RESOLUTION....Help me with my new J

Is the draw bar installed upside down? The peg appears to be tapered and the hole looks larger on the bottom.

Call MTH?

JEEZ!!!

Absolutely...... call MTH or dealer!!!!! Don't Dremel anything.

That's a shame, I know you been looking forward to that engine

I will not Dremel anything.....but I believe I will show it to my tech-savvy engineer colleagues in the modular group.....Tom (Gilly@N&W) and Ken (Kanawha).

Peter

Peter

It won't go in at all or is it just a super tight fight? That is a first...never seen that before. 

If it is just a super tight fight, I'd be tempted to file the sides of the hole down a bit and try it...

Did the engine come with another drawbar for you to try?

Carl....the drawbar orientation looks correct to me.

Peter

Peter,

I was disappointed with my J also.  I am very disappointed you are having trouble too!!!

Mine arrived May 11 just a half hour before I had to leave to go to the airport for a class for work in Texas.  I took it out of the box, set on the track, took a photo of it, and left it sit.  That Saturday, I had no trouble plugging the drawbar in and setting it up in DCS.  It ran for two minutes before it started bucking and jerking.  I posted a topic on the Forum as you just did, and for about a week several Forum member offered suggestions.  Finally, we decided I needed to call MTH.  Since it was brand new they would expedite warranty repair to 4 weeks.  My ticket was generated June 1st, and I shipped it the next day.  This morning someone asked me if I had received it back yet.  No; the ticket still shows it in repair, trouble undetermined.

I am going to call Monday to see what is going on.  If it isn't going to be fixed soon, I am asking for another one that is fully checked out before shipping.

This is the first brand new O gauge locomotive I have ever purchased.

It proves that MTH does not test run their locos before shipping.

Ehhh sorry to hear about all of the trouble! Hate to say it but I'm gonna stay away from ps3 steam for awhile.  I did have one ps3 steam but sold it due to poor performance.  

Peter I just AINT right. call MTH its their issue to deliver a quality product

Steve

Is this the 20-3571-1?

The item photo on the website seems to have a different looking drawbar and a coal conveyor from the cab.

Is the electrical connector seating fully?

How tight is it?  If you or you buds have other PS-3 steam, measure the tender pin.  If that is the same it is possible the drawbar has a tighter hole.  MTH could easily mail you another draw bar, or you can swap one from another engine as a test.

If the pin is oversized (too much plating) MTH will need to correct that with a replacement.   G

Peter,

What did the selling dealer say? He/She should be your first point of contact in getting this resolved to your satisfaction. Perhaps the dealer has a technician who can fix this faster than sending it to MTH.If not he/she should offer a replacement engine. 

This is a huge advantage of dealing with LHS vs an Internet dealer. When all the LHS's are gone will everything have to go back to the importer?

Enough soapbox, I hope you get this resolved quickly.

Brad

Wish I could offer help, but the 2-rail version I received (Cab No. 612) seems to be working OK, at least on a short test. Fingers crossed. It's my first PS3 (or 2-rail, for that matter) steamer, and I was wondering about a note on the foam container. It says that the spring (visible in Peter's last posted pic) must be pulled across and make contact with the opposite side of the drawbar post, for the locomotive to work properly.

Is this note also on the 3-rail versions?

Thanks,

David

Send it back!!!!!

Thanks much.

David

Yes send it back. I won't buy MTH. I have heard too many people complain about issues with it. Not all, but enough to turn me away.

I agree with Brian, send it back.

Mark, Before you send your engine back make sure that you have the spring on the drawbar connected correctly. My J was intermittently stopping and starting on my layout. At first I thought that I needed to clean my track. I finally looked at the instructions that came with the engine. While taking the foam container from the box, on the foam container was a sticker that gave the instructions for connecting the spring to the drawbar. The spring acts a ground for the engine..........rogerw.

Every manufacture has people complaining or issues.  A quick search will reveal that.    G

On this side of the pond, I doubt Lionel does either.  Otherwise I wouldn't have seen two Flyer Y3's go up in smoke on my LHS's test track...

Rusty

Ken (Kanawha on the Forum) from our modular group came over and assessed the problem.....a few runs with a small file and we have a successful resolution!

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestion......and, of course a big THANK YOU to Ken......it's a sweet sounding engine........also kudos to my dealer, Steve Nelson, for being so supportive through this ordeal (because I am a tech nightmare!).

Here's the file Ken used.....

Thanks again, everyone.

Peter

Peter:

VERY GLAD you resolved this issue with your new engine!   

ROGERW,

That grounding wire just needs to be pushed to the opposite side that it is attached so that it makes contact with a little tension with the post on the tender. Apparently some issues came about because people just snapped the drawbar in place and didn't check to make sure the grounding wire made contact with the post. I talked with M.T.H. about the issue and they were very helpful.  The note in the box is just a precaution note to eliminate any problems.

Peter,

I am glad you were able to solve the problem. It appears as though that particular drawbar just wasn't cut to fit the pin...certainly a rare occurance. It should be noted that Proto 3.0 locos require a different 6-pin drawbar.  You can't use the 2.0 10-pin drawbar. 

I agree that this Proto 3.0 J sounds terrific and is an awesome runner! (And, of course, it smokes really good with JT's Mega-Steam!) 

2.0 is 10 pin.

Glad cooler heads prevailed and you fixed your own minor problem instead of shipping a $1000 engine back and forth.  Those VA guys are pretty savvy  G 

Glad the file worked the problem out. Now you can sleep tonight, Peter. 

Roger,

I sent it back on June 2nd.  I don't recall a spring.  I sure hope that isn't the problem and MTH didn't catch that on the phone.  lol

J

Peter,

Yay!!  I'm glad it is working now!!

Sorry, I did not mean to hijack your topic, but somehow that seems to be happening.

Peter; glad you have great friends that were able to fix your problem.

They certainly are.... 

Peter,

Glad you resolved the problem.  That is really frustrating when a new (toy?) finally comes in and there is a problem. I have a number of MTH P3 engines and have never seen that before.

Thanks Steve  G