Can't manually start sometimes

[brettt777]

I have been having an issue with manually starting some of my planes. I can usually get the jets to start without using the autostart. But many of the recips won't fire up unless I use the autostart. I go through all of the start up procedures, make sure there's fuel, the engine is properly primed and the mixture is open. I hit the starter and it cranks for a few seconds and then nothing. I try this several times and it just won't fire. Then I give up and use the autostart and it cranks up immediately. What am I missing here? I also have a couple of planes where the thing won't even crank, like the FSD P-38 and the A2A P-47. They have those centrifugal starters and for some reason I cannot get the thing to spin up and engage.

[Mach3DS]

Try deleting your "Default" flight. Go to your saved flights folder and delete the file itself. Start FSX. FSX will create a new one. Leave it the way it is. Then create a new free flight with an aircraft that wasn't previously working. For some reason FSX will sometimes carry over data from flight to flight which after a while can corrupt saved flights. Not sure why.

[full]

Maybe a flat battery ?

[bazzar]

Usually Cntrl/Shift/F4 will do the trick. FSX has a nasty habit of zeroing the mixture cut when you shut down and manual fuel-cut switches in a VC often are not good enough to get you going again. Use the keystroke to clear the fuel cut and you should be OK.

[HighGround22]

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If none of the above work, consider trying this tip I got when I was experiencing the exact same problem, a couple of years ago:

Use your file manager of choice to drill down to the FSX/FS9 directory and find the aircraft you're using.

Open the AIRCRAFT.CFG file and scroll down the the section [piston_engine]

Find the line "normalized_starter_torque= "

If the value after the equals sign is a low number (and it probably is) like 0.6, then you want to double it. Do this in a way that permits you to easily revert back (grandfather) to the original value, if you should so desire, later.

So if it reads (for example) normalized_starter_torque=0.6 then stick the new value before the old and separate them with two slashes ("//")

It would then look like this: normalized_starter_torque=1.5//0.6

Save and reload the aircraft. Then have another go at starting.

Hope that helps.

[bazzar]

Be very careful playing with starter torques or any of the engine CFG entries. You will change the characteristics o fthe engine and prop and the overall performance. Power settings will be altered if you make it easier to swing the prop.

I can't speak for all devs but we for example, go to great lengths to ensure starter and prop torques are correctly set to simulate the real conditions accurately.

There's a lot one can do to alter prop spin-down, startup, prop reversing and so on but they all need proper adjustment in conjunction with the airfile for a balanced result.

I would put money on this problem being fuel-cut related. It is why a flight reset for the default flight will work - it overrides the current fuel cut settings. Cntrl/SHift/F4 should do the trick. Mind you I don't know what aircraft you are using...

[HighGround22]

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Hmm. Yeah. Possibly. Never heard of a changed starter torque causing any chain reactions. But importantly, as indicated above, IF the mod doesn't work, it's so very easily reversible! That's to say, nothing gets broken.