I have an older Metra diesel engine that needs a battery change. Can someone give me a tutorial on how to change the battery? Thanks in advance.
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The manuals for most engines are on MTH's website. Depending on what it is, the battery is either under the shell (remove body mount screws), or in the fuel tank (remove the screws holding the fuel tank on and then probably remove the battery tray). Once you get inside the engine, its the same as changing any 9V-style battery.
Make sure you charge up your replacement MTH battery. I believe these are shipped from