Pratt & Whitney R-1340

Avoiding Backfires and Starting the Ju-52 FE Barnitz

What is a backfire?
A backfire is a small explosion within the engine which places undue stress on the
induction system and carburetor. The occasional backfire during start-up is sure to raise a
chuckle or even a comment from your colleague like "You're buying the first beer!"
It may seem funny to the crew, but it's not too funny for the engine. That "bang" was
supposed to take place within the combustion chamber in the form of a controlled
complete burn and exit via the exhaust valve. Instead the gasses within the intake
manifold and blower have ignited and are trying to escape in a reverse direction out past
the carburetor. Since the carburetor is almost fully closed during start-up, these ignited
expanding gasses are trapped and this trapped pressure can damage the induction
system, blow seals in the carburetor, and possibly cause a fire at the carb inlet.

What causes backfire?

A backfire is caused by the slow, incomplete burning of a lean mixture within the
combustion chamber. If the charge in the chamber is still burning as the intake valve
opens, it will ignite the fresh incoming charge. The flame then travels back through the
induction system resulting in the tell-tale "bang" heard at the carburetor intake.

One common misconception is that a backfire can occur from either a too lean or too rich
mixture. This should be laid to rest for all time! A backfire only occurs from a mixture
which is too lean. If it's too rich you might get an afterfire in the form of flames out of the
exhaust and the engine may tend to die, but a rich mixture will not backfire.
The most common cause of backfire is excessive throttle a setting beyond that which
would provide approximately idle RPM.

If the engine does backfire it needs either more prime or less throttle or both.

R-1340 S1H1-G design features.

Primer:
On this engine only the upper cylinders (1,2,3,8,9) have primer injectors installed at the
intake ports upstream of the intake valves. Using the primer system provides the upper
cylinders with a mixture rich enough initially get the engine running.

But what about the lower cylinders?

The lower cylinders are only getting a charge based on idle mixture. No prime available.
So depending on the idle mixture setting, the charge mixture to the lower cylinders initially
may be too lean for proper combustion. It will be aggravated by a throttle which is opened
too far thus leaning the mixture even more and will lead to a backfire.
During colder OAT's it is even necessary to close the throttle slightly.

Super Charger (blower):

During starting as the RPM of the engine increases, the blower starts to compress air at a
ratio of 12:1 which means it will draw more air through the throttle body. Again, if the
throttle is opened too far, it reaches a point where it is out of the "enriched" idle circuit and
the mixture will be too lean for proper combustion. The result will be a backfire.

How can backfire be prevented during start-up?

A. Avoid a lean mixture.
B. Be sure no excessive throttle.
C. Confirm adequate priming.
 Starting the Ju-52

If you belong to the group of people who are getting consistent, backfire-free starts on the
Ju-52, then don't change what you are doing!
The following information may be helpful to the rest of us.

Throttle position for starting.

OM-B 2.1.30 pg.2
Throttle No. __ FWD APPROX. 0.5 CM

A bit tricky on the Ju-52 due to the freeplay and hysteresis within the throttle system.
The only way to get a real feel for when the carburetor begins to open is to completely
release the throttle friction, close all throttles and then advance each throttle until you
begin to feel the carburetor opening resistance. From there open each individual throttle
approx. 0.5 cm. (5 mm ain't much!) It may be helpful to make a mental note of this
position on the throttle quadrant index for each throttle.

Another method is to note the 600-700 RPM throttle position just prior to shutdown with the
prop levers in LOW RPM. As the throttle is retarded from 1100 RPM towards IDLE make a
note of the index position where ~700 RPM is reached.
This would be the approximate maximum open position of the throttle during engine start.
Everything less than this is desirable to avoid backfire.

One thing to keep in mind concerning the throttle position is that the engine will run with
the throttle completely closed. We know this because it's one of the items we check during
the run-up after the mag check with the propeller in HIGH RPM / LOW PITCH :

Throttle .................. IDLE ( RPM between 450 and 600 RPM )

The only difference is that during start-up the engine is cold and the propeller is in the
LOW RPM / HIGH PITCH position which requires a slightly opened ( 0.5 cm ) throttle.

OM-B 2.1.30 pg.3 states:

"Engine runs self-sustaining"
"Throttle No. __ ADJUST TO 600 RPM"

Here again the aim is to avoid excessive throttle thus avoiding backfire.

As the engine RPM begins to increase after placing the prop lever to HIGH RPM so does
the blower RPM at a ratio of 12:1. This causes the MAP to increase which also tends to
lean out the charge and a lean charge will backfire. Practice has shown that keeping the
MAP below 25 inches during acceleration to idle RPM will help in avoiding backfires.

Prime as required.
Unfortunately the OM-B doesn't give us much guidance here. In our operation, during the
summer months, experience has shown that prior to starter engagement prime for
approximately 3 seconds for a cold engine and 0 to 2 seconds for a warm engine.
You wouldn't choke a warm Harley would you?

Another method later adopted by P&W was to start priming after starter engagement.
This avoids guessing how much to prime and eliminates over-priming. When the engine
fuel charge mixture is finally rich enough to ignite, the engine will start.
Note: Excessive priming washes the rings and cylinders of lubricating oil which can lead
to scoring. Fuel also runs down the intake pipes into the lower cylinders which will lead to
fuel-hydraulicking.

If the engine abruptly stops turning over during a start attempt, the starter clutch has
reached its maximum torque limit and, by design, is slipping to prevent damage to the
affected connecting rod. During start this is usually caused by fuel-hydraulicking due to
over-priming.

If this happens, DO NOT ROTATE THE ENGINE BACKWARDS ! Backwards rotation of

the engine puts the fuel (or oil) back into the lower intake pipes and it will be sucked into
the cylinder again and cause hydraulicking. Hydraulicking can ben connecting rods and
break wrist-pins (the large pin which goes through the piston). It may not break
immediately but it will break, eventually. Radial engines have a good memory, espeically
when it comes to mistreatment and over-limits.

See HYDRAULICKING OM-B 2.2.11. p.2.

The following is an excerpt from the Pratt & Whitney manual PWA O.I. 100 pg. 77/ 78:

The amount of prime required varies with the temperature of the air and of the engine.
The quantity of vaporized fuel needed is the same from one extreme of temperature to the
other. But as the temperature is lowered, more liquid fuel must be injected to obtain this
fixed vapor requirement. This is because temperature affects the vaporization of the fuel.

The required amount of prime is estimated by looking at the following gages:

Outside Air Temperature: Tells the temperature of the air that will be drawn into the
engine during cranking and after starting. It aids in estimating the evaporating
capability of the cold air stream.
Carburetor Air Temperature: Tells the temperature of the air in the duct, as well as
some idea of the carburetor temperature and the contained fuel, and hence gives
an idea of evaporating conditions.
Oil Temperature: Gives an indication of the stiffness of the engine: whether it has
been in operation recently or not, if it has been warm or cold during storage. It also
gives an idea of the temperature of the supercharger section and its ability to
vaporize the first trickle of fuel.
Cylinder Head Temperature: Indicates the amount of heat available in the intake
ports to vaporize the prime, also whether the fuel will be inclined to chill and collect
on the cylinder walls.