broken hydraTork Ultra

[Fievel]

well I am currently breaking in a new os 50 engine. I got to the 5th tank, and i was slowly leaning the engine out because the back plate was cool to the touch and the transition from idle to hover was very slow. in the middle of my flight i set the heli down and turned the engine off to check the engine temp, the temp was fine, i then went to fire up the engine with the maverick hydra tork and i heard two loud cracks, the engine started up just fine but i shut it off because i thought i broke the heli. the heli appears to be fine but the gears in the hyda tork are destroyed the shafted that plugs into the heli doesnt spin at all even though you can still hear the electric motor working. what could have caused this? has anyone heard of this before? is the engine toast? thank you for your help

[Fievel]

nothin?

[WayneBrown]

You may have hydro locked the engine, excess fuel in the cylinder raises the compresion pressure considerably. ( Air compresses, liquids in general do not)
Add that the HydraTork is a low quality all-in-one starter marketed to the newbies, that you got 5 starts is pretty amazing.
Toss the POS, and buy yourself a quality starter, or if you have a cordless drill, chuck the start shaft from the DT in it and have at it.

[Fievel]

thank you for your reply, what would you recommend as a quality starter. ive seen a lot of people using the torque master would that be ok.did i hurt the engine? it started right up, are there any signs of engine trouble i should be looking for. thank you

[WayneBrown]

Torque master is okay, the hobbico 180 is pretty decent too, for the ultimate starter, get a Dynatron about $70. You should be able to reuse the start wand assembly off the HT, although you may have to re-tap the threads that hold it to the starter with the dynatron.
If you don't see a gap between the fan hub and the front bearing, you are likely fine.
Generally the fan hub will unscrew before terminal damage can be done. My guess is it's fine.