics/rubber.

[hnnguyen85]

WD40 apparently slowly melts down plastics/rubber.

Really? WOW, I never knew that. Now it makes me wonder why traxxas recommend using DW40 as an after run for their engines. I was watching their video yesterday before I proceeded to break in my engine (Just got my new Jato!!! YAY!!!) and they said to use DW40 after every run. I myself always use after run oil, but it's weird why they would recommend DW40 if it melts down plastic and rubber.

[guardog]

WD40 apparently slowly melts down plastics/rubber.

wow. WD-40 is all I use and never had a glitch. Is someone simply trying to market a more expensive after run oil. I will stick with my WD-40. After all WD stands for water displacement