Lionel Santa Fe 2353 WON'T RUN

If both motors run when hot wired, it would seem like you've got an e-unit problem or......wiring to and from the e-unit. If the drum rotates.....check it's condition. The copper "traces" should be clean. The fingers should not be oxidized or pitted and should be in contact with the drum when it rotates.  Check the condition of the wires and connections to both motors (brush wells and field) as well as connections to the e-unit. 

Roger

Roger

I replaced E unit now I get reverse and forward but only a section of track or two.then I hear like a short sound coming ,I think from the front truck /motor ? Some times the light is bright the when I add more power it gets dull.My next step is to clean ,wire brush, wheels and track contact rollers ? unless you have better route ...?

After Christmas

Have anice Holiday,

Ron

Ron,

When it dims, that's usually a short somewhere (especially if you have slow acting breakers). What do you use for circuit breakers?  I would search for loose wires, pinched wires   If it's the front truck, there's all sorts of possibilities for shorts.  You've got the wire coming up from the rollers, the wire from the sliding shoe and the connection to the front coil coupler.  Trace them all and see if there's a break somewhere.      If you run it with the shell off, sometimes it's easier to locate a sound. But tracing the wires has to be a priority.           When you say......"short sound coming"......what exactly does that mean?

Also check that the e-unit has a solid connection to the frame.  It's usually connected by only one screw and it has to be tight and no dirt between the frame and the sides of the e-unit.    The fact that the motors ran well before the cleaning is a positive sign. That they don't now usually indicates that something wasn't connected right or is loose/pinched. Look around and let us know what you find. It's not easy to trouble shoot without actually seeing it.

Roger

Check everything that Roger mentioned, and remember the trucks are magnetraction, any little steel part can get stuck to the bottom of the truck, if it so happens to cross the path of the rollers or can touch the center rail....you’ll wind up with a short.....little tiny screws and little tiny washers are famous for this......Pat

Pat is absolutely correct. All sorts of things can end up in there. You'll have to go over all of the above with a fine tooth comb until you find it. Can be time consuming, but the cause is most likely not something major. The kind of thing that you kick yourself for not seeing it sooner. 

Roger

When you "Greased trucks and gears on engines then re assembled", I'll bet you didn't realize that those bearing blocks for the longitudinal worm gear shaft in the trucks only go in one way... it's easy to flip them over(or just one in each truck) inadvertently causing the shafts to bind.

So what was the fix?

Bad wire on shoe to coupler and smoke was excess clean and oil 

Ron

and smoke was excess clean and oil 

????

So, it's working now?