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ES44 DIESEL REPAIR

Alex MAlex MOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

      TRUCK

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        SPINNING ROOF FAN ASSEMBLY

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       SIDE VIEW GEARS

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    TOP VIEW

imageHello everyone,

         A fellow forum member was having a few issues with his Lionel ES44 Diesel, which was manufactured in 2010. He said the engine seems not to have much power and doesn't run well, so we gave it a test run on my layout . Of course the engine ran fine, in fact, it couldn't have performed any better than it did. We ran it for quite a while with no issue.  He had to leave and said keep the engine and you will see the engine will start to have problems. 

     On his way home he called me and asked me to put a heavy load behind it, so I put 6 18 inch passenger cars behind it. Soon as I did that the engine started slowing down and was having trouble keeping a normal pace immediately.  I suspected the cruise was in the off position, but that wasn't the case. Next I would suspect the speed control might be failing but that wasn't the case either.  He kept telling me the motors are no good because a few people had the same issue and as soon as they changed the motors everything was fine. This was hard for me to believe so now it was time for me to take a close look at the motors.

    Well, he was on the right track that it had SORT of  something to do with the motors, but I still couldn't believe that the motors were bad so i took off the trucks and was able to get a look at the 4 prong impeller which drives the trucks.  When i grabbed the impeller and spun the flywheel (guess what) I was able to hold the impeller and the shaft was spinning. So there was our loss of power.

  I would imagine this impeller is pressed on at the factory and some kind of adhesive is added to hold this impeller to the shaft, so I cleaned both motor shafts and impeller's thoroughly. I then added Loctite 380 carefully to the impeller and set the impeller on to the shaft, waited a few hours and the engine was able to pull 8 18 inch aluminum passenger cars very easily, so problem solved.

      This engine is also has motorized spinning roof fans, which are quite loud. A simple fix was a few drops of light oil on the gears and it quieted it down a lot.

    Just wanted to pass this info along to all my fellow forum members !!!!

    I WILL POST PHOTOS SHORTLY

Thanks, Alex

          MOTOR SHAFT

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          IMPELLER

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          COUPLING

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Last edited by Alex M
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Marty FitzhenryMarty FitzhenryOGR Forum Member MEMORIALIZED MEMBER

The bottom of the motor shaft has a few splines cut into it (in most cases) and pressing the plastic impeller on at the factory usually holds it.  I have seen one like Alex pointed out where no spline was present.  One fix if you end up with a shaft with little or no spline is to grab the shaft carefully with a set of pliers with fresh gripping teeth and make your own spline to press the impeller onto.  What Alex did is a good fix and will hold for the long haul.  Locktite is well known to car guys.  In building motors we always used Locktite on rod bolts and main bolts.  Alex knows all the good tricks.   Great tip Alex with the Locktite.  Good pickup on the issue.  Many would go for a motor.  

The 4 blade impeller fits into the liondrive coupling that goes onto the top of truck.  Alex shows that Liondrive coupling in his third photo.

 

Pete, I am with you on the brass.

 

 

Last edited by Marty Fitzhenry
F F30MSportOGR Forum Member
laz1957 posted:

ALEX,

  I had the same issues with my Lionel die cast UP ES44AC.  The impeller was loose and had to be re glued.  Also check the grease in the trucks.  MY ES44AC trucks were caked with the white grease that hardened.  I used carb cleaner and gave it a good washing and then used Red and Tackey grease on it.  Had no problems since.

That is correct.   I run my die-cast ES44s quite frequently to avoid the grease hardening, in addition to doing spot checks every couple of months.  When the gears bind up, the torque/stress placed on the impeller becomes to much, and it effectively "strips" from the motor shaft.  

In any event, another great fix by Alex!  Good to know the motors do not have to be replaced.

Best,
Michael

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