I STARTED THIS POST & NOW I'M GOING to FINISH IT!! "REPAIRED IT" "GREAT LIONEL SERVICE".....LIONEL ES44AC Legacy Diesel "SMOKE FAN MOTOR" Stopped Working!!

Can you confirm if the fan is hitting the gasket. They have been known to swell and stop the motor operation.

Hi Fred,

These may sound like silly questions, but have you checked to see if the smoke is turned down, or even off, on the CAB-2?  Also if the locomotive is stationary, the smoke output is reduced, and when moving, the 'effort' setting influences smoke output quite considerably.

And lastly, have you checked that you have sufficient fluid in the unit, and that there are no bubbles blocking the output? (Blow gently down the stack to clear these.)

 

Oh yes, i forgot to ask if there are any cab light 'blink codes' happening.

 

 

This engine does not have the blinking system .. I own several of these and  the smoke pcb goes bad on them.. But in this case it can be the motor..

Thanks Jojofry. I sometimes forget that some older legacy locomotives don't have the blinking lights of death. 

Real easy to figure out on this engine you remove the shell them pull the smoke unit out make sure the rubber is still between the motor housing and smoke unit bowl . If that's there next test the motor with a 9 volt battery . If that works it's the smoke pcb.

JOJO,

 

Will do!!

 

Fred

Just make sure when you remove the shell it doesn't catch on the rail sound universal board if it does it makes it very hard to remove . Do not force it you could hurt the main board .

You can test the smoke motor by unplugging it from the unit and putting DC on it.  A momentary test can be done with a 9V battery.  I like to test them with a bench supply around 3 volts, if they don't run with that one, I replace them.

 

The big problem is the smoke pcb is not in stock at lionel ..I am about 90% sure its gonna be  the problem .

Wonder if my New Version of the (2012 Catalog - Just Received in March 2013) ES44AC has the same issues?

I have had to return 6 different engines for the whistle smoke stopping according to Lionel all have been a gasket in the housing stopping the fan . Good Luck.

       
       




It has different boards

Well, dropping them off at my LHS tonight and will see what actions they decide to  take.

Now yours has the blinking cab lights ....Is it blinking 3 times? My conrail did and it was the smoke unit motor... Inside theres nothing the same on the diecast es44 and the plastic besides the motors...Lionel went to the new smaller boards and to be honest there better (less wires).. They both run great and besides the smoke related issiues they will run for a long time...

The two PRR ES44ACs I have picked up so far have the following: 1846 has the 3 blinking Cab Lights out of the box and the 8102 has an occasional Blinking 1 Cab Light (Drive Motor Failure) other than that it is a great engine, sound performance etc.

I have another 1846 to pick up and am going to have the LHS check that one before I leave the store.

 

On a good note: the 1848 (Non Powered) does not seem to have any electrical issues!

 

These are my first new Legacy's and really like the look, other than the white roofs/skylights by the engines cab. It is probably correct and matches the Heritage Themes but IMO it just looks weird and detracts from the design and overall great look of the engine.

I am not a rivet counter at this point in my hobby but I really like the quality that Lionel put into the Paint, Trimmings etc. to make the engine look fantastic.

Now just got to get them back up to shape operationally, I will be a happy camper!