LIONEL CAME THRU.........IT DID ARRIVE ON MONDAY, Feb. 3rd...AND EVERYTHING WORKS LIKE IT SHOULD!!!....

Yep..4 blinks is the AUX element, 5 is the AUX fan unit.

Capt.

 

Will go to Lionel next week!  Thank goodness they pay Shipping this time.(VISIONLINE ENGINE)

 

Thanks,

 

Fred

 

 

Now in addition to the 5 BLINKS, I'm getting 3 BLINKS. Guess I'm losing not only the Whistle Smoke, but the Main Smoke as well. Looks like BOTH MOTORS are bad!!! It is a VISIONLINE Engine and has been reported to Lionel Waiting for Return UPS Label and RA#.

 

FREDSTRAINS

 

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles Fred. I'll be curious to see how fast they get it turned around for you.

I have put MTH motors in a few Lionel Legacy units, I haven't gotten one back with a fan motor issue yet.  I'm really hoping Lionel has found a new source of fan motors that will last a bit longer.

I hear your pain, I have a Vision Line Challenger with a smoke unit that sounds like finger nails on a chalk board every time I turn it on. Not sure what to do with it yet so I will leave it off. I will be watching to see what the solution is... I have rebuilt plenty of smoke units so I just need parts or a replacement...

 

 

MTH motor, job done.

 

The only problem is as long as the Unit is in Warranty, you are better off to let them repair it. Once you open it up the "WARRANTY" is void.

 

 

Mine did to i just got ****ed off and fixed it my self.. Buy the gasket for the bowls your gonna need it...

I take it its a new type smoke unit everyone was talking about, with the motor mounted on the side of the reservoir? I have not opened it up yet.

This is the grey version cab number 3977.  Ironically I have the 3989 black version too and it is quiet as can be....

Actually the motors on the visionline challenger are mounted on a metal mount and are not sideways. The s3 shares the same unit...

I had smoke problems with my VL Hudson (Black), sent it back 4-5 times and last summer it stopped smoking again, I decided to heck with smoke and forgot about for a couple of weeks. I did reset to stop the blinking, it usually started blinking when the engine started moving but this time it did not blink and smoke started working, the only guess I have is the train is in the garage and it gets really hot during the day when ths doors are shut and any excess fluid on the electronis dried up. I am sure my problems are/were operator error (after returning the engine 4-5 times) but Lionel would never tell me they only replaced parts.

I engine runs good as we speak, I quit babying it, trying to put just enought drops of smoke fluid, now I just add some and it works.

 

Good luck with your engine, I would like to have another VL Engine and may one day.

 

Brent

The Hudson uses a small plastic housing for the fan and it is connected to the bowl via a short tube.  Pictures are available on Lionel Part sight.  G

I recently put the MTH motor onto one of the side mounted models.  It was pretty tight, but It had sufficient clearance from the shell.  I added some Kapton tape on the shell, just for insurance.

       
       


thanks, if thats case I can fix it!

I'd call them.

 

Fred,

    You can try emailing Mike Reagan directly, he usually gets things done in a hurry;

 

          mreagan@lionel.com

 

JohnB

Thats odd, I made a parts inquiry on Friday and heard back 1st thing on Monday. I've always gotten same or next day responses via email.

 

 Maybe they're trying to figure out where to get the fan motors. 

Mike no longer heads up the service dept. he's been kicked upstairs.

Gunrunner,

    you ae correct but he still has a way of getting things done.

 

JohnB

I won't dispute that, because I'm liable to run into him soon, and I want not to be on his bad side!

 

on youtube their is a video with a

Video made it look relatively easy!!

It actually isn't that difficult, that's why it looks easy in the video.

 

Its just alot more tedious than the old chassis mounted smoke units. The old ones you just remove the boiler, unscrew the top and change out the wicking or whatever, you didn't always have to remove the complete unit to work on it. I believe the shell amplifies any motor noise, even when its at a normal level.

 

The main thing is getting the fan impeller in the right position on the shaft, to close to the motor, or too far out and it will nick the housing, and its hard to tell how bad until you have it al back together and test it.

 

I know it really shouldn't matter but I think these motors do better when they're verticle( like they used to be) than run horizontally like in these new smoke units.

 

At any rate, good video Bobot! It does a good job showing Lionels new smoke unit design, and how to fix it, of course

 

 

I don't know about "a lot more tedious", it only takes me a few minutes to completely remove the smoke unit for service.  There are a couple more screws, but not exactly a big deal.

 

Mounting them in the boiler does eliminate the issues or bent brackets causing misalignment of the smoke unit with the boiler shell.

Its not so much the boiler mount  as it is the overall design of the smoke units with the added extra parts the the design, seperate little housing with the seperate motor mounts etc,etc. 

 

Of course, I'm a novice at best when it come to these, but I've saved myself shipping and repair charges on more than one occassion.

 

Just putting a "rookies perspective" on it, for folks who haven't done it before.

I gone so far to make a smoke unit tester.

Heard back from Lionel Repair Today!!  Hudson will go out tomorrow!!

 

FREDSTRAINS

I have a Northern that Gunrunner John installed a MTH motor. It has been a couple months now and it smokes awesome! Before Gunrunner did the repair the Northern spent numerous trips to Lionel and LHS. I was totally frustrated with the Northern, I now consider it to be my favorite steam engine.

 

Bob 

 

 

I'm glad that motor is surviving all that extra running Bob.

BTW, I ran that motor for several hours on the bench, and it didn't draw excessive current or stop running, so it's a total mystery why it indicates a failure.  I'm wondering if the brushes get noisy and cause issues with the sensing, maybe a small cap across the motor might be called for.

 

Sent it in Tuesday, Lionei Received it and Notified me Friday!  GOOD SERVICE!!

Yes I have to say the Lionel service people have really stepped it up a notch!

 

Thanks Lionel

And if it runs properly after you get it back, it's a double bonus.

 

Vision line Hudson is on it's way Back!   HOORAY

 

John:  Will answer your question Monday

 

FREDSTRAINS

 

 

Received My HUDSON on Monday, Feb. 3rd as promised.  All Systems OK!!  Everything works!!

 

Great job LIOHNEL!!

 

FRESTRAINS