C-172 not starting

[karlh]

Engine died some time ago when idling at Aspen, CO on FSX. Haven't been able to re-start it since. In-game I have rebuilt the engine, replaced plugs, batteries, everything. Out of game I've upgraded from 1.xx to the 7-15-2014 update. When that didn't work I uninstalled it via Windows' Control Panel. I then reinstalled it and installed Accu-Sim.

I have 100+ hours in R/W 172. I have never, never had issues like this starting any of our birds. The closest I've gotten to starting this is every now and then when running the fuel pump for 3-5 seconds, after a few seconds of turning it will "fire" for a brief moment. Otherwise it just turns and drains the battery.

Please help.

[Caldemeyn]

Look into your hangar and check for fouling, also you should lean aggressively on the ground, i don't know your procedure or a version of the cessna you have flown in R/W. Do you crack the throttle slightly when starting ? If it tries to catch and then dies, that can be it. The whole procedure can be accessed with 2-D panels.

[Lewis - A2A]

Have you tried less prime or no prime at all if its a warm engine?

The 172R is the newer gen 172's so requires different procedures to the older non fuel injected aircraft.

thanks.
Lewis

[Great Ozzie]

Hi Karl,

I've had a time or two when "nothing else worked" with the C172... end up changing starters, multiples recharges on the battery etc...

If the above posts do not help, I do an Auto-start and that seems to "zero out" whatever problem there was - so the manual start proceeds "normally".

Somehow also, I have been caught (a time or two) trying to start the engine with the fuel shutoff valve in the OFF (pulled out) position. Dunno how it got that way, btw... but, it's happened.

-Rob

[freded]

I have no luck starting the C172, in spite of following all the procedures for a cold engine. Invariably the cranking speed is very slow, the battery loses its charge very quickly (even after a trip to the maintenance hangar and a recharge) and the engine never fires... Yes, fuel cutoff is 'ON', pump priming for 3-5 seconds, mixture at idle cutoff and throttle open 1/4 inch, but still no joy.

As Great Ozzie says, 'I do an Auto-start and that seems to "zero out" whatever problem there was - so the manual start proceeds "normally".' And, yes, this works - but should you have to 'cheat' like this? Once the engine has warmed up after the Auto-start, it starts 'on the button'.

Perhaps I'm getting the dreaded flooding? But trying to clear it is defeated by the battery quickly losing charge and not turning the engine fast enough.

Any suggestions as to what my problem could be?

[Great Ozzie]

Hi Mark,

The way I see it with the software, sometimes there are "anomolies" (why I don't mind the autostart). If it occurred on a regular basis, yes, I can see that an irritation.

Perhaps I'm getting the dreaded flooding? But trying to clear it is defeated by the battery quickly losing charge and not turning the engine fast enough.

Any suggestions as to what my problem could be?

Could be flooding. I have looked for the fuel pressure gauge needle to rise for the prime. Basically for me, that takes a quick "one thousand one, one thousand two" count for a cold engine.

If it is flooded, I believe this is a case where letting the engine sit for a couple of minutes will alleviate the problem. My problem is, I never have the patience to wait for the sim, so if I suspect I flooded the engine, that is when I fall back on the autostart.

Not sure that it matters, but I use the heavier 15M battery.

-Rob

[freded]

Thanks.

I'll see what happens if it does it next time and I wait a few minutes...

Yes, I tried both batteries but no difference to the rate of discharge...

[iefbr14]

Hi,
Instead of autostart, for Myself I use the auto-cold Feature to reinitialize the Software.

[ClipperLuna]

I had a similar problem once with the 172 being very difficult to start. In my case, though, it was after I accidently killed it by turning the mags to off. Visited the hanger to clear the plugs (they were fouled to hellandgone), but it was remarkably hard to get it going after that. After some experimentation, I found that it would only fire after a small amount of priming, maybe 1 to 1.5 seconds worth. This was in room-temperature weather.

[aviator1213]

I just had an instance of using auto-start and got an Extremely rough engine, which didn't respond to mixture or throttle changes (tried leaner mixture, more throttle - even tried the opposite).

I thought the spark plugs were fouled so I went to the garage, but it said it's in beautiful shape....

[Shalomar]

Are you using a fresh flight or trying to start from a saved flight? Sometimes saved flights get corrupted.