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My first "big" engine was an LA 40. Yeah, I'm not very old. Lol. They came out when I got into rc on my first trainer.  Anyway, it's survived 3 planes and is currently on my TEOSAWKI. Mostly for nostalgia. It had one when I got it. Just wanted to see if I'll ever wear out mine.

LA .25s on the other hand wear out liners very often . I have several with just the brass showing on the bottom portion of the liner . Combat and sport race are a lot more demanding than stunt .

The toughest 25 I’ve found is the Thunder Tiger. The TT .40 is probably longer lasting than a LA but for stunt you might find the LA is tough enough.

Brad

LA .25s on the other hand wear out liners very often . I have several with just the brass showing on the bottom portion of the liner . Combat and sport race are a lot more demanding than stunt .

The toughest 25 I’ve found is the Thunder Tiger. The TT .40 is probably longer lasting than a LA but for stunt you might find the LA is tough enough.

Brad

Brad, I had an LA 25 with a worn out liner with brass showing around the bottom.  I got a brand new piston and liner that worked fine for a long time(for combat) that had a similar patch of brass showing at the bottom of the liner.
I think if the brass showing is limited and below the ports it doesn't make any difference.  Us combat flyers do more damage by crashing than any other way.

In a clean environment with good lube, you will pretty much never wear out an engine.

Any engine?  Even one of these?

Hi
You can wear  any engines  out  quickly, and there is  a  huge difference  from hooking up a drum of fuel and running an engine, and  flying an engine where you
1- do not  have control over the  needle
2- launching from the ground and sucking up dirt sand  debris etc
there are more but this is the  2 main things, you can suck up sand and  ruin an engine in 1 flight, or over dozens, You can also get a lean run and  toast a rod  or  piston sleeve fit
AS Far  as the  Nickle plated  OS 46 LA and others  you can  wear them out, I have seen 100s worn out  and  many many dozens  with peeled plating,  With that being  said  most Control line guys treat them better, and  you CAN  get good life out of an LA 46 or other engines  by running  good fuel, setting the needle correctly, and very important, keeping sand and dirt out of the  engines, an Typical OS LA  will  run about 500 flights before the piston wears thru to the  brass  if  taken care of,
and  really that is a long life , any longer  I would tear it down for inspection and at least replace  the  wrist pin
They are an excellent  VALUE  for what your  paying for

Randy

    In a discussion like this one, you need to define the difference between "wearing out" and "abuse." Some would never wear out an engine because they never really get used. Some can just look at an engine and cause problems!
  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

It is sorta a new thing that people are using air filters and  taking better care of their motors, and  I still see  the VAST majority of pilots NOT using them, I also see  lots of improper fuel being used.  So the main problem is  abuse is a normal thing for  many pilots, and  they do not really think that they are abusing them, just flying like they always have. There is  really no surface  you can fly on that  does not have  sand  dirt debris, that can do damage. The air filters  are  good, but  really are not that effective, best case  is to double up and use something like a Bru-Line filter, with a piece of  panty hose  underneaath it.
Then there is  fuel.  I have personally seen over my years many dozens of engines like  FOXES   McCoys   OS  S engine  ruined  very quickly by using  RC Sport fuels  with  12 to 15%  total oil content,  these can wipe out a  rod in 1 run on some motors.    The pilots  did not know this, as many  were told that  these were the best fuels  out there !

Randy