Advice/help needed on Lionel product

Hi I would recommend contacting GGG George in the DCS forum section he repairs Lionel and Mth engines, also contact Marty Fitzhenry, he has contacts with Lionel and may also help you to solve your problem and put you in contact with the right tech rep in Lionel that will help you!

Alan  

I would contact Lionel again and explain your concerns. I have had one that went back and forth a lot and the replacement was not that great. It really pushed me away from owning that type of locomotive. Other Lionel products that I have are great runners.

Moon man, it is running through the Z-controller and I even have it dialed back some.  According to both the AC panel meter and the digital multi tester it is was only putting out about 15 volts when the latest incident occurred.  Even when I dial it up it doesn't quite get all the way to 18 volts.

Definely contact LIONEL once again. Maybe one of the Lionel experts here on the forum and you could talk directly.

Its a great engine.Dont give up

After 4 failures within a year I would say that loco needs to head to the junk pile. Lionel needs to replace it.

    Bill T.

I would have to agree with you Bill send it back for a new item from Lionel.

Or ask the person at Lionel; "Do I need to contact an attorney for help?" See what they say after that, it will usually wake up a company rep. Most of the time you don't need an attorney but the threat may help you get better service.

Lee Fritz

Carl....you know what they say about turning lemons into lemonade!!....contact Lionel again and ask for a replacement...

Alan

Contact Lionel and let them know your concerns and its issues.  They will take care of it and you will feel much better about it when it is all fixed.  It's just a matter of a little time...

Does sound like a lemon.  You can make a good case for a replacement at this point, or a refund.

Well..that's why I pointed him back to item #3 in his options list-did you read the entire response? A little over the top to whack that reply. But, it's your forum... 

Thanks to all of you for advice.

Called the mothership in NC this morning, and ... they want it back as a repair case.   I complained a little more.  She put me on hold and then talked to tech folks some more ... "Nothing like this happens with the Mikados" was the response.  The customer service rep suggested I send it back to retailer as a return.   Retailer says ten days is the return limit, so that passed in May.

So, I am drafting a detailed letter, etc., asking for a replacement.  I will include it in with package, and also send to Lionel and Mr. Reagan.

Before you pack it up, take a look at the wires going to pick-ups(collectors) on the bottom of the engine and tender. Is one loose and shorting?. They can appear to be attached, but break at the solder joint.

Just a WAG...

I work on many of these for Charlie Ro.  I have one on the bench now where the smoke on/off switch was broken up and a short took out the board.  The smoke board is part of the main locomotive PCB.  This is the reverse of what I have seen before.  I have had some where the smoke part of the board would not work but everything else was OK.  I have found the slide switches on the back of the cab have broken up and caused disasters.  As a rule, I consider the LC+ line to be a good product.  

Thanks again for your advice.  Well, I typed up a letter with all the details, put it in the box and dropped it off at UPS over lunch.  Also, emailed the letter to Mike Reagan at Lionel, where I ask for a replacement.   He responded pretty quickly, asked about the transformer I was using (MTHZ1000) and then we went back and forth.  He asked if I would send the transformer to them for testing.  I responded that this problem had happened with two different MTHz1000 units at different times, and didn't seem to arise with my LC and LC+ engines, so I can't believe it is the problem.   He responded that each time they have tested it after repair it worked fine using their Lionel transformers and that mine is the only one he knows of that has been back four times.

So, I guess I am willing to play along, but my questions are (apologies in advance for my ignorance):

1.  If the problem is another fried board, what physically has to happen to fry a board?   I assume exceeding the maximum voltage?  A bad motor?  ???

2.  What might cause a severe enough voltage spike to create a problem?  What transformer problems?  What track problems?   What internal engine problems?  Keep in mind none of the incidents occurred when there was a derailment, or the like.   The engine was just moving along at a slow speed each time, this time with 15-16 volts showing on the AC meter.    I have a track bus wire set under the table and have it feeding eight different points on about 80 feet total of fastrack.  All accessories and five remote control switches are wired up to a separate transformer on a separate wire bus set.

3.  I know there is some kind of difference in the AC current put out by the MTH versus the Lionel transformers?   The reason I went with MTH was that I thought if I ever wanted to get into the MTH locomotives that use the command control system I needed the MTH type of transformer (Pure sine wave vs chopped).  Is there a reason the pure sine wave AC output would create issues with Lionel electronics?

4.  Carl, I didn't do lots and lots of examination of all the wiring, especially after I smelled the odor of fried electronics.  Both your and Marty's suggestions seem plausible.

Again, thanks for your input.   

Well, UPs made a delivery last week...box was brand new, but cornre of box was shredded and missing and I could see the orange of a Lionel Box.  Wonderful...

All tied up with family over weekend, but yesterday opened the box and found a brand new ATSF Mikado.  Inner styrofoam liner was fine.  The official note said it had run three, 8 hour shifts at Lionel on a MTHz1000 and ran fine.   

With trepidation, I put it on my track and fired it up.  Joy.  Ran about an hour yesterday, with no problems.  I have dialed back the AC to 15 volts just to make sure and all seems fine.   Smoke works, and grandson loves to make the whistle blow and bell ring.

Thanks to Mike Reagan and Lionel for making this right.