LionChief Big Boy Smoke Isssue

Welcome back!

What voltage are you running at? Lionel really needs 16-18 volts to smoke and I'd push to the 18 volt side.  Also did you blow gently down the stack to break and bubbles block the smoke exit?

17.6 volts at the test track with the Big Boy passing over the test point. Measured with a Fluke DVM.  First thing I thought of as well. Has me flustered.

Did blow gently down the stack, as well, an old trick I had to do a few times on other engines. A thought I saw a quick wisp of smoke, but it was gone by the time I pulled my head back. Any possibility there still isn't enough fluid to fully saturate the wick? Or, is the wick TOO saturated?

Well if you can feel the heat and hear the fan, I'm at a little bit of loss.  20-30 drops should at least get you going in the smoke department.  Others will advise more but the amount you put in should at least get some smoke production.  I use Lionel Smoke but JTs should easily produce for you.  Other than a possible bubble keeping the smoke in I'm not sure what else to try.  How long did you run it?  Maybe give it a little more time.  Maybe another 10 drops.

Yesterday it ran for about 30 minutes continually while i was doing other work on the layout while I was "fixing" some of the "mods" I had to do on the mountain tunnels to accommodate the swing of the cab. Looking down into the stacks, there seems to be a strip of clear plastic/mica material on top of the batting. I'm not seeing that on the Reading and Northern engine. I may try putting more fluid in it and see what happens. Maybe the placing of the batting is out of whack? All conjecture, but it is strange to not have any smoke at all. Just afraid to flood the unit.

@Jersey Jerry posted:

Yesterday it ran for about 30 minutes continually while i was doing other work on the layout while I was "fixing" some of the "mods" I had to do on the mountain tunnels to accommodate the swing of the cab. Looking down into the stacks, there seems to be a strip of clear plastic/mica material on top of the batting. I'm not seeing that on the Reading and Northern engine. I may try putting more fluid in it and see what happens. Maybe the placing of the batting is out of whack? All conjecture, but it is strange to not have any smoke at all. Just afraid to flood the unit.

That seems very odd.  Your run time should have produced some smoke.  If there is something truly blocking the batting more fluid may not be the best course of action because if the fluid is not making it in the smoke unit, it's going somewhere else where it shouldn't.  Now honestly I haven't seen one of the new LC Big Boys so perhaps someone with first hand experience may be of more help.

Jersey Jerry - I'd caution you to not put too much smoke fluid in the engine though because as evidenced by several previous Posts on this Forum (just do a Search to see for yourself) overfilling has caused many more problems when the fluid has spilled over onto the electronics.

Good Luck with your engine - regardless of what the problem turns out to be!

As someone who had spent 55 years repairing electronics, 32 of those years in TV Broadcast engineering, I am aware of that fact. Hence my reluctance to add anymore fluid.  It is just such a strange problem. Resistor is obviously generating heat, fan is functioning, but no smoke. The adventure continues.  

You got a "wisp" of smoke.

Obstruction or the impeller is loose on the shaft and not turning.  You would hear the fan in this case.

I also had one once (not your engine) that was wired in reverse...fan was pulling instead of pushing out the smoke.

Either way you need to have a look inside.

It is a good sign that you have heat and fan noise.

Don't know if this will help, but I had a similar issue with the exact same engine. It smoked ok when I first put it on the track, but on subsequent runs, even though I was adding smoke fluid, it was not producing any smoke. It had accidentally derailed one time (operator error) and I thought perhaps a board had shorted out and that was the reason there was no smoke.

I took the shell off and examined the boards and looked for pinched or shorted wires and nothing obvious. Removed the double fill stack and then the top of the unit and, to my surprise, the wick was dry. I don't know exactly what material Lionel is using for their wicks (some say tiki torch-like material) but I must have added at least 30 drops directly onto the wick before it even felt wet and then added another 10 drops and re-assembled everything and it started smoking right away.

I have since gone to using a syringe to add smoke fluid (Lionel Premium) to help make sure it gets all the way down and to apply it liberally.

Although it was still under warranty, removing the shell was straightforward and, although there are a few wires going to the shell, I was able to maneuver it around so nothing had to be disconnected. 

Richie, you nailed it!  I added another 10 drops all at once and smoke appeared! I guess that wick is different than the one in the Reading and Northern 425 LionChief engine.  This seems to take more than the 20 drops to effectively soak the wick. I am going to order some of the Lionel Premium smoke fluid. I noticed a few videos out there of guys using Mega-Smoke for the Big Boy, but it seems to be a bit excessive.

Thanks again, Richie for the advise. AND, I didn't need to pull it apart, which was a plus. And thanks to everyone for replying to my question. Happy railroading!

JerseyJerry - Glad you were able to resolve the problem without having to ship the engine back to Lionel.  According to some recent Posts I've read regarding various issues, even getting Return Authorizations from Lionel these days can be a PITA.

Glad to help ..... it's one of the main benefits of the Forum.