Got a big problem, looking for answer

[Coils]

Hello


New to the forum and I'm not new to R/C cars but just got my first 1/5 scale gasser, a Red Cat Chimera, I like the looks of it and the price was a good starting point even though I know it will need some upgrades right away and a few more shortly after.


But I'm hoping someone can answer a question because I have a problem already (a big one actually), I need to know if this will be covered under a warranty or if I have to fix it myself. I sent an email to Red Cat and thought I'd ask here while I wait for them.


I didn't even start the engine yet, just got it on Friday the 6th, and the first thing I wanted to do was install a Super Bee kill switch. Well after trying for some time with a pair of needle nose pliers, I couldn't get the wire on the ignition coil that's toward the cylinder, so the next easiest way to me was to loosen or remove the coil from the motor. Well the top bolt broke, I'm guessing it was over tighten at the factory and I finished it off because it wasn't hard to break and the bottom one seemed to take about the same amount of force to come out.


So does anyone know if there's a good chance Red Cat will help, or am I on my own?


Thanks


John

 

[BertR]

Redcat may ask you to send the motor to them and they will send send you a new one.they have been good about taking care of their costumers and in your case !! its a new item and they should with no problems at all.

 

[Coils]

Thanks Bert.

That's what I was hoping, I didn't want to send the whole thing back but don't mind sending just the engine and waiting a little longer to play.

I also figured if they won't help I'll start checking local machine shops to see if they could remove it.

I'll make sure to post Red Cat's reply when I get it.

 

[BertR]

I'm most certain they will hook you up! There was another forum member that had motor issues and they took care of the issues with it.

 

[Coils]

I didn't reply sooner because of work and waiting to see what RedCat will do (if anything).

First to update what has happened with RedCat.

As mentioned I got the car last Friday and late that night I broke the bolt, I sent an email to them Saturday morning and got a reply on Monday with a link to a warranty claim form, filled that out. And early Tuesday got a reply from someone else requesting a pic (which I said I'd send in the claim report), so I sent the pic to the email addy given.

That's the last I heard from RedCat at this time. So I'm guessing they aren't going to help anymore, but I figured they'd offer to fix it if I sent it in and payed for all the shipping.

Well figuring I'm going to have to fix it myself, I pulled the engine and took it to a machine shop today (9/13), the guy was really nice and I was lucky they were in between jobs this week so he was able to mess with it while I waited. Ten - fifteen minutes later he come out with it and had the broken bolt removed, he heated it with a propane torch and turned it out with a pair of vice grips. Cost me a whole $10, but it was still cheaper then me just buying a torch and doing it myself : )

And I also found what the problem was, they used too long of a bolt or the hole wasn't drilled deep enough, the end of the bolt was bottomed out tight against the bottom of the hole and was most likely damaged when installed.

So tomorrow I get to finish putting the car back together and hopefully start the engine to begin the break in process.

 

[Guest]

It's good to hear it was that simple. Sometimes it's easier to take care of it yourself. Shipping it back would have cost more and taken much longer.

Good luck!

 

[WyomingV3rookie]

Glad to hear that you had good luck.

I got really good service from RedCat on my steering servos. (less than a month and they stopped working.) Filled out the form and they shipped new ones out. They got stuck in the Colorado Flood so I won't get them till Monday but a few days waiting for free servos is good with me.