Thunder Tiger .46 eats glow plugs like crazy, but runs fine.

by Nathan Bruss
(Chesterland, Ohio, U.S.)

I have had nitro engines for many years and have basic knowledge about them. My past engines have never given me a problem.

Recently, I acquired a new thunder tiger .46 engine. I broke it in accordingly and of course adjusted the high speed and low speed settings to the recommended benchmark. It seems to be tuned fine and runs great.

Just like the manual recommends, I tune the engine to be slightly rich before each flight. I do this religiously and once it is started it runs great.

The problem is that it goes through glow plugs like crazy. A glow plug lasts a few flights at most before refusing to glow anymore. I am using the correct plug and always tune it for the weather prior to flying it.

I'm totally baffled and am becoming frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

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Thunder Tiger .46 eats glow plugs like crazy, but runs fine.

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Apr 29, 2009
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What part is goin bad?
by: Matt

Hi Nathan,

When you say the plug goes bad, do you mean the coil that heats up when you apply electric?

What are you using to supply electric to your plug? Is it a hand held glow igniter? Or are you using a lead from a flight box control panel with an amp meter?

I'm wondering if the electric supply to the glow plug when starting may be the problem. Do you have any other engines? If so, do you use the same method to start?

Apr 29, 2009
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tuning the carb
by: Anonymous

Just like the roaster ad on TV. Set it and forget it. Usually your best bet. I live in New England home of the worst weather in the world and find myself tuning the carb in the Spring and maybe once during the Summer. Works for me. Glow plug may be to hot or the compression could be on the high side.

May 24, 2009
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Hey! Same here
by: Joe

I've run through about 20 TT46Pro's over the years, and for the first time - I've experienced exactly the same problem. My plugs last exactly 1 flight each!

(This happened yesterday, but it's an engine I bought from Tower about half a year ago.)

Otherwise, all looks completely normal.

I emailed Thunder Tiger, and will update if they have anything to add. Next week I might also try to replace the new engine head with one from an old engine.

Jul 16, 2009
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plug foul issue
by: Anonymous

I recently acquired a tt .46 pro and it fouls plugs about once each flight. totally annoying and driving me mad. I'm getting good at dead stocks though. Joe

Oct 17, 2009
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tt pro 50 fouls plugs.
by: john

Hi there , ive been reading your posts and i too
had a tt pro 50 that eats glow plugs.
what i found was that the compression was to high.
I used 2 washers between the head and the glow plug and i got 2 flights before the plug hd to be changed again.
In the end i used an os a5 plug and that seems to have fixed the problem.
what happens to the glow plug is very unusual it seems as if the rodhium on the element is been burned of it, so in other words it will work fine with the glow extension on it, but as soon as you disconnect the power the engine just stops.