Difference between Railsounds and Railsounds 4?

Have you tried working the volume" pot" back and forth? These have been know to have contact issues in some older locomotives.

FYI Lionels warranty policy is 1 year from the date of purchase on a loco no more than 3 years from the date of manufacture.

Vision Line stuff gets a two year warranty.

Try doing an engine reset, look for the code in the back of the owners manual.

Yes, the warranty is 3 years from the date of manufacture, so you are no longer covered.  Although, I needed a fix on a Lionel GP9 Wabash triple lashup engine that was part of the Heritage catalog of 1999, and that series has a lifetime warranty, believe it or not, and though I bought an engine in 2012 that was made in 1999, Lionel paid for the repair.  The guys at the LHS couldn't believe it. 

 Back to point,  Railsounds 4 has a 2 part towercom message scenario,  meaning the first time you push AUX1 - 7, it will tell you to hold for clearance, 2nd time you get the green.  1 timer with earlier railsounds.  The other difference is you get 4 rev levels to the engine sounds automatically, up or down, whereas in earlier railsounds you get 2 rev levels automatically, then you have to use your CAB1/2 to go higher on the rev level, and thereafter need to use the CAB to manually, so to speak, bring the engine rev level back down.  If it were my dough, and the railsounds 4 is compatible with your other board setup, I'd go that route.  Not bad rapping my Railsounds 2 & 2.5 Geeps, I love em all and run them all the time, but I want all original stock sounds in them because I have collected them all.  In your scenario I would upgrade if possible.  And real soon!

Before you go buying boards, you might want to find out what actually failed.  A locomotive made in 2000 should have the modular RS boards, so you have two to pick from.  It could also be the speaker or simply a loose wire.

Jeez, he said he bought it at a local train show, the warranty is not valid after 3 years of manufacture, that's a fact.  It was made 13 years ago and did who knows what in between.  That's 2 strikes, and he likes the engine as well, so let's figure out how to fix it and get off Lionel's back.

Before buying anything, do some simple stuff.  I've found that older units that have a lot of shelf time sometimes require the boards to be reseated.  In addition, I've personally had a number of RailSounds boards where the socketed chips develop high resistance due to a bit of oxidation of the contacts.  The cure is usually to simply pull the chip and then reseat it.  If you decided to do this, do NOT try it without the correct PLCC extraction tool!  Radio Shack sells one for $10.95 last time I looked.

I want to thank everyone for their inputs, that's why I like this forum. If you have a problem, there is always someone there to help. I'm off tomorrow and will work on it.

As for the Loco, it was a late Christmas/Birthday present from my wife. She liked the looks of it and wants it on the mantle to replace the 736 Berkshire my Dad bought for me in 1950. I want to run it. It's the Pennsylvania "Lindbergh Special" and she thinks the engine is smiling at her. I will not argue.

Chet Klyn

That's great, and pretty cheap too.  I'd still go back and have the store pay for the part.

I have found that the speakers from a few circa 2000 Lionel engines to be less than the best.  Not a lot, but some.  Some got scratchy, some the sound was very light.  I have collected all the TMCC GP7/9s so I have a perspective of how things changed through the years because I have the same model from start to finish in it's evolution from RS2 to RS4 .  The 1996 originals with RS2 all have super boisterous sounds, never an issue with a speaker.  Starting 1999 quality seemed to wane, they must have bought a cheaper or poorer quality speaker for a year or two.  I have an engine or two or three in my collection that I am going to try a shroud over the original speaker, and if that doesn't work to my satisfaction, I'll swap out the speaker and shroud it with new parts.  I think a new speaker from Boxcar Bill is $6 and I have one left over.  The sounds on these engines are too good to waste.  Glad about your fix.  Have fun.