Hey guys, I've been playing a lot of CloD lately and I have some questions. Playing the downloadable dynamic career mode I've noticed a lot of engine failures, I am playing on full realism with CEM and temp effects on so I'm having a hard time figuring out if I'm just making a mistake with my handling of the engine or if I'm getting random dud engines or something.

Flying the Hurricane Rotol

Firstly, my engine failure sometimes seems to happen when I go up to high altitudes, usually after the short needle reaches the number 1 on the altimeter(sorry don't know the exact height atm)

Secondly, I run the engine at full throttle after take off, so I adjust the prop pitch to 2800rpm at full throttle. Is this right? Should I not be running at full throttle at all times? Should I leave the prop pitch at the starting position and just manage my throttle? I noticed that the rpm needle kind of jumps around a slight amount when I go full throttle at the adjusted prop pitch that I mentioned, is this normal? Do I need to run the engine longer?

Thirdly, keep my temperatures at about 80-90 oil and 100-110 water. Is this correct?

Last question and an observation, should I try to keep my exhaust flames blue or orange? I saw that they were orange while I was engaging some JU88's earlier and after adjusting my mixture it turned blue. And I noticed when my engine failed in a previous mission that my oil pressure was down to 30 which isn't where it started out at during the mission, is there something I could have done that would have caused this or is it a random oil leak or something?

thanks

For the Hurricane Rotol I'd keep the RPM under 24 for sustained flight. You could also just leave the radiator at 60% open all the time as well. I tend to leave throttle fully open and managed rev's with the prop pitch. For the mixture, leave at auto-rich below 10,000 or trying to save fuel. For temps in the Hurriance, keep Oil 80 and water at 90. Hope that helps.

Also, check these out..

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3342810/UPDATE_7_OCT_2011_Aircraft_Ope.html#Post3342810

Oh wow really 24, is the rotol better or worse than the regular Hurri?

This checlist thing is what I used to get my information from.

If I run my engine at 2800 rpm constant is that really going to break the engine? It says the max is 3600 in a dive. So then should I just put the throttle to full and only bother adjusting the prop pitch instead of adjusting both?

I think it's a case where the checklists (which used actual flight manuals and info from pilots) in this case is more correct than the game, in that if you stay at a sustained 27 or so then the engine will fail more often than not. The Hurricane engine is a real baby in the game hence nursing it with lower revs than perhaps needed in real life. The amount of constant boost and oil temp seems to be slightly off in the game.

The Rotol (Rolls-Royce / Bristol propeller) variant is a later and more advanced model than the Mk1, which only has the fine/coarse and an older wooden propeller.

I personally adjust pitch much more than throttle in the Hurricane, although in a dive I would throttle back as well.

Edit: An expert might be along in a minute, I more just bumble my way through the sim.

Edit2: Also, the checklist figures seem to assume an 100 Oct fuel, while I believe the sim makes the assumption the during that period of 1940 the less ummphy 80/87? octane was only available.

Okay well I flew a mission at 2400 rpm constant and it seemed to work well, I climbed well and didn't break my engine until I took a few hits at which point my pitch adjustment apparently broke, or I dove too hard I'm not sure.

I'll keep trying and see what comes of it.

Okay flew some more missions, I think my problem is that I've been running the engine constantly at 2800rpm, so now I'm going to go with 2800 to climb, 2400-2600 constant for cruise and 3000 for takeoff, then just throttle to idle in a dive should be fine, I had to stress it a bit and push the rpm up to 3000 in a dive to catch a 110 earlier though so she can take some beating. I can't keep the temps below 100 though for the coolant, we'll see if it matters all that much or not.

Keeping the oil temp below 80 seems most important.

I can't do that at all, but I've flown a bunch of missions now following the plate inside the cockpit of the aircraft(same as that handbook linked earlier) and it's worked fine, not a single engine failure since running oil at 90+

But I was killed today so on to the spitfire and then I shall return to my first love the 110.