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Did you measure the continuity of the hand rails to the shell to ascertain whether there was a short? Did you measure the continuity of the hand rail to the radio board and along the board as best as you can follow the trace. I have found these checks to uncover issues.

I did not I have never did that before can you tell me how to do that 

You need a multimeter set to ohms or continuity, and measure to see that the ohms are infinite or very high over say 100 K ohms from hand rail (make sure you have an unpainted spot to measure from with one probe) to the shell (again a conductive surface like a screw hole).

That's it for starters...the handrail is of course threaded onto insulators set in the boiler...

an easier test place hand above handrails if it accepts cab-2 commands its not handrails , also verify all stanchions are in place and that wires to each handrail are connected to antenna wires and that antenna connector is secure in its socket.

not positive but if this has the r4lc if you have a spare or can borrow from another engine try that also look for a loosely connected board and or connectors sometimes its the little things that seem to be an issue.

curious how well is your S-3 cylinder smoke working?

StPaul posted:

an easier test place hand above handrails if it accepts cab-2 commands its not handrails , also verify all stanchions are in place and that wires to each handrail are connected to antenna wires and that antenna connector is secure in its socket.

not positive but if this has the r4lc if you have a spare or can borrow from another engine try that also look for a loosely connected board and or connectors sometimes its the little things that seem to be an issue.

curious how well is your S-3 cylinder smoke working?

cylinder smoke works great I just have some sort of ground issue I just cant seem to get my head around so I may let it go and give someone else a chance I feel I have put way to much money into fixing it

How bad was it, and how well did Lionel fix it - mechanically and cosmetically?

Dave

Ill buy it off you, if you decide to "scrap it" my email is bigsteam5344@yahoo.com. We talked before about some used boards.

fl9turbo2 posted:

StPaul posted:

an easier test place hand above handrails if it accepts cab-2 commands its not handrails , also verify all stanchions are in place and that wires to each handrail are connected to antenna wires and that antenna connector is secure in its socket.

not positive but if this has the r4lc if you have a spare or can borrow from another engine try that also look for a loosely connected board and or connectors sometimes its the little things that seem to be an issue.

curious how well is your S-3 cylinder smoke working?

cylinder smoke works great I just have some sort of ground issue I just cant seem to get my head around so I may let it go and give someone else a chance I feel I have put way to much money into fixing it

sometimes you need to walk away from it for awhile.

okay if you have a camera darken room some remove tender and take a picture of the engines IR transmitter just below coupler S-3 must be powered up to do this  if you see a purple glow in that picture it means the IR transmitter is good on engine side!

next do you have another legacy engine with a IR transmitter? if you do remove the S-3 tender and use the other one if the engine responds with sounds movement etc then the S-3 tender is your issue.

I looked at lionels replacement parts and it shows this engine has the RCMC/receiver board remove your S-3's boiler the rcmc I believe is in center of frame there may be a smaller board with pins top and bottom or this one might have that receiver built into the RCMC board itself  make sure all pins are seated snuggly to the rcmc board.

the issue your having appears to be of a signal issue so handrails/antenna to its wiring to the rcmc board.

now if you feel comfortable locate the connector that wires from handrails connects to that rcmc board remove the wires from hand rails make 2 wires to slip into each antenna wire end and if you have some ac foil tape make a small antenna from it attach to those 2 wires and see if engine works better now, if it does then the issue is with the handrails / stanchions getting grounded somehow.

I know it gets frustrating at times but if you stick with it usually you get the results needed. now that smaller board I mentioned that plugs into that rcmc board it is the receiver board and all commands sent go from handrails to it and from that board directs the command to the rcmc board and then to whatever feature you asked it to do be it ring bell blow the whistle and so on if that receiver board fails all commands will stop responding.

 see small board in center that is the receiver board from the handrails/antenna wires and is the boards used in the S-3

I cannot take credit for these suggestions as gunrunner is the one whom suggested a lot of these things to me in regards to my at&sf 3751 when I was having like issues so gunrunner thanks again hopefully your thoughts to me will help  fl9turbo2.

reason I asked about cylinder smoke mine was anemic in working and so went to auto zone and had them match up original hose to an auto grade hose and I created a longer pipe from  round plastic tubing for the end that the elbow connects to main frame of S-3 it now stays put and used smallest zip tie for connection at smoke unit this hose has improved both smoke out all 4 cylinder holes and when servicing under boiler issues that hose stays put!

hope the above suggestions will help you discover the problem and remedy it so you can once again enjoy your S-3.

I think I will sell it anyone interested email me as you can see what Lionel fixed

What is your number?  Why not give it to a Lionel Tech.  If you have it open, see if one end of the radio board is loose on the 3 or 4 pins that hold it to the RCMC.  Your eyes will not pick it out, you need to try to gently lift the board.

To everyone I have sold the S3 I know it will go to someone who will fix it up and have fun thanks for everyone who gave me advise