Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

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stretch1365
Airman First Class
Posts: 62
Joined: 30 Apr 2012, 01:31

Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by stretch1365 »

Hi all,

I have posted in the B377 forum and while people have tried to help with my issue they haven't been successful, so I thought I would post here too.

I noticed there is a very similar post on the B377 TechSupport page but reading the thread, there doesn't appear to have been an answer to the problem which I am now facing.

So basically what happens is that after take off I can climb ok keeping the engines in the required settings as the pop up window, is it shift+2 or 3, says that I should. I have recently been trying to put some hours on the Stratocruiser in keen anticipation of the Constellation's release. Anyway as I get towards 10,000ft I have been noticing the Torque of engine 1 and 2 seems to gradually drop off, until by 13,500ft ish those engines are producing hardly any power. On one flight the pop up window still said all engines were healthy and in good condition, yet two were clearly not producing any power. So I am unable to climb any higher than about 16,000ft at present until I can sort out this issue I am having.

It doesn't seem to make any difference if I control the engine settings or the flight engineer, or even if the aircraft is loaded or empty. Real world weather thanks to AS16 and ASCA on or off still makes no difference...........Yes I read the post on the forum here about avoiding turbulent cloud formations!

My control settings are assigned through FSUIPC which I know has in the past caused a few issues, but I have tried all manner of axis combinations, calibrate through FSUIPC and direct to fsx, the same thing seems to happen. I even downloaded a fresh B377 and COTS from the A2A website and tried that but nope the original was fine, and the new copies did just the same thing.

So I am not sure what to try next, but would welcome any suggestions from the panel?

Thanks for so many great products over the years, and many more still to hopefully come our way one day.
Happy Flying.
David Phillips.


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speedy70
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 1876
Joined: 28 Aug 2008, 18:01
Location: Devon,UK

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by speedy70 »

Sounds like carb iceing.Have you checked the carbs.

Cheers Chris

alan CXA651
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2438
Joined: 15 Mar 2016, 08:23

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by alan CXA651 »

Hi.
Have you checked your controllers calibration , in case you have a control pot not fully functioning , or is this the only aircraft , you have problems with.
I have CH yoke/rudder peddles/2 x quad throttle units , i dont know what you have for controlling your aircraft , so i have no idea if you have one throttle per eng or if you have one throttle controlling 2 engs.

EDIT:- I have just been reading your other post , from that , i get the impression , you have two saitek throttle units , these units are known for pots getting dirty , and not working as they should , a quick check of your FSUIPC axis , should show anything amiss , as your settings should be more or less the same , if it is a dirty pot or two , they can be cleaned , just need to google it.

Regards alan. 8)
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stretch1365
Airman First Class
Posts: 62
Joined: 30 Apr 2012, 01:31

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by stretch1365 »

Hi all thanks for the replies,

Alan, I have Seitek throttle quadrants as you spotted in my other post, one throttle for each engine, but have all mixtures and all props assigned to the last two levers respectively.............I checked the Axis Calibration and all axis are working as they should, so I doubt it is non working pots or anything like that. Not sure if having all props or all mixture assigned to one lever might cause issues as the aircraft climbs but I don't know how else to assign six levers to work 18 items!

Maybe the issue could be Carb icing but would it even do that if the FE was in control of everything............I did think this at one point too.

I tried to set up the Joystick configuration too, there is an option for left engines and right engines, but strangely one axis seemed to work all engines when I had it working, total disaster so I un-assigned that option and left well alone.

Anyway I have work today so no testing for me, I will get there eventually.
Happy Flying.
David Phillips.


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alan CXA651
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2438
Joined: 15 Mar 2016, 08:23

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by alan CXA651 »

Hi.
The way the aircraft is , you have no choice but to have all props under one axis , i did have seperate axis , but it caused more problems regards to trying to get the reverse props on landing , so i now have all props under one lever , so thats not the problem , also mixtures under one lever should not cause it either , the mixture is set in either off/autolean/autorich/fullrich , the only probem with mixtures set to one lever is in an emergency , with eng fire , but as long as you have switches that can select engine 1 to 4 , that should get round that one.
Does this lack of torque power on engines 1/2 happen on the pax or the guppy or both .
EDIT:- Thinking about this prop/throt together give the torq so have you got a duel settup on one of these controls or is the throt somehow reversed on these engs 1/2 .
regards alan. 8)
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TreeTops
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1086
Joined: 07 Apr 2010, 06:13

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by TreeTops »

All this talk of hardware will only get you so far. What you should be looking at is the gauges. All four engines should be nearly at the same reading unless there are different age/damage levels. If 2 gauges are reading different from the other two and you don't know why, take pictures of the FE station, pilots panels, control pedestal, overhead switches, maintenance hanger etc so anyone here can take a look and help diagnose the situation.

With respect to mixture/prop lever assignments, I usually have them ganged to single levers but during flight I adjust each lever with the mouse to give the best manual economy and then bring back the prop rpm to give correct torque. Different engine conditions will give different engine outputs and will need individual adjustments accordingly. This is half the fun of flying the strat. It's like flying 4 aircraft at once. :) now that's really getting you money's worth.
Use the gauges specifically for each engine but compare them across all four engines to check if something is going wrong.
Cheers
Trev

stretch1365
Airman First Class
Posts: 62
Joined: 30 Apr 2012, 01:31

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by stretch1365 »

Hi all,

I am still working on finding out why my Strat keeps loosing power during the climb, but I think I might be getting somewhere.

I decided to use the A2A Input Configurator, and set up left engines and right engines to their own levers.............I then went into FSUIPC and changed the four separate levers, one for each engine, to reflect the Input Configurator, so one axis lever for Throttle 1 and Throttle 2, then another for Throttle 3 and Throttle 4. I decided, as the Input configurator wants FSX axis, I would assign the two Throttle levers in FSUIPC to input direct to FSX not through the FSUIPC calibration option. Keep things simple was my plan here.

So I went off for a flight, empty and with Career mode off, Auto Flight Engineer doing everything. Being very careful to treat my new overhauled engines with kid gloves I climbed up to about 12,000ft before the power in engines 1 and 2 dropped off again, engines 3 and 4 were still fine. Puzzled I went into FSUIPC and changed the axis to go through FSUIPC calibration and returned to the sim.............Well the throttle levers didn't respond as finely as they did before but I noticed the Torque gauges on Engines 1 and 2 had returned to the same reading as Engines 3 and 4. Puzzled I went back into FSUIPC and changed the Throttle levers back to Direct into FSX. Now as I climbed all seemed fine.........

Then I noticed the Torque gauges for Engines 1 and 2 dropping off again. Weird I thought, so went into FSUIPC and the Axis Assignment page, moved the Throttle lever for Engines 1 and 2, until the assignment showed, which took a couple of wiggled to register. When I went back into FSX the Torque readings were back as they should be! I even swapped the levers round and tried assigning different levers to different engines but it is always Engines 1 and 2 which seem to loose power.

So now I have done a couple of flights, and my new engines actually have 7.5 hrs on them and they are still in excellent condition, a first for me, I'll tell you. When I climb, I get to 13,000ft or there about's and the Torque for engines 1 and 2 drops off, so I go into FSUIPC assignment page and move the Throttle lever, return to fsx and all is fine and I continue climbing............So far I have managed to climb to 30,000ft, another first for me in the Strat, and all seems well.

I am curious why this happens like it does, does anyone else have similar things happen to their Strat? I now have a work around, and can at least enjoy the Strat as A2A intended..............Yes I wanted to get this sorted or as near as I could before the Connie appears in our FSX skies.

Any thoughts from anyone out there I would still be most grateful to receive.
Happy Flying.
David Phillips.


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TreeTops
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1086
Joined: 07 Apr 2010, 06:13

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by TreeTops »

Sounds like a control conflict.
Have you tried removing throttle control from FSUIPC completely and assigning throttles in FSX as a test?
Cheers
Trev

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Alan_A
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 1605
Joined: 05 Aug 2009, 14:37
Location: Bethesda, MD

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by Alan_A »

I was never able to get FSUIPC control settings to play nicely with the A2A configurators. The only solution was to set up controls directly in FSX or P3D.

There are more and more aircraft with custom control setups that have problems with FSUIPC - the Aerosoft Airbus series, for example, and I believe the PMDG 777 has problems as well.

A shame, because FSUIPC has so much going for it. I still use its other features but unfortunately can't rely on it for controls anymore.
"Ah, Paula, they are firing at me!" -- Saint-Exupery

alan CXA651
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2438
Joined: 15 Mar 2016, 08:23

Re: Loss of power in engines 1 and 2.

Post by alan CXA651 »

Hi Alan.
I have all my aircraft set up in FSUIPC , and i dont have much trouble at all , as for the B777 of PMDG , it works fine for me , i made a mod to the throttles in FSUIPC for the A2A B17 the other day , as i had trouble getting fine control of the rpm between 1000 and 1500 , and put a slope of 5 on the throttles , this cured the problem , other than that i only had initial setting up problems on some aircraft , but always found a solution sofar.
regards alan. 8)
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