Electrocouplers Dead?

First off, make sure the track voltage is at least 16 volts.

Next, you want to try some dry lubricant like graphite on them.

If you hear them buzzing, I'd have to believe it's mechanical.

The other possibility is that the connection to the car is poor and the boards are getting low voltage.

Ok so I took the body off and disconnected the connector to the electro couplers.  Then I applied 16 volts to them directly from the transformer and they worked perfectly.  So its not the electro couplers either mechanically or electrically.  If I turn the transformer up to 20 volts, they work.  I'm running all Legacy so I never have voltage above 18.  Every other engine I have the couplers work fine at the 18 volt setting.  So then I measured the voltage at the connector on the board itself.  When I trigger the electro coupler, the voltage jumps up to between 11-13 volts only.  it varies, so it looks like the couplers aren't getting the minimum voltage?

Not sure where to go from here.

The track has 18volts and everything else works fine. 

There is a big long board that has 3 plug in boards on it and then another board inside a heat sink type bracket.   The 3 boards are labeled.  RS3 Audio, RS Power, R2LC.

The electro couplers plug into the big long board that the 3 modules above plug into. 

Electrocoupler pulses are generated from the R2LC board (the board on the left in your photo).  Try unplugging and replugging that board a few times to clean the contacts between it and the big motherboard below.  Sitting in the box for 12 years could have let the contacts oxidize.  Voltage is being lost somewhere.

You can also swap the R2LC and reprogram it for this unit and see if that helps.  That will eliminate the R2LC triacs.

Thank you.  What do the Triacs do?  Sorry, I'm not familiar with the electronics in these locomotives yet. Never had problems with any of my Legacy locos, so I have never had to dig into it, but I have a few older TMCC units I'm now pulling out of storage and testing.

The triacs on the R2LC are the components that energize the lights, couplers, and smoke (if equipped). 

I was using a KW transformer on a test track to test this engine.  I did check the output and it reads 18v, however I decided to hook up my ZW-L to the test track instead.  Now the couplers work every single time.  I must have tried them 25-30 times and they opened every time.  I'm baffled at why this one engine does not like the KW.  If I hook the KW back up, couplers don't work.  All my legacy engines do work with the KW though.  One other thing I noticed is that when the train is on the track and power is applied to the track, there is a pretty loud buzz coming from the engine speakers.  As soon as you start up the engine's Railsounds, it goes away.  There was a slight buzz with the KW too but not as loud as with the ZW-L.  Do these older TMCC engines buzz through the speakers when track power is applied?  Or does anyone else know what could cause this buzzing?  Seems to me there is still something up with this engine, but its the first Non-Legacy engine I have run.  Here is a video with the noise before engine start, after engine start, after engine shutdown.

Thanks

Some TMCC engines do that.  But you can pull all the boards and reseat.  See if that solves it.  Also try a different RS Power Supply board. They are all the same.  G