I've got an issue with my LionChief Plus Hudson 6-81303 that I'm hoping you guys can help me out with. The board on this engine died on me after 6 months. Since I purchased it from Lionel during their refurbish sale last December, it's not covered under warranty. I purchased a replacement board and that promptly died as well. I contacted Lionel and they exchanged the board which in turn also died. We did this another 6 times before they said enough is enough. During this time a lot of parts have been replaced trying to locate the issue causing the board to die. I've replaced, the motor with driver board, the speaker, the drawbar (both sides). The only parts that are still original are the electro coupler, smoke box flicker light, front headlight and the smoke unit. I've checked all the wiring to make sure there is are no wires in contact with something incorrectly using my ohm meter and that checks out as well. They way the issue occurs is first the sound cuts out and then running the engine about 20 more minutes the board dies or the capacitor pops. The only thing I can figure is happening is when the smoke unit heats up it's then causing a excessive current draw blowing out first the sound and then the board. I've order another replacement board and smoke unit. I just wanted to run this issue by you guys to see what you thought before I blew another board. Thanks in advanced.
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