3 Blinking Lights Again in my New Lionel NS Heritage ES44ac

I had the same problem.Smoke unit over heats new out of the box.TOTAL bummer.I wonder if Lionel will ever get their smoke units right.Sorry to hear.Nick

if it is still under warranty (or even if it is not)  send it back.

 

I just sent in my northern 3759 for the same issue.  much cheaper in the long run, and I am on the west coast.

Yep, it is under warranty because it is brand new out of the box.  This cab# is now being shipped to dealers but the outside box says it was manufactured in October 2013. 

 

It just seems odd that this continues to  to be issue with Legacy engines and has not been fixed.  I will be sending it back.  This is my 4th Legacy engine and I have sent each one back for the same issue.   I just wonder if by coincidence this is happening only to me or if many others are experiencing the same issue with bad smoke units out of the box with Legacy engines? 

My first Legacy Lionel was a ac6000. I too had the blinking light. I live 50 minutes from Canfield Ohio(Lionels service center). I drove it to them and all the tech did was oil the fan motor. When He was done, I said to him "really, that's it? I could have done that myself and saved 2 hours of my time and a lot of gas money" He replied I couldn't do it myself as it would void the warranty. I even asked...are you sure you don't need to replace that motor? I was reading on the forum that Lionel got a bad batch of fan motors. He replied I should be fine now.

 Guess what....3 days later....cab light blinking again. Another roundtrip of 2 hours and a lot more in fuel costs. This time he did replace the fan and admitted to me that He probably should have the first time.

 Now let me say this. I think it is awesome that I can drive to the service center and get a repair done on the spot. The tech who took care of me was awesome. Very cordial and professional. I was so impressed I started buying more Legacy locos. I really like the instant service.

 Now heres an issue I now have...........In a few months I cannot do that anymore because Lionel is moving the service center to North Carolina. If I had to ship that loco with the bad fan motor back by UPS it would have cost a fortune and a long wait for a 5.00 motor. I would have been very upset. I bought 2 more Legacy NS Heritage locos before I heard the news of the move to North Carolina.I was very seriously considering the New Big Boy coming out but cant deal with the issues that will more than likely arise. I don't want to deal with the shipping back and forth and the waiting times and the worry of getting it back in one piece.

  Very disappointed in Lionel moving away to North Carolina......just my 2 cents

I have 2 LEGACY SD40-2s that were made in 2012. I bought them last Fall and both have been returned to Lionel twice.

 

I live about 45 miles from Canfield so I returned them myself. Currently, they still have both locomotives. One was returned for a cracked shell. It was returned not more than 2 months prior to have the fiberglass batting in the smoke unit replaced.

 

It took about a week turnaround to correct the first return. This second one has been there for over a week and I suspect it will be awhile before I see it since it needs a new shell.

 

The other is in for the second time, presumably to get the smoke fan motor replaced again. The last replacement lasted about 6 weeks before I noticed a high-pitched wine from the smoke stack and then, eventually, 3 blinking cab lights which can be reset 3 times before the smoke unit shuts down and needs repaired.

 

This was returned over 3 weeks ago and I'm still awaiting word on its status.

Thanks for sharing jini5 and catnap.  

 

I was going to buy another NS ES44ac Heritage unit to do a lash-up, but now I am on the fence.  I wonder for those that buy many Legacy engines every year if they run into the same problem with dead smoke units out of the box? 

 

I never hear about problems from Eric Siegel who buys multiple engines with dead smoke units.  I know there are others here on the forum that purchase many Legacy engines every year, but rarely do I hear them having problems.  Do they have stash of replacement motors and replace them themselves and not worry about the warranty? 

 

I don’t want this post to turn into another bashing on Lionel thread.  I can only assume Lionel knows this is a problem with many of us with Legacy engines, but maybe I am wrong in that they don’t know?

 

I would like to hear from some others who purchase many Legacy engines every year if they are having this issue.  If someone from Lionel is reading this, I would welcome a response from them.  Ken

I know how you feel. I had one motor die in a GP-7 and recently in my Genset switcher.

eric does most of his own repairs I believe.

 

next time when you have to ship to lionel try fedex ground. 

 

fedex ground to a business is not that much. 

 

from the west coast it is under 40, for a heavy northern.

 

 

I've run through about a dozen MTH smoke motors replacing the Legacy motors so far.  I've yet to get anyone coming back with the three blinks.  I thought they were past this issue, Oct 2013 sounds like they still are having fan motor issues!

 

I guess I'm "that exception to the rule" here; so far my Legacy NYC GP7/CSX AC6000/ 3 each SD70MACs/ Wabash Train Master/ and Milwaukee S-3 have not had any fan motor failures to date. I do make sure I oil the bushings anytime I have the unit open for maintenance.

I have over 20 engines with 3 motor failures . Someone needs to make a sticky in legacy and tmcc and we will post there . I make a video on how to fix a smoke unit . I see several of these a day .

I agree, but since my one engine is new (out of box failure), I would rather make sure the problem is fixed under warranty, since opening it up, voids any chance of warranty if something else goes wrong.

this statement is not entirely true. 

 

some locos need to be opened up to add the battery..

 

IMO lionel can not tell if it is opened up anyway.

Seems like a high percentage of failures for Legacy equipped locos. Lionel most likely has corrected the problems for 2014 locos.

As far as Steamers I agree in getting access to the battery in the tender, but at least for the ES44AC Diesels the thread is addressing the battery can be accessed without removing the shell by lifting off the cover that is held on by magnets.