Mosquito in 4.12.2 - overheating engine right after take off...
 

Hello

I just upgraded my IL2 install to 4.12.2.

And I've gone to fly my current favourite plane, 2nd only to the F4U in the 1944 Okinawa campaign, the Mosquito FB VI 1943.

However I am finding that no matter which map I'm on after take off, and after I exceed 120mph, I always overheat the engines and then they eventually fail on me - within a matter of minutes. Nothing I've tried so far seems to stop it happening.

I have read the manual for 4.12.2 and the notes on engine overheating but I still don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

Here's what I do to take off -

I start the mission on chocks (I put them in if they're not already there), I set elevator trim so it pulls my nose up, I throttle up to about 20%, leave it for a second, throttle up some more until I get to 110%, I let the chocks out and roll down the runway. Once I'm airborne, gear up and in a reasonable level/stable flight I throttle back to 75% or less.

I have tried throttling up gradually whilst rolling down the runway but I still get the same issue once in the air. I have tried throttling back when airborne to as low as 50% throttle. I've tried lowering my prop pitch to 75% or less once I've gotten airborne. I've tried opening the radiator (by pressing R) once I'm in the air. I've tried all 3 at once. Nothing seems to help, and in fact throttling back and/or reducing prop pitch once I'm airborne causes me to crash the plane.

At the moment the only way I can fly the Mosquito in 4.12.2 (I don't know about other planes, I've not actually tried yet) is to turn off Engine Overheat in the difficulty menus.

Please can someone offer some standardised settings/procedures I can use for a good stable flight with the Mosquito (and/or just in case point me in the direction of similar settings for other planes)?

Thanks in advance.

Just gave it a try. Normandy map, QMB Scramble... full power, rads open, didn't overheat for several minutes.

Do you have some MOD pack installed or something like that?

I have been running mods but I've also tried it with a clean stock 4.12.2 install and I'm still getting the same problem. It also happens with the Corsair on the Midway map - I take off, immediately start turning left and throttling back, and by the time I've come back round to line myself up with the runway again, at the tip of the 2nd island on that map, the engine is overheating.

I'd really appreciate some standard procedures to follow to alleviate the problem - you guys who can fly fine must be doing something all the time as a routine procedure so that you don't overheat the engines?

As it is 4.12.2 is unplayable for me unless I turn off engine overheating. I thought I was making progress the other day with my 4.10 install, having finally managed to land the Mosquito!

Might be a simple overlook, but are you just taking off after engine start or letting your engine(s) warm up before take-off?
As I understand it, engines must be warmed up somewhat realistically now.
Going to full power on these engines when they are cold would do damage.
In RL it takes a few minutes.

Could you post a track file of what you're doing. Share it via Google Drive, OneDrive, whatever... Let's see this in action. I had to really ram the Mosquito's engines on WEP to get it to overheat anywhere close to as quickly as you're talking about.

The only thing I haven't done is try it on the Midway map. You're flying the Mosquito on the Midway map? Each map has its own ambient temperature gradient and Midway is likely to be hotter than say Normandy or Smolensk maps.

Could be. I don't sit for long on the runway. From mission start I'm only on the ground for about a minute at the most.

I've flown the Mosquito on Normandy as well. Same/similar result. I do know about the ambient temperatures differing on each map but the Corsair gives similar quick overheating on Midway, and you'd think it'd be able to cope.

I will try to make a track though.

I still fly the Corsair all the time... it does run hot but not anything like what you're talking about. My issues are usually after prolonged time at 100% and 100% RPM/Prop Pitch. Also low speed and nose high make the heat go up even more. But if I back off to 90% pitch on a Corsair and run it at 80% cruise and 80-100 combat on need (with brief times at 110% WEP) it's no issues. But it sounds like you can't even get off the ground properly without an overheat.

I honestly think its something wrong with your install. If there is a mod pack mixed up in here then maybe that's it. Still might be valuable to see.

Did you select all engines? This needs to be done to allow both prop pitch and rads to work on both engines simultaneously

OK well that's the sort of info/advice I'm after.

Basically what I need is a crib sheet set out something like this -

Plane name: F4U-1D 1944
Cruise settings -
Throttle: 80%
Prop Pitch: 90%
Mix: ?
Radiator position: ?

That way I can use the same settings as someone who can fly without problems and see what happens.

Shortly I'll make tracks with the Mosquito on Normandy, and the Corsair on Midway and see what happens with a clean install. As I've said though clean or modded I seem to get the same results.

Yes.

OK I may have been exaggerating the time to overheat, it feels like a minute but it's more like 3 minutes with the Corsair.


And here's a track with the Corsair at Midway - http://www.mediafire.com/download/rd...at_Midway.ntrk

That was done with a completely clean unmodded stock 4.12.2 install.

