Tired Old Man,
I do agree with the rest of your post. We forget that we look for the inexpensive things in life and then bitch about it when something goes wrong. These engines are like you said built w/ different materials and what not.(not going into that debate) People buy the things at there own risk and do not have someone holding gun to their head, so desicions made are of their own doing and if that means say DLE vs DA or XYZ vs. 3W, ect, ect, then that is their choice and they must deal w/ problems if they arise. But for the most part figure out how many DLE engines, in this case are/have been sold and the problem ratio is still more than likely low.
All we hear about is failures, not enough about success. Again I guess that is the American way being right or wrong is a nother whole debate I am not getting into.JMO
I believe stongly in American products however this hobby is largely manufactured overseas and if I'm to stay in it I must accept the risks for the most part or quit, as does everone else - like it or not.
That being said there are several overseas companys that do stand behind their products and care about consumers not just themselves.

Just as an FYI, all I do is small 2 stroke engines. The big end bearings rarely cause the type of piston top damage seen in the pictures. It's generally a wrist pin bearing that did exactly as you noted, failed, dropped to the bottom, and re-entered the top via the various ports, or a circlip "leg" that broke off and wedged between the piston and cylinder. Big end bearings lock up the bottom end if they manage to fragment out of the roller cages. A big end ball race can fragment and make it to the top end when small enough to do so. There is the possibility where some manufacturing debris was left inside the engine but most of that would have been cast or aluminum materials not hard or large enough to generate the damage seen in the top of the piston.

I have to agree that we participate in the hobby at our own risk and need to better accept many of our own decisions and the long term effects of them. Price should never be the primary decision in an engine selection. Again, FYI, I have a DL 100 that I am quite happy with, along with several 3w engines, a BME, two RCGF, a DA, and two Brisons. Each has their own merits and used accordingly.

As far as the damaged engine shown in this thread, the owner could contact Valley View R/C and get the parts to effect the repairs for less than $150.00 per side, replacing the entire top assemblies in the process. The Chinese reeds leave a lot to be desired but one could contact various reed manufacturers to obtain much better at a low price. Or they could get a set of DA reeds and do a little fitting and swapping.

We will never know until engine is torn down and inspected will we.

No, but I see enough engines everyday to recognize the symptoms. I don't need to toss my cookies to know when I have the flu...

Forgot, a civilized discussion has to turn into gloating session,
I'm out

agreed that is metal damage from a foreign object or an object that once served a usefull purpose. the reeds would just break apart into nothing unless you had metal reeds in there.

Sorry, but who's gloating? I'm simply referencing what I see everyday.

Calm down guys. It was the needle bearing, we pulled the engine apart further and found a few missing on one side. Well we actually found some of the pieces in the reed block assembly also.

As for the reed, yes it will not effect the operation untill it gets further along. I also never said it was the reed that caused the damage, two different things entirely. We have had carb problems since the beginning on this engine and we finally just pulled the whole unit and replaced it with a new one off another engine. I was just showing what the reed looked like, also they should not be starting to fray this soon into the operation of the engine.

So TOM you got it right, on both accounts. 1-the reason for the post and 2- the reason for the damage.

Scott

At at little under mid throttle, my DLE-111 won't hold constant RPM. It surges high to low a few times, then cuts out completely. I have been trying to get it to run reliably now for about a week to no avail. Never seen this problem before with the 3Ws I have owned. I am almost to the point where I may just ship it back and get a 3W or DA. Frustrating.

Obtain a rebuild kit fror the carb and replace all the rubber and gasket parts. Things aren't always as they should be with new carbs, regardless of the maker.

Everyone says you only hear the negative things on these forums, well I have a DL 100 and have never had one problem with it and I have 20 or more gallons through it. There are 2 other 100's at my field along with a slew of 50's and 55's and I haven't seen any problems with those either. I haven't seen any of the new 111's so I can't comment on those. I do believe in buying from an authorized American distributer though, that way you know you're not getting a factory second engine.
Just my 2 cents

Finally figured out the problem with my DLE-111. It was the choke valve closing when the engine was running. I had attached a manual choke arm on the choke valve. When the engine would run the choke arm would bang against one of the mufflers causing it to close the choke valve, sometimes partially, other times fully. This would cause the engine to run erratically and finally quit. When I removed the choke arm all is well now. The engine runs strong, transitions well and starts easily. Just need to figure how I am going to choke it now. I might have to go with an auto choke using a servo hooked into one of the channels on my radio. I don't like to do this as I am afraid I might accidentally flip the switch when I am flying.

V snap was it the crank rod end that the bearing failed on or the piston rod end needle bearing failure. I have seen it on both ends of the rod bearings. The reeds are fiberglass and you could replace them with carbon fiber reeds and make more rpms on the hi end if you went with a stiffer reed but the low end would suffer just a little. I have used carbon reeds stiff and soft but never had a set last a season racing the jet skis so I went back to the stock fiberglass reed and had better luck on them. I need to take them out of my dle-111 and see if I can use a set of the Yamaha stock reeds and make them work on this engine and see if we can get a few more rpms out of it and make them last. Oh btw I only had a problem starting mine on the first start of the engine adjusted the carb and I have not had to mess with it since idle is low and transfer is awsome but I only have 2 gallons thru it.

Crank side let go. Really don't need to worry about the reeds on this one anymore, By time you add up all the damaged parts a new engine can be bought. The other engine is running pretty good, idle is coming in nice and it has plenty of power.

Originally Posted by vsnap

Crank side let go. Really don't need to worry about the reeds on this one anymore, By time you add up all the damaged parts a new engine can be bought. The other engine is running pretty good, idle is coming in nice and it has plenty of power.

Sorry to hear that, thought big end would be more likely than rod end, sucks either way.
Dan