Usually, motor stutter (Or refusing to reverse etc) is down to the brushes sticking in their holders (With dirt/oily goo), but loose wires, dirty connectors & even shorts caused by frayed wire ends can also cause it. Might not be the motor though....
Have you checked your receiver on/off switch (& cleanliness/security/condition of the plug on it)? - they do have a habit of dulling their contacts if left laying around unused for years, particularly if they've ever been wet. A clue will be if you also loose your steering when the motor stops.... in fact, does the motor play up when your steering is having issues? - I wonder if your jammed steering is making the steering servo pull to much current & making the receiver/ESC BEC shut down (Not as daft as it sounds - my TXT thing does that)
Thanks for these suggestions Eddrick.
Ok, the steering issue is defo mechanical, not servo or electrical. I've already swapped out the steering servo and the one that went in is strong, and runs properly (tested seperately prior to fitting also) - it's the friction grab and lack of flex in the boots that's the issue for this....
In terms of the ESC - it's an LRP Runner (third one), and none of them have an on/off switch. The receiver is a bog standard Acoms ARC-227 receiver, the older one with the cables to plug the various elements into, rather than cable slots in the receiver itself, which is there as it's period correct. Again, this doesn't have an on/off switch either. I'll double check, but I'm confident that I don't lose steering when the motor cuts.
In terms of the motor - it defo doesn't refuse to reverse. It simply stops throttling (forward) and the buggy just stops. Pressing the stick forward at this point has no effect at all and the buggy won't begin to move again until it's been put into reverse, for at least a fraction of a second (so that it just slightly jumps), and then it will move forward again until the next time it just stops. I only tap it into reverse as I actually want it to go forward. At the point that it stops, if I continued reversing with the stick, it would, I just don't want it to - hence tapping it quickly to get what I want - i.e. for the little bugger to move forwards again! It's kind of like the buggy needs to be reset somehow by tapping the reverse, which is why I thought initially the ESC was struggling to cope with the motor.
I think the next move to make is swap out the motor and see if it continues - will get this done over the weekend and hopefully, we'll at least have identified the source of the problem. Will also drill the rubber boots to reduce the friction grab on the steering arms. Anyone experimented with Vaseline to make things (on R/C) more slippery?
GOOD idea Edo!