At about 3 minutes when I'm making the left turn to line up on the runway is when the engine starts to overheat. I need to work on my landings again though, I was coming in/down way too hot. Lol.


Here's a track with the Mosquito but it's from my modded install with SAS Modact 5.3, I tried it in the stock clean unmodded install just now but couldn't replicate what I saw last night. Both times I tried it last night, on BOTH installs modded or unmodded I was getting a result as per this track. Just before the track stops is where the engines begin to overheat. If I had tried to turn back and land the engines would have failed on me.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/pj..._Normandy.ntrk

The mods I'm using in that install are SAS Modact 5.3 and TFM-412. Neither of those to my knowledge affect engine overheating or the Mosquito FM or anything else that could cause accelerated overheating.

OK I think I found the key to my overheating of engines.

Prop pitch (and probably radiator opening)!!!

I just did a QMB flight vs 4 empty HE-111's on the Normandy map flying out of Carentan and although the engine overheated a couple of minutes after take off I was able to cool it by reducing the prop pitch so the RPM's dropped, and I opened the radiators.

I found it difficult to get speed up by doing that though, and I found it difficult to catch up with the HE-111's to intercept them to begin with (not least because I headed in the wrong direction for about 2-3 minutes whilst I sorted out my plane for a reasonable level flight and to gain speed), but for the rest of the flight I managed to achieve a fairly constant 200mph at about 3000ft +/- 100ft with RPM's between 2500 and 2700.

So, I'm guessing I now need to learn what RPM to keep planes at for cruising and climbing/combat. Is there a handy crib sheet with such info (doesn't seem like the included Aircraft Guide for Il2 1946 contains such info)?

There might be a crib-sheet but it's not necessary, it's not that complicated. There are three simple rules to follow to avoid overheating, in order from most to least important:

Open your radiators. In most planes you can do this in stages, in the Mosquito it's only fully opened or closed. Even in planes with stages to radiators there's not much benefit in trying to fiddle with partially opened rads to get just the right balance of cooling and speed; just keep them all the way open and "save up" some engine cooling for when you're in trouble and need to close them fully for speed.

Prop pitch. If you're not climbing, fighting, or chasing, there's no reason to be at 100% pitch. Reducing pitch to 85% will give you lots of performance and will help you keep engine temperature low. In some planes even reducing just to 95% is enough to get rid of the overheat message.

Throttle. Same as pitch, no reason to be at 100% or more if you're not climbing, chasing, running, or fighting. 95% throttle, 90% pitch, and open rads will keep most planes from overheating on most maps.

Those are the "big three" rules to keep your engine cool. Once you get a hang of those, you can tweak your performance further with these tips:

Maximize fuel mixture. This is mostly for Soviet and some Pacific theater planes; bumping fuel mixture to 120% from takeoff to an altitude where the engine starts to smoke helps to cool it a little.

Climb at a faster speed. Download the "IL2 Compare" tool for best climb speeds of all planes. They typically range from 210km/h to 280km/h for monoplane fighters. Climb 10-20km/h faster to climb almost as fast but with a cooler engine.

Reduce prop pitch during a fast dive. In most planes reducing pitch to 80% in a dive above 400km/h won't slow you down, may even let you go a bit faster, and will cool your engine.

You should have no trouble catching those Heinkels at 90% pitch, 90% throttle, and open radiators in your Mosquito. Does the Mosquito have supercharger stages, and if so, are you switching them at the correct altitudes?

I think this is a specific issue you're having... it's just not this difficult so something is wrong. You already know to open radiators, not ram throttle to 110% all the time, etc. I think we can safely same newbie mistakes are out.

I grabbed a F4U-1A, Midway QMB scramble, hit the 110% WEP held it there, took off and climbed to 1500 meters before I got bored of my test. No overheat.

No, I don't think there is anything wrong, other than my lack of pitch adjustment and not having radiators open, because I was getting the issue, certainly with the F4U, in a stock install. You can see what I was doing in the track I posted a link to.

So, if there was something wrong it would be in the patches from 4.11 to 4.12.2 and it's obviously not because others aren't having the same issues - presumably because they know how to manage their prop pitch, radiators and throttle.

In 4.10 I was only managing throttle. I've never bothered with radiators or prop pitch. I've always left prop pitch on 100% or "auto pitch". But you obviously can't get away with doing that in v4.12.2.

I've done 2 missions with the Mosquito since learning to manage my prop pitch, in the 633 Squadron campaign (which appears to work fine in 4.12.2), and I've not had any problems with overheating.


@Woke Up Dead - thanks. One reason I'd like a crib sheet is because I tend to get bored with IL2, put it away for a while but then pick it up again later, and in the meantime I've forgotten stuff. So a crib sheet with vairous details like cruise RPM and supercharger change over points would be very helpful. It seems like every time in the last 18 months I've come back to IL2 I've had to do a refresher course...