Dissection of an MTH 381E

I had a misadventure with a MTH 381E, too.  Contacts inside were bent and not making electrical contact.  Long story short, I did not enjoy the experience of taking it apart, bending the contacts back, reassembling, testing and repeating as necessary.  Like you, my OCD kicks in when I see a real or perceived scratch or blemish of what might have been a result of my surgery. 

I love working on trains and love enameled tinplate but I sure don't like chips or scratches that could have been avoided. The 381E was the only train I sold because it gave me a bad memory when looking at it.

The MTH Proto 1.0 381E is a MAJOR BEAR to work on, and does require serious disassembly! 😐

As I recall, the Lionel Classics 381E was much easier to work on with its dropout Bild-a-Loco motor.

Interestingly, the MTH 408E's had a retaining clip to keep the headlight hot contact tab from slipping out when the lightbulb was unscrewed. The irony is even if it did slip out, the 408 shell was easily removed by means of four screws, allowing ready access to the headlight contact tabs! NOT so with the MTH 381's!  😐

At the time MTH apparently did not realize that the headlight retaining clip for the contact tab was especially necessary for the Proto 1.0 381E due to the complexity of the disassembly to get to the fallen tab! 😐

I have the MTH 381E but with the open frame AC conventional motor.  I bought that version about 7 or 8 years ago because I like conventional better and I thought it would be more reliable than the Proto 1 version.  Big mistake because this is by far the worse engine I have ever owned.  Bad armature right out of the box, followed up very soon thereafter with a malfunctioning E-unit.  Even with the Build -A-Loco motor it was still a pain in the butt to disassemble to get to the headlamp wiring.  To this day it runs terrible.   I still have this engine with all of its cosmetic blemishes and operational problems because I don't have the heart to sell it  to any other train lover. 

Well. Now I am confused on which one to get?

Lionel Classics or PS2/PS3?

Joe Gozzo

Given a choice, I usually pick can motored locos over universal motors.

I like to run at lower speeds and with some form of cruise control. You need a can motor for that.

Personally, I prefer a twin motored traditional 408E over a 381E and the pulling power difference is very evident.

Put a little dab of silicon rubber on the back side of the tab, not the electrical side of the tab, to hold it in place. buy some LED bulbs and you should never have to do the job again.

Ok, new Proto 1 MTH 381E.  I first thing, opened it up and put a BCR in to avoid those issues.  Put it back together and fired it up.  Runs great and good sounds, just no lights? Not the upper lamps or lower lamps?  Found some vague reference on the net about possible lamp short issue?  

Any ideas my mentors as I fall down the tinplate rabbit hole?  Could I have done this or what should I check?

@SteveMa posted:

Ok, new Proto 1 MTH 381E.  I first thing, opened it up and put a BCR in to avoid those issues.  Put it back together and fired it up.  Runs great and good sounds, just no lights? Not the upper lamps or lower lamps?  Found some vague reference on the net about possible lamp short issue?  

Any ideas my mentors as I fall down the tinplate rabbit hole?  Could I have done this or what should I check?

Did you try doing a factory reset?

Joe Gozzo

@Trainlover160 posted:

Did you try doing a factory reset?

Joe Gozzo

If that does not work, make sure all connections are seated. I would also try replacing 1 bulb. If it is PS 1, it has been around for a while.

Joe Gozzo

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will try that tomorrow.  Old but it appeared new

No change with factory reset.  Opening up the frame from the bottom, hopefully something is obvious on a seated connection.  Any pictures or diagrams out there of what to look for for light connections since the rest seems to be functioning perfectly?

Ok nothing obvious with the wiring but it appeared that the lights require three springs from the top of the engine module to make contact with three separate copper strips on the roof of the body.  They didn’t appear bent and the frame the springs were in looked intact.  I added a small plastic shim underneath the board that the springs are soldered to in case they weren’t making contact.  That got the red marker lights to work but not the direction headlights nor the green marker lights so it appears that is the issue.  No more play in the board and the springs look tiny and delicate so I’d hate to try to stretch them.  Any thoughts?