Lionmaster Big Boy 6-11149 Smoke Unit Trouble

I had the same thing happen with a Challenger Lionmaster from that era.  3 smoke units later I am done with it.  Great engine, crap smoke units.

I remember recently there was another thread about a Lionmaster Big Boy with smoke unit issues that turned out to be from the AC regulator although Lionel no longer has an exactly matching replacement part. In your case however I'd start with some basic diagnostics, which I can't tell from the video: (1) can you hear the fan motor running/pulsing when the engine moves? (2) is there any heat coming out of the stack when the engine is on? (3) have you adjusted the smoke output in the CAB2 settings?

After that length of time on the shelf it's possible that the fan motor has been gummed up by smoke fluid residue. I have Legacy smoke units from roughly the same period that tend to need fan motor replacement after a long period of display/non-running. The motors probably weren't that reliable to begin with but without being run they can fail.

@POTRZBE posted:

I had the same thing happen with a Challenger Lionmaster from that era.  3 smoke units later I am done with it.  Great engine, crap smoke units.

It's very difficult to believe you have had smoke unit failures that needed a smoke unit replacement!  Of the hundreds I've worked on, I've replaced very few smoke PCB's from runaway regulators, and two diecast smoke units from zinc pest.  It's FAR more likely that the smoke regulator is crapping out.  This era of early Legacy locomotives were still fitting 6 ohm smoke resistors, Lionel changed to 8 ohm resistors because the lower value was cooking the smoke regulators.  They also recommended any received for service change the resistor to the 8 ohm part.

I found the 6 ohm smoke unit that John mentioned earlier on Lionels Support website but it looks like it is in fact no longer available. Link: https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ee-822a-e4568a7b32ef

Would the 8 ohm unit you mentioned be a direct replacement or would any form of modification/ fabrication need to done? Also where can I find the 8 ohm version? 

You don't replace the smoke unit, just the smoke resistor!

That sounds good John. I will try that first and see if it fixes the issue. I will keep you all updated once I have the part in as well. Thank you all!

Well, sad to say, you're likely also going to have to replace the smoke regulator.  If you're getting no smoke all of a sudden, that's the #1 part that fails.  Replacing the resistor with the 8 ohm one will help keep the new regulator from failing as well.

I have this engine and john is right it is most likely the ac smoke regulator. I had to replace mine. assuming that its working another problem with this engine is the design of the diecast funnel on top of the smoke unit. it really constricts the smoke output. mike reagan sugested the hole on the smoke unit above the fan on the  pcb board be drilled out bigger as he has done to older lionel smoke units.

This helped quite a lot with the smoke output when in operation. I also use a needle point applicator bottle when dispencing the smoke fluid down into the engine. its tricky,but it works ok. the diecast funnel makes getting the fluid down into the smoke wicking material hard to acheave thus sometimes you get the clogged air bubble and need to clear the fill hole.

you can clear it by blowing air with your mouth down the smoke stack as best as possible. I like to take a small zip tie and run it down the smoke stack hole to clear the clogg. pick one side and just  push the zip tie in and pull it out once or twice. I do this right after putting smoke fluid into the unit. I also use jt megasteam it seems to work the best in this unit.

Gunrunnerjohn, thank you for the input.  I went to my archive for the Challenger and found that the replacement parts used to fix my smoke unit are the exact ones you pictured.  Also included in the repair notes was a statement about enlarging the hole.  All work was done by a local Lionel service station.  I really love the engine and am a fan of smoke.  When it works, it's wonderful.