I have a K-Line K3688-4449CC and my MARS light has ceased to function. I tested the LED and it's good, and I checked the wiring and that is all intact. The wires go directly to a connector on the DCDR (K-line cruise model). I tried the generic engine reset, that did nothing.
Is there any other tricks I can do, or did I experience a circuit failure?
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Well, I figured it out... sort of.
It's not dead, it just works in a VERY strange fashion! It seems, odd as that might be, that it's tied to the use of the smoke unit! When I turn smoke on on the locomotive, the MARS light starts to function when going forward! HUH? The really odd part is sometimes I can turn the smoke off and it'll keep functioning, other times it'll turn it off!
Does anyone else have a K-Line locomotive with the MARS light function? I'd love to know how this thing was actually supposed to work!
I have the K Line/ Lionel GS 4 with a Mars light.
The Mars light flashed when the GS 4 was running forward
and off in reverse. Changed the motor drive board to
the ERR cruse commander M. The Mars light no longer
flashed but was on steady in forward and off in reverse.
The Mars light was connected across the motor terminals.
The Lionel motor board sends a variable amplitude DC
to the motor but the ERR M board sends a variable amplitude
20KZ voltage to the motor that reset the flashing circuit
in the Mars LED so it did not flash. Connected the mars light
to the ditch light terminals on the ERR M board. The Mars
light flashes in the forward direction but not in reverse.
The flashing rate changes a little bit when the whistle blows.
Interesting info, talk about the need for standardization....:-) G
Interesting, my K-Line GS-4 has the MARS light connected directly to the K-Line DCDR equivalent with it's own two-pin socket. This locomotive also has the K-Line cruise, perhaps you have the one without cruise? I'm amazed they're so different!
Mine is the K3688-4449CC model, what is the model number of your GS-4?
I initially thought it was simply dead, then I was fooling with the smoke unit and discovered the MARS light was working again!
My GS-4 is 21274 after Lionel took over K-Line. It did not have
cruse control so it was not a good runner. Replaced the motor
drive board with an ERR cruse M board. The GS4 now has
cruse control and is a very good runner. The GS4 came with
TMCC but no Odyssey system but the ERR M board would work.
Replacing the motor board with the type M board caused the
Mars light not to flash so I moved the wiring from the motor
to the ditch light circuit power. It now runs and looks very
good.
Your GS 4, with cruse, may have an Engineer on Board system
before Lionel took over. K Line used that system made by maybe
Digital Dynamics or Train American. The system did not use a magnet
like Lionel or black/white tape like MTH but a plastic cap with
cut out fingers for speed measurement.
Mine isn't a traditional EOB system, I'll have to take a closer look at the motherboard when I'm in there again. It has a motherboard with nothing but sockets and connectors, just like all the Lionel stuff. The motor driver isn't the Lionel one, so who knows where that came from. 
I'm thinking of improving the MARS light anyway. I'm working on an improved model. What do you think?
That looks nice John. You should make a hundred of them as I think they would sell pretty well.
Ron
The right way to do something like this would be to get a PCB made with the processor and power supply on one board. I'm going to be sandwiching a small processor board and the power supply board. I doubt anyone would want to pay what that costs allowing for some profit.
I've yet to develop a convenient source for PCB manufacture, that is on my radar at some point.
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