Lionel CNJ H16-44 acting crazy

Christopher, open her up and check the cruise magnet ring sensor. The older TMCC loc's have had issues at times with those breaking and they take off like a rocket.

What exactly would I be checking for & what does it look like?

It'll look similar to the pic below which is taken from the Lionel parts website for your loco model number. The cruise component is on one of the motors and there is a magnet ring that is glued onto one of the flywheels. Many times, for whatever reason that magnet ring shatters or a piece just breaks off and the speed will go into hyper-drive. Another possibility, which happened to me, is the cruise component just goes bad. I've had to replace 2 motor assemblies on other loco's before.

Here is the link to the parts web page too.

(6-28806) Jersey Central TMCC H16-44 Diesel #1516

As Roman says......and if it's the magnet ......you might hear a chunk moving around in there if you tip the engine left - right ect.

Thanks guys. I didnt get a chance to take it apart last night, but I did pick it up & move it around & sure enough there was something moving around in there.  Looks like the theory of the magnet may be correct. If it's not that , any other ideas of what would cause it to act that way so suddenly ?

Given the evidence..........it is certainly pointing to the magnet.

I have this engine in Santa Fe. 

Your repair should be reasonable and the engine is worth re-pairing in my opinion.

Yeah, 99.999% sure your magnet is toast. If not my guess is the cruise sensor. For $32.00 for the whole assembly it should run as good as new.

I do have to say the caveat here is unscrewing the motor. They were very creative in those days on how they screw mounted the motors. Some easy & some will bring out your best x-rated verbiage. I couldn't tell you how this model is done. You'll have to scope it out.

Christopher2035 posted:

Thanks guys. I didnt get a chance to take it apart last night, but I did pick it up & move it around & sure enough there was something moving around in there.  Looks like the theory of the magnet may be correct. If it's not that , any other ideas of what would cause it to act that way so suddenly ?

Yup, sounds like a broken magnet. If not shattered/you have the pieces you may be able to glue it back together.

Christopher - I had one of my old TMCC locos break the magnet as well. Rather than replace the motor, it was highly recommended not to glue the magnet, I ended up having ERR cruise installed. Made it a whole new engine!

Well I finally took the shell off & as you can see, it is the magnet. Cracked in two. Would this be best sent to Lionel (or in my case dropped off- I'm about 30 minutes away) or is there anyone that could do the repair?  And what would coat look like ?

Yup, no surprise. If it was me I'd run to Lionel get the motor and try to replace it myself. That said, I myself like to figure out how to fix these things and removing the motor may be the challenge. As I had said Lionel is/was creative on motor mounting although you might be lucky and this one has just 1 screw from the truck attaching it.

Roman posted:

If it was me I'd run to Lionel get the motor and try to replace it myself. 

Those magnets are prone to cracking. Getting another motor from Lionel doesn't "solve" the problem, it only kicks the can down the road til the next time. Like I mentioned in a previous post when mine cracked it was simpler, easier, faster and the engine ran way better with the ERR cruise installed. It was the first time I attempted any electrical mod and I was able to do it. Search youtube "lionel err install", there is a 6:21 video with a good overview of what you're in for.

Jeff T posted:

Roman posted:

If it was me I'd run to Lionel get the motor and try to replace it myself. 

Those magnets are prone to cracking. Getting another motor from Lionel doesn't "solve" the problem, it only kicks the can down the road til the next time. Like I mentioned in a previous post when mine cracked it was simpler, easier, faster and the engine ran way better with the ERR cruise installed. It was the first time I attempted any electrical mod and I was able to do it. Search youtube "lionel err install", there is a 6:21 video with a good overview of what you're in for.

Interesting.   Do you know if Lionel still uses the magnet method or if they switched to something else?  Doesn't seem like a very good system