Hello.
I've been having difficulty getting my smoke unit on my Amtrak Genesis (MTH product ID is unknown; I couldn't find it in the MTH product database, but it's the same as the 2017 version but with ProtoSound 2.0 and numbered as 180 and on the Premier line) to operate correctly. I picked it up from a train show for 150 dollars (what a deal for such a rare item!) and encountered numerous running problems at first (which are mostly fixed).
The smoke unit might be damaged; I'm not sure yet. I put smoke fluid into the stack, but it never comes out as expected. After running the locomotive, the sides feel slippery, oily, and gross, so I'm assuming this is the smoke fluid 'leaking' out the sides because it's 'stuck' and can't go out the top. I tried blowing into the stack several times, but it seems to do the same thing. I even took the shell off a while ago and everything looked intact.
I'm paranoid about using the smoke unit now because I don't want to damage the electronics inside or make a huge leaky mess. Any ideas?
Here's a little diagram I made in less than 5 minutes and rushed.