MTH 30-9167 Bikini Car Wash Lights but no action

Mike, Susan Deats has a great page showing the inside of Mel’s Diner.  Mel’s, McDonalds, the car wash, etc. all work the same way.  Yes, you will need to remove the 40+ screws.

Here is the link:  http://www.slsprr.net/features/diner-repair.htm

hello Mike 

I have a mth operating gas station. the car stopped moving. i sent it to Mike Reagan. re repaired it and sent it back  i took it apart but could not find why it did not work. the cost was fair and it did not take him long to repair it . i would highly recommend him.

kevin 

Turn up the voltage. MTH gas station did this and I found that the transformer had gotten turned down and there was not enough voltage to cycle the operation.

"Lights but no action"

I have the same trouble.  

Do not add more power.  That clicking noise is the pinion gear over-running the rack.  Continuing will permanently damage either, or both, gears.  The rack is stuck .  You need to open the bottom and reposition the rack so that it is moving freely.  I do not have direct experience with this model but most of these MTH accessories have a limit switch at one, or both ends of the rack.  This switch(es) is/are used to turn the accessory off after a cycle or change direction.  You will need to move everything back to the starting position.  The accessory will be off so that pressing the button will override the limit switch long enough to start.

While this sounds complicated, once you get it apart you should see that it is relatively simple.  Be careful and go slowly, parts are scarce.

Hi Dan & All,

Thanks so much for the advice!  I only get a single click when I hit the button but I'll find a cup and start removing screws...I'll let you know how it turns out....

Happy Easter!

Mike

Farmer_Bill posted:

"Lights but no action"

I have the same trouble.  

Are we talking about the same thing?

Maybe.  I am basically answering Mike problem.  Farmer Bill might have the same problem but he did not indicate whether it is making noise.  Mike's was clicking and his car got stuck which is the gear.

Hopefully Bill will get back with a little more information so we can give him an idea of what to do.

Hi All,

Just an update....Here is what it looks like under the base.  I think the initial issue was the car link got stuck in the switch.  I re-positioned the chain and 1st time it seemed to initialize OK but then I had progressive sounds but no car movement.  I could hear the drive motor running so not sure why no car movement.  Checked the gear box and all looks OK but I'm back to Lights and no movement...need to sleep on this one!

What I'm starting to think is that the small link between the chain and car carriage might be bent so it is not tracking properly when sandwiched between base & top.  Not sure what a "good one" looks like so not sure if this one is bad...

Good pictures, Mike.  The arm on the slide should move by each of those switches pressing it closed.  Each of those switches causes one of the various actions to take place.  One of the switches turns off the power, when the car reaches that point.

I don't know what point the car is at in your second picture.  Zooming in on it, it appears that the arm is riding up on the switch rather than pressing it closed.  Is this the spot where is the car wash stops?  If it is riding up on the switch lever, it makes sense that it would now bind against the bottom stopping the car wash.

Take a look at the slide and make sure it is square where it has to press on the switch.  Look at the switch lever and make sure it is not bent.  Zooming in on your pictures, I do not see anything else wrong.

Is it possible to power the car wash while it is upside down so you can observe the movement of the chain?

I'll be checking in tomorrow to see how you make out.

Hi Dan,

I should have been more clear, the earlier pics were how it looked when opened.  In the earlier photos the car was at the end of the wash but had not moved on to be "wiped".    I re-positioned the chain as shown in this photo (car at center front) and that's when things worked for a while (sounds wise) but nothing moved.  I cycled power and I was back to issue I started with...  One of the things I'd like to try tomorrow is running it up-side down with the bottom off.  I'm thinking the chain may bind so may  also try it without the chain and "finger trip" the micro switches in sequence just to see if everything else works as it should....

Thanks again, Mike

If you need parts for this let me know, I scrapped one because of a bad board.

Hi All,

To follow-up (work & life interfered with getting right back to it!) I removed the drive train chain and was able to get the entire sequence (sounds & lights) to play out by finger tripping the switches but with zero movement from the animation drive motor (the door motor / action worked fine)  I also found I could only get it to properly initialize if I had one of the micro switches pressed (it should initialize no matter where the "car" is at) 

I'm left thinking I have either a bad animation drive motor or some issue with the motor control and initialization areas on the board...other ideas?! 

Thanks again, Mike

Is there a schematic diagram available for this?

Dave