Can anyone help with my Coca-Cola General?

Check to see if the rods are not bent inward a little. This would make the rods rub against the drivers causing what you see. Believe me i had this problem with a Berkshire and it was very hard to see but after i bent it out a little it has been running perfect since. Also clean the track and rollers on the engine also. O31 curves are just fine for this engine.


Dave

We got the same set today and it's having similar problems. Checked the rods and oiled the wheels and it did a little better. I have a squared circle setup under the Christmas tree and the speed varies a good bit. Having the smoke turned off seems to help it a bit. Is there such thing as having the engine break in?

The coupler on the tender is doesn't work very well either.

Sorry cant help with your problem, Mine ran for about 30 min and that was it. It was running fine, then started to go real slow and then it didn't move anymore. Back in the box, back to amazon. I wonder if anyone receive a good one. Two of my friends had the same problem, after 20-30 mins of run time the engine just quit.

hummm, looks to me like something mechanical is binding. Have you tried removing the shell and slowing turning the motor by hand? That may help you better trouble shoot it.

As stated by others, first check the side rods and the crank pins on the wheels. If you find nothing there, maybe try loosening the motor mount a little to see if the binding goes away. If so, that might indicate there's a problem with one of the gears or perhaps in the gear mesh itself.

Question: do these Generals have a can motor? Could have a bad batch of motors, but I would take a look at the way the rods make the smoke unit work. If I remember correctly, the smoke piston is activated by a lever attached to the plate in the middle. I would bet that the smoke unit is the cause of the problem.

It looks like in general there are lots of problems with generals. I was tempted by the Amazon sale however my Lone Ranger experience told me to steer clear. On the bright side I am sure Lionel will honor the warranty; these are not design flaws (they have been making 4-4-0's for over 50 years) they are factory quality control issues. Once Lionel fixes it they should run for a lifetime.
Scott Smith

Let's hope this doesn't happen to the Lincoln train.

are these the same generals that the Lionel collectors club was selling?

my wife ordered the set and she will not be happy if this problem shows up with these.

quote:

are these the same generals that the Lionel collectors club was selling?

Was there an issue with the LCCA generals? I have one and I am curious. Mark

I think I read there is a problem with the smoke unit piston binding on these. If the seller from Amazon is an authorized Dealer you can contact Lionel for a replacement. If they are not I would suggest sending it back.

It does appear to be binding, The big question is where. And that can't be done from here.

Almost like the drivers are not quartered correctly. My $89 Christmas General from a few years ago runs fine....better than I had hoped. I bought it to make a Toy Story III loco more for display!

quote:

Originally posted by barrister2u:

quote:

are these the same generals that the Lionel collectors club was selling?

Was there an issue with the LCCA generals? I have one and I am curious. Mark

how did you get yours already?
I was told April 2012. http://www.lionelcollectors.org/

There's a flimsy nylon gear between the brass gear that has a bit of play... try putting a glob of grease on it

I assume the Coca-Cola general engine is basically the same as the North Pole Central general engine I have had for the past few years.My NPC general engine runs and smokes perfectly,so I am guessing your engine has factory defects,just send it back to Lionel.There is no reason it should runs poorly out of the box.
I added lead weights to the front pilot truck of my engine to keep the wheels on the track around switches and painted the inside and outside of the headlight housing to avoid light bleed-through on the headlight housing.The general engine appears to me to be a disposable engine,there is no way to take apart the engine to get to the motor,although I may be missing how to disassemble the engine.
Dan

as posted previously, same issue here with the Nutcracker General last year.

Got our general back and the report from Lionel said there was nothing wrong with it. Interestingly enough it runs fine now! So I guess they tweaked something and didn't document it.

Unfortunately they apparently ignored the information about the coupler on the tender car. Not sure it's going to be worth sending it back in again.

This all a bit disconcerting as I have my eye on the beautiful Rio Grande General set. There is not a whole lot to go wrong and while I expect them to run out of the box, tweaking a bit is part of what I have learned to enjoy about this hobby.