Seized OS 55

[DaveG]

To be quite frank i think you have invalidated any warranty you had by dismantling the engine and trying to source the problem or try and free off the piston/crank, you should have left it alone and just returned it to Ripmax/OS.

Now it has been established that you left it for 4 weeks after the initial run i would say that the rust inside the engine is from being left for that amount of time.

[rachel]

Warrenty with a corrosion problem ?! some how i think not, but the be all and end all is i feel , without seeing it a clean and new bearings will have it puring like a happy kitten .

:-)

[Nick B]

I agree with the Pink Lady...I had no end of rusty rears on the opti,partly the reason i have gone all leccy

[jamiem]

To be quite frank i think you have invalidated any warranty you had by dismantling the engine and trying to source the problem or try and free off the piston/crank, you should have left it alone and just returned it to Ripmax/OS.

Now it has been established that you left it for 4 weeks after the initial run i would say that the rust inside the engine is from being left for that amount of time.

It should be returned to the retailer for them to deal with, not the distributor! The consumers contract is with the place you purchase it from, not the middle man bringing it to the UK....

[pgkevet]

If I've understood Planehazza correctly then it can't be a hydrolock or starter slippage etc. because the engine was still seized once it was opened up?

..after the 4 week rest and rust..

[J-S-Q]

..after the 4 week rest and rust..

Ok, that's not ideal but surely it's fair to not expect a brand new engine to be seized up after having sat for 4 weeks. Some corrosion maybe, but why would that cause it to be seized? I leave my OS90 on the shelf for weeks at a time (probably about 10 weeks currently since it's been out and I had it open a few days ago and all fine although yes, I do get some signs of light corrosion on the bearings -I tend to use cheap bearings and change them reasonably frequently).

I do agree with Rachel though -may as well just change the bearings now and hope that this fixes the problem. That's probably the easiest/quickest way to get back in the air.

[Planehazza]

..after the 4 week rest and rust..

No mate it was seized immediately after its first ever run but at the time I thought it was the OWB in the clutch. Due to this I then simply drained the engine as best I could, and then it sat for ~4 weeks. So rusty or not, the rest did not cause the seizure.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful for te help I just need to clarify this as I have sent a link to this thread to fast lads:

The engine was seized BEFORE it sat for those few weeks.

[Mark_T]

No mate it was seized immediately after its first ever run but at the time I thought it was the OWB in the clutch. Due to this I then simply drained the engine as best I could, and then it sat for ~4 weeks. So rusty or not, the rest did not cause the seizure.

Just to nail the most obvious other possibility as it hasn't been easy to follow the time-line at times ...

At the point when it seized can we assume you checked for a hydro-lock?

[Planehazza]

If memory serves me right I think it hydro lock at first simply due to it running so rich. However I took the plug out and fully drained it.

Sorry for the vagueness of my posts :/

[Mark_T]

If memory serves me right I think it hydro lock at first simply due to it running so rich. However I took the plug out and fully drained it.

Sorry for the vagueness of my posts :/

Don't worry, you are no more vague than most who post here , just sometimes it isn't easy to get a clear picture when people explain things they already have clear in their own minds.

All I was trying to get clear with my question is that once you thought it had seized, did you check for a hydro-lock at that point?

If you did and that wasn't it then that answers the question.

[Planehazza]

yeah, with it being a month ago I can't remember the exact order of events. With work and other commitments I haven't had time to look at it until now :/

I tried to start it and the blades were kicking round with the starter so that's why I thought it was a seized clutch OWB. Knowing that I wasn't going to fly for a while, and with the intention of avoidign rusty bearings (the irony), I drain it of fuel. But as said, it wasn't until I dropped the engine out that I realised that the OWB was actually fine, and that the fault lied with the engine.

You reckon I should jsut try to get some free replacement bearings out of this?

[Mark_T]

I have to be honest, if I've actually got the whole story straight in my head, I'd be inclined to just replace the bearings and get on with enjoying life

I may still not have it right, but piecing it all together it seems a lot like this to me:

The engine was not originally seized at all, if it had been, you wouldn't have been able to turn it over at all and the blades certainly wouldn't have been moving when you tried to start it.

Odds are the clutch may have somehow been stuck at that moment, but may since have freed itself.

While it was in storage for a few weeks the residual fuel in the engind glued various parts together and probably contributed to the rust problem as well. I don't use OptiFuel so I'm not going to go there, but it is at least possible.

At this point I don't quite know what I'd be saying to the retailer if I tried to return the engine as too much time has elapsed.

[rachel]

yeah, with it being a month ago I can't remember the exact order of events. With work and other commitments I haven't had time to look at it until now :/

I tried to start it and the blades were kicking round with the starter so that's why I thought it was a seized clutch OWB. Knowing that I wasn't going to fly for a while, and with the intention of avoidign rusty bearings (the irony), I drain it of fuel. But as said, it wasn't until I dropped the engine out that I realised that the OWB was actually fine, and that the fault lied with the engine.

You reckon I should jsut try to get some free replacement bearings out of this?

I wasn't going to charge you for the bearings so its as close to a free repair as your ever going to get :-)

Post it off i have a set of SKF bearings with your name on them :-)

You just dont get this on a sim do you ??? lol

[Gixxer]

yeah, with it being a month ago I can't remember the exact order of events. With work and other commitments I haven't had time to look at it until now :/

I tried to start it and the blades were kicking round with the starter so that's why I thought it was a seized clutch OWB. Knowing that I wasn't going to fly for a while, and with the intention of avoidign rusty bearings (the irony), I drain it of fuel. But as said, it wasn't until I dropped the engine out that I realised that the OWB was actually fine, and that the fault lied with the engine.

You reckon I should jsut try to get some free replacement bearings out of this?

I reckon you'll be doing well to even get free bearings out of it. From what you're describing now, the only 'damage' is rusted bearings and the only certainty is that they didn't leave the factory that way. You might be lucky, and they might give you a set of bearings as a good will gesture, but I wouldn't hold out hope, and to be honest, if the only 'damage' is rusted bearings, then I'd just replace them myself and chalk it up as experience.

[pgkevet]

I'm not trying to be confrontational..more for future info... but if with the plug out you could turn the starter enough to get the blades moving then again it's unlikely the engine was seized then...it may well have been your original thought of the OWB jammed and it either still is or it unsnagged during dismantling. Draining an engine with the plug out won't clear the crankcase unless the piston is such that the transfer ports function to get the fuel to the combustion chamber - not the case with the piston position you had it jammed in (correct me if I'm wrong someone). This still makes me go back to my comment about 'something silly at the field' and corroded afterwards. SLV users can comment more about how quick that fuel might do this. I know I'm pretty cavalier with my heli (different fuel)...just shut it off and leave it, sometimes for many weeks and it's fine) but there's been no end of threads of folk changing bearings after a gallon.
To drain a hydrolock i usually lay heli on the muffler side and have a fag while it sorts itself slowly. Rock the starter (change piston position) and try again if it doesn't. I rarely pull the plug any more 'cos i;m too laxy to fiddle the clip back on...that and my back goes into spasm kneeling down.