Placing levers and turning them on or placing redstone torches next to engines does turn them on, but for some reason a redstone signal doesn't. BC 7.0.17.

Could you provide a screenshot?

The redstone signal should be above a block that is next to the engine, that's how vanilla redstone works.

There are other configurations that would work, but in general: the engines requires direct power or to be next to a block with a strong signal.

@psxlover Still nothing with redstone, and levers work fine on the same level as the engine. @SandGrainOne What would these configurations be? I've tried repeaters, but no luck.

Like I said when you use redstone, the redstone should be above a block that is adjacent to the engine, not next to the engine. Levers on the same level work fine because they emit redstone signals, they are not the same as redstone. Also provide a screenshot.

I did 3 different setups. http://i.imgur.com/ajkTQKb.png

First is invalid the two others are okay.