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How To Stop A Nitro RC Engine

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Have you ever had your nitro RC car out and we’re racing it but did not know how to turn off the engine? Maybe you have read that they’re a bunch of different ways to turn off and stop your nitro RC engine but you were not sure which one is the best. Well in this article we will go over everything you need to know about stopping your nitro RC engine and what is the best way to do it. 

So how do you stop a nitro RC engine?

There are four methods to stop your engine, but only one is the recommended method. 

  • Pinch the fuel line (recommended)
  • Cover the exhaust 
  • Cover the air intake
  • Stop the flywheel 

The easiest and best way to stop a nitro RC engine is to pinch the fuel line, but all of these other methods will work if absolutely necessary. 

If you want to know more about how to stop a nitro RC engine you want to keep reading this article. You can also check out this video to learn exactly how to stop the engine if you do not like to read. 

If you are going to stop your RC engine by blocking the exhaust, to avoid being burned, you will want to buy this piece. 

Nitro RC cars

Although there are many people that own RC cars, not all of them are nitro. There are a lot of RC cars that are battery operated. Although having a battery operated RC car is not bad, a lot of people want the real sound of racing when they go out to use their RC car. There are only a few battery operated cars that have a speaker and put out sound, while the rest are simply quiet. Even the ones that have the speaker that pumps out sound, it is not near as good sounding as a real nitro RC car. 

Nitro RC cars run on actual nitro fuel, and normally use a pull string to run their engine. They are normally pretty loud, for their size, but that is what makes them so much fun! When you are playing or racing one of these nitro RC cars, you don’t feel like you are playing with a kids toy, but instead, can feel the rev of the engine in your chest with every acceleration.  

How to turn off your nitro RC car

Nitro RC cars are a bunch of fun, but if this is your first time owning one, you may not know how to turn it off. This can be very frustrating as you do not want to ask for help as this is very embarrassing. If you follow these steps, you will never have to be embarrassed again! The first and recommended way to turn off your nitro RC car is to pinch the fuel line. This is the proper way to stop your RC car nitro engine. Doing this will drain all of the fuel from the engine and make your engine last longer than if you use a different method. 

The second method that some people use is to block the exhaust of the engine. Although this will stop the engine this will leave fuel in your engine and may cause corrosion. Using your hand to block the exhaust is not recommended unless you are only turning off your vehicle for at most a couple hours. If you are just stopping your RC car engine for a short period and then restarting it, using this method is acceptable. 

The third method is to block the air intake of the engine. To do this, you will need to remove the air filter or air filter hose. This is also not a good way to stop the engine as it floods the engine with fuel and will make the engine not last as long as it is intended to. 

The last method and worst possible way to stop your RC car nitro engine is by stopping the flywheel. Stopping the flywheel is extremely hard on the engine, and the machine as a whole. In order to stop the flywheel, you will need to put something in it to jam it, or use your hand to stop it. If you are using your hand or fingers, you should be prepared for quite a bit of pain as thesis little engines actually produce quite a bit of power. Using this method to turn off your RC car nitro engine is something that is not recommended and honestly should never be done unless it is an emergency. 

How long will an nitro RC car engine last?

Many people who are on a nitro RC car want to know how long the engine will last. Although this is a very common question there are many answers to it as it all depends upon how The engine is taken care of as well as how much the engine is used. The good news is though that these engines are designed to last for 30 years or more if they are well taken care of. 

Although it may take you a little bit of time to provide maintenance on your vehicle and to take care of your engine for your nitro RC car every time you run it, it is worth it. If you do not take a few minutes every time you run your nitro RC engine to do maintenance on it and take care of it your engine will not last near as long as it is designed to. This is due to corrosion in the engine as well as other reasons. Just like doing regular maintenance on your personal car, you should do regular maintenance on your nitro RC car as well. 

If you’re not sure what maintenance to perform on your nitro RC engine you will want to check your user manual and follow the guidelines and maintenance checklist. Most of the time it is not very time-consuming to do maintenance on your nitro RC engine, and will save you from replacing your engine sooner than it is intended. 

Conclusion 

Now that you know The different ways to stop your nitro RC engine you can see that there are some good ways and some not so good ways. Depending upon what situation you’re in and what is accessible you will need to decide what is the best way to stop your nitro RC engine. Some vehicles have the fuel line easily accessible to be pinched off to stop it while others have the exhaust easily accessible to be used to stop the engine. As mentioned before you should only cover the exhaust to stop the engine if you are going to be using your nitro RC car again within a couple of hours. 

No matter which method you use to stop your nitro RC engine, your nitro RC car should be able to start back up again without any issues. Even though there is not a key to use to turn off your engine, these methods are not very hard to do. After you finish with your RC car, you should always perform the maintenance checklist no matter which method you used to turn off your engine.