I just recently purchased the Bass Pro Shops White Tail Express train set with the LionChief 2-4-2 steam loco.
The engine runs fine, remote works well with it and everything. What I'm noticing now is that the smoke is only sporadically chuffing up through the stack. I can smell the smoke fluid as if it were puffing out, but only once in a while will smoke come out.
Could the plunger be stuck? Any tips would be appreciated. I may take her to a local shop to be checked out.
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If the smoke unit has been overly filled with smoke fluid, its possible the piston may be stuck from the overflow.
I thought of that, but I'm sure I didn't overfill it with fluid (I'm usually very careful with that).
If the piston is stuck, what are the steps I can take to get her puffing again?
Take the shell off to begin with. Usually held in by 4 screws at each corner at the bottom of the loco.
And then take a look at this video to get the idea of how to take apart the piston smoke mechanism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32n-cbLY-Ow
Also, if you ran the smoke unit too long with out smoke fluid, its possible you charred the heating element and needs to be cleaned and or the batting needs to be replaced. When you look down inside the smoke stack with a flashlight, does the white batting look brown and crusty?
Janitor John posted:Take the shell off to begin with. Usually held in by 4 screws at each corner at the bottom of the loco.
And then take a look at this video to get the idea of how to take apart the piston smoke mechanism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32n-cbLY-Ow
Also, if you ran the smoke unit too long with out smoke fluid, its possible you charred the heating element and needs to be cleaned and or the batting needs to be replaced. When you look down inside the smoke stack with a flashlight, does the white batting look brown and crusty?
Thank you for this! When I get home from work I'll look and see how the batting looks. I hope I didn't screw it up somehow. I'm usually really careful with the smoke fluid. When it starts to look very thin or not as much smoke, I'll drop in about 4-6 drops and not more fluid until the smoke looks that way again.
I will look at the video and also look into the stack when I get home.
The piston smoke units are tricky. Its taken me charring a few different units to get how to work them and maintain them correctly. You'll get the hang of it. A word of advice when adding smoke fluid: Do not add fluid and then run the locomotive right away. Drop 3 to 4 drops in, let it sit 5 to 10 minutes then run. Never add fluid to a hot smoke element!
Thank you for that tip! I'm not up to speed on the piston ones, so it will take a little learning to get used to them. Going to get a look tonight and see how the batting looks. I'm hoping it isn't charred!
Janitor John posted:The piston smoke units are tricky. Its taken me charring a few different units to get how to work them and maintain them correctly. You'll get the hang of it. A word of advice when adding smoke fluid: Do not add fluid and then run the locomotive right away. Drop 3 to 4 drops in, let it sit 5 to 10 minutes then run. Never add fluid to a hot smoke element!
I've never heard of not adding smoke fluid while the unit it still hot, I add fluid to warm/hot units all of the time and never noticed an issue.
What types of problems am I overlooking?
Paul
Mike Regan had posted, in one of his videos, that adding fluid to a hot element can cause a crystalizing of the cold fluid on the hot element. I'm pretty sure that it melts away once the element gets back up to operating temp. but repeated coatings might result in a permanent buildup. Someone else may need to chime in on the details.
Update: I took a look inside the loco last night, and the smoke unit is a bit different than what was in the YouTube video above. It's a smaller unit that can't really be easily disassembled. I couldn't even look down into it with a flashlight to see the wick or batting for color.
I think I'm just going to take it to the local shop to get looked at, that way it can be completely taken apart and looked at with replacement parts on hand if needed.
Eddie,
Does the smoke unit not look like this?
If so, the black plastic top part, lifts up by prying it with a small jewelers screw driver. Not very hard to take apart.
No, it doesn't look like that one at all. I'm trying to find a photo online of it so I can post it here. It's a black plastic unit, more a vertical unit with a "paddle" that the piston rod hits to puff out the smoke.
I can't post a pic from work, but it looks like part 8738-200, seen in this ebay listing (I'm not the seller on this): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel...38-200-/331838162344
They use that smoke unit in the 442 locomotives. They're not really going to smoke a lot. I'm not even sure those come apart. Check the plunger to see if it's moving freely. Other than that you could replace it. They're $12 on Lionel.com
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