Lionel 6-11210 VL challenger 3967 parts

It appears the smoke fan controller is still available, that's the top suspect for if all the smoke units aren't working.

@Ron Casamento posted:

I sent in my 6-11210 VL Challenger 3967 from 2010 for smoke units not working. I sent it to one of well known Train store/ repair facility. It has been five months. I guess they ordered one of the circuit boards from Lionel. They said it’s still on back order. I have heard that they don’t make parts for older Lionel engines. I’m concerned they may never get the part. They did make that same engine in 2018. I was wondering if they used the same circuit boards that my 2010 has. Possibly the part would be available because it’s eight years newer than my 2010 challenger? Looking for some feed back please.

I am surprised that it is not done.  5 months is a long time and if they are waiting on parts, I would be concerned.  See if you can find out what boards/components they had to order. Then you can see if they are still available from Lionel.  If they are not, then, at least you have knowledge and can make a choice as to what you want to do.  Waiting on parts that will never be available is not good.  I would also ask how they determined which components had to be replaced. This may help in determining the best options.

BTW, the electronics are not the same between the two engines.  I have a similar issue with the VisionLine 2-10-10-2.  I can not get the right DCDS-J board to make the required repair on the first issue engine.  The re-issued VisionLine has the newer electronics, but those are not available yet (too new of an engine.)  If I can not find the exact replacement board needed, then I will look at purchasing a new set of electronics from the newly released 2-10-10-2 when available.  I know it will not be cheap, but at least it should have the same functionality when repaired.

Thanks Dave and John. They did say the smoke units check out fine. I have called the repair facility and they said they check with Lionel on and off, but nothing yet. I’m going to call again and press the issue.

That does not sound good. Repairing the smoke units would have been a relatively easy fix.  And I would guess it is not the smoke control board either as if it were, they would have repaired it by now.  It may be the board (DCDS-J)  that feeds the signal to the smoke control board.  At least that's my guess without looking at it.  I think the chuff switch feeds the DCDS-J.  That said, I am surprised the other smoke units don't work, unless they also have to have a working DCDS-J board....

If it's not the smoke control board, I can't see all the smoke features dying because of an issue with the DCDS.

Thanks guys, non of the smoke units work. They tested and found the fans and resistors in the smoke units were good. Every thing else on the engine works great. There might be something I missed because they really didn’t give me much feedback. It is at Hennings and I know that is one of the best repair shops .

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

If it's not the smoke control board, I can't see all the smoke features dying because of an issue with the DCDS.

John,

Thanks for the clarification.  I guess this means the whistle and blow-down signals come from the RCDR / RADIO RECEIVER to the fan/smoke control board correct? And the main smoke unit should at least run at idle?

I have not seen a pin out of the fan/smoke control board.  If you know of one, let me know.

The smoke control board controls the heater and fan for the three smoke units.  The serial data commands come from the RCDR.  Lionel is pretty stingy with the wiring diagrams for a lot of the stuff, so we have to dig it out piece by piece.

John and Dave , I called Henning today and the parts just came in and they have someone putting it together. I guess from the start they put power to fan motor and it worked, but they had to order the smoke unit circuit board. They said there was something else they ordered too, not sure what.so hopefully it should be ready soon if everything goes ok. Thank you gentlemen. Sorry for any confusion.

Good to hear it is almost ready to run the rails again.

No worries, or confusion.  This does make me think about how things work, etc.  I have two of these (greyhound and black) so this gives me insight on how they may fail one day and how best to trouble shoot.

Have fun and enjoy.

Thank you Dave