Lionel ES44AC Stuck in Conventional - Fixed

I almost bought that engine but remove the cab and make sure the board is plugged in ..The shell is very easy to remove.. I don't know how many I seen that the boards are not pluged in all the way ..

You do not have an R2LC board in a Legacy locomotive.  The radio receiver is a RCDR board.  You are correct in starting with the antenna. You sound like you will be able to identify anything visable.   Look at the run/program switch and check it for continuity in both directions.

Well I got the cab off and nothing really stood out as to why it is staying in conventional mode.  I checked the boards and everything looks seated.  Jojo, I removed and reinstalled the top couple of boards.  Marty, I like your idea on the run/program switch.  I read about some others having issues with these little slider switches.  I am getting 0.2 ohm across the closed contact (program) .  I am reading 107 kohms with the switch open (run).

I think I may have found the problem with the smoke unit.  One wire came loose from the smoke switch.

Separately, my Legacy controller just went blank.  I thought the batteries needed a charge.  Got tired of waiting and put in new alkalines but no better.  Will we be able to troubleshoot this engine without the Cab-2 and only use the Cab-1? 

The CAB1/BASE1 will work fine for doing the troubleshooting you're doing.

I had a couple of them with switch problems..

This engine seemed to want to run OK in conventional mode.  I could get each direction, the bell and horn worked from the transformer.  During one of my many reset attempts I could tell that the volume of the bell was varying on its own.  I chased the wires from the sound pot to the connector on the motherboard. I wiggled and jiggled things.  Now no sound and when I power up the unit I get a wisp of smoke coming from a middle resistor on the sound board.  It happens each time I power it up so I stopped before all the smoke gets let out of it.  

Now I seem really stuck.  I may have to finally give in and send one up for Mike's team to troubleshoot. 

Is there anything else worth troubleshooting before I get an R.A?

If you're getting smoke of any kind from the sound board, you have a major issue, time to STOP turning it on! 

Did you try removing both the sound board and the RS power supply to see if it'll run without sound?  It should run properly with no sound boards installed.

I'm listening John.  I have removed the sound and RS power boards.  

I just figured out how to reset the engine.  Stupid me wasn't smart enough to make a replacement antenna when I took the cab off .  I just simply screwed the wire nut back on to the antenna wire thinking that would suffice.  NOT!!!  Just made an antenna out of strap steel and the engine reset.  The loco is now addressable, the couplers work, it goes forward and reverse.  I can't check lights, smoke or fans just yet with the cab removed.

Thanks Marty, JoJo and John for the advice thus far!!  

I reported earlier that a "resistor" was whisping smoke on the Railsounds board but actually it looks like it is labeled "U9."  Any advice on how to bench check the sound board or check the pins connections would be appreciated.  The soundboard is $100 smacks! 

If you can't repair the board wait till August 17 for Lionel's open house half off parts .. 

Thanks for the heads up on parts sale Jojo.  The only thing is that I don't know if the Railsounds board is the problem or the symptom.  I don't have any authorized Lionel Repair facilities within hours that could have at least tested my boards.  August 17th is not that far off.  

If an IC is actually smoking, the magic smoke is already out.  You are past trying to fix that.  It could be the RS board or the power supply, hard to say without seeing them.

Well since I professed some of my stupidity in my earlier post I might as well come clean with the rest.  When I was troubleshooting the variable audio level and “wiggling and jiggling” things I also pulled off the railsounds board.  I did this with the unit powered.  When I went to reinstall it I realized late that I was 1 row of pins off on the alignment.  So basically, I momentarily installed the railsounds board shifted over 1 full row with power on it.  After that is when the U9 IC started to get warm and smoke.  I was not sure if that was residual smoke fluid that was heating off the IC or actual IC smoke.  It did not have the really good stinky electrically stench to it. 

Regardless, does it look highly probable that it is just a railsounds board at this point?  Is there anything I can do to confirm it is absolutely it?

You can be fairly certain that the board is toast.  FWIW, I did that with a RS4 board once, and it did NOT survive the accident!

In my case, it was just the RS board, a new board fixed it up.  I was even able to swap the old sound chips out of the cooked board and use them in the new board.

Lessons Learned for future troubleshooters:

1.  Orignal problem only needed a simple reset.

2.  Don't forget to use a temporary antenna if your cab has an integral antenna and is removed.

3.  DO NOT try and install a sound board with the engine powered up. (edited)

I think #3 should be listed in caps and red!