nichzimmerman
04-18-2012, 05:48 PM
Hi all, I've flown in my Kitfox II behind a Rotax 532 for about 40 flawless hours. It has about 200 SMOH, CDI ignition, and I run premium fuel mixed with Pennzoil air-cooled oil. It has never had a hiccup until last weekend when I landed after a 3.6 hour cross country flight. When I tried to crank it later that afternoon, she simply wouldn't start. Occasionally, it would fire, but never start.
As my battery weakened, I pulled out an external power source which ran the RPMs up fairly high while cranking, and the engine would fire and sound like it was running, but once I stopped cranking it just died. After some fidgeting, I finally got it to start, and it would produce full power just fine but wouldn't idle well. After running it for a while, I shut if off. Later, I tried cranking it again...same thing.
I checked the fuel filters, the carbs for flooding and blockage, the spark plugs for fouling and gap, but nothing seems to make any change. Incidentally, on that long cross country I had to stop for gas and I put about 5 gallons of 100LL in the tank, but I've done that once before and never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks,
Nic
As my battery weakened, I pulled out an external power source which ran the RPMs up fairly high while cranking, and the engine would fire and sound like it was running, but once I stopped cranking it just died. After some fidgeting, I finally got it to start, and it would produce full power just fine but wouldn't idle well. After running it for a while, I shut if off. Later, I tried cranking it again...same thing.
I checked the fuel filters, the carbs for flooding and blockage, the spark plugs for fouling and gap, but nothing seems to make any change. Incidentally, on that long cross country I had to stop for gas and I put about 5 gallons of 100LL in the tank, but I've done that once before and never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks,
Nic