Fixed and Smoking!!! (Looking for input on a Lionel Smoke Unit)

 I'd go after the fan motor first. These models are notorious for bad fan motors.

 3 blinks is the onboard diagnostics for a bad smoke unit fan. Was it noisy when it was working?

You could try a drop of oil on the fan motor shaft bushing behind the impeller.  However, Its likely you'll have to replace the motor.

" No matter how far we travel, the memories will follow in the baggage car."

I do not know about Legacy controlled smoke units, but a couple years I asked Lionel what resistance I should measure in a TMCC controlled smoke unit in a Century Club 726, the Lionel responded 27ohms.

I am smoking again! I pulled the resistor from the pcb, and found burnt gunk between one of the resistor legs and the pcb contacts. I cleaned the resistor up, reflowed the solder on the pcb, and now the continuity readings are stronger.

Time to start shopping for more smoke fluid!

Here's a clip I recorded of the locomotive on the test track. I ran it tonight in the living room for an hour and it was still smoking strong.

Some good videos on feeding a Lionel smoke unit by laidoffsick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRcpFRtA6IY#t=180

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1asUWbJtfok

Too little smoke fluid and the batting becomes brittle; too much with excess flowing into the fan motor or onto electronics gets ugly.

Stuart,

Same thing on the Sunset/3rd Rail smoke unit in my C&NW H-1 4-8-4.  The solder joints for the resister onto the permanent circuit board looked perfect but weren't.  What made it harder to find was it was intermittent- I pulled the unit out of the locomotive once and upon testing- it worked just fine!

Rick

Cold solders cannot always be seen. It can also take nearly as long to closely inspect things as reflowing the solder without inspection might take. 

Stewart,

Good to hear from you again! Good troubleshooting skills as usual. Check with gunrunnerjohn if you have any smoke issues in the future.

I prefer JT's megasteam or Lionel premium smoke fluid for the thickest smoke.

Are you planning on building another layout?

RickM46 posted:

...too much with excess flowing into the fan motor or onto electronics gets ugly.

 

Guess what I did this morning? LOL! Yep, managed to overfill the reservoir and get fluid into the fan. That was a heck of a mess to clean up!

ChessieFan72 posted:

RickM46 posted:

...too much with excess flowing into the fan motor or onto electronics gets ugly.

 

Guess what I did this morning? LOL! Yep, managed to overfill the reservoir and get fluid into the fan. That was a heck of a mess to clean up!

Welcome to the club; everyone on the forum knows I am the destructor of smoke units - too much or too little fluid - ruined 3 in a Big Boy - either starved them or flooded onto the RCMC; I have been experimenting with adding 1 drop of fluid per 1 minute of running usually after at least 10 minutes of running + 2.  I always add when the unit is cold.  I keep in mind that the funnels and resistor suck up some of the fluid when doing a fill.

Moonman posted:

Stewart,

Good to hear from you again! Good troubleshooting skills as usual. Check with gunrunnerjohn if you have any smoke issues in the future.

I prefer JT's megasteam or Lionel premium smoke fluid for the thickest smoke.

Are you planning on building another layout?

Good to hear from you Carl!

Yes, I will be building another layout. I had the basement waterproofed a little over a year ago and wanted to make sure it was going to stay dry before starting a new layout. The upside is that I now have a large area to build a layout. The downside is that I will be moving some time next year.

Stewart,

I guess it be a temp deal to have some fun running. You snagged a nice engine!