Mud mud, glorious mud.

[Fat Freddy]

Drove my Element Enduro into a puddle which turned out to be a bit deeper than expected.

Then it just stopped. Steering still worked but wheels wouldn’t turn.

My first thought was that water had got into the receiver box, and there was some, but only a few drops.

I thought I’d better just check nothing had jammed the drivetrain but the wheels turned fairly easily, so it wasn’t that. The next suspect was the ESC, but it’s a Hobbywing 1080 and I’ve never had one fail on me. 
As I pondered I turned the wheels again and a lump of mud fell out of the motor. I gave the throttle trigger a squeeze and the wheels turned but mud literally sprayed out of the motor vents, into my face.

I’m guessing there was so much mud in there it stopped the brushes from working? A 1st for me, anyone else had this happen? Thankfully much cheaper than a new ESC or RX.

Looks like I need to dunk the motor in some water and give it a good clean and lube.

 

 

[Lone-wolf]

messy but easy fix mate

[m4inbrain]

Not sure if your motor is sealed. but there's stuff you can use to spray them out proper.

 

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/magnum-force-2-motor-spray-13-oz/DYN5500.html

 

I usually use just use electrical contact cleaner, works well enough. But i see brushed motors as disposable either way, not worth spending £10 on cleaning stuff for a £15-£20 can, might as well just run it until it stops and get a new one (or go brushless, as i did). 

Though, i'm not sure what  you mean by lube - don't spray WD40 in there or something - at most, a small drop of light oil on the front/rear bushing/bearing (no idea what you have). Oil attracts more dirt.

[Fat Freddy]

42 minutes ago, m4inbrain said:

Not sure if your motor is sealed. but there's stuff you can use to spray them out proper.

 

https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/magnum-force-2-motor-spray-13-oz/DYN5500.html

 

I usually use just use electrical contact cleaner, works well enough. But i see brushed motors as disposable either way, not worth spending £10 on cleaning stuff for a £15-£20 can, might as well just run it until it stops and get a new one (or go brushless, as i did). 

Though, i'm not sure what  you mean by lube - don't spray WD40 in there or something - at most, a small drop of light oil on the front/rear bushing/bearing (no idea what you have). Oil attracts more dirt.

I mean a tiny drop of 3 in 1 oil on the bushes each end. After I’ve cleaned it.

Let it “soak in” for a bit and wipe off the excess.

In the past, I’ve found dunking a motor in a tub of water and giving it full throttle for a while cleans out surprising amounts of dirt. Keep changing the water til it stops getting dirty, then hang  the motor up in the airing cupboard to dry out.

It works wonders. 👍

 

[Shergar]

Had it happen a few times, normally an extraction out the swamp and a firm roll along the ground to push and debris out the motor can works. I use this occasionally cheap too:

 

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/schumacher-bearing-blaster-motor-cleaner-23015

[m4inbrain]

2 hours ago, Fat Freddy said:

I mean a tiny drop of 3 in 1 oil on the bushes each end. After I’ve cleaned it.

Let it “soak in” for a bit and wipe off the excess.

In the past, I’ve found dunking a motor in a tub of water and giving it full throttle for a while cleans out surprising amounts of dirt. Keep changing the water til it stops getting dirty, then hang  the motor up in the airing cupboard to dry out.

It works wonders. 👍

 

 

No worries, looks like you knew - just making sure bud. 

 

Might clean out my Crawlmaster motor that way one day, if i ever run it again.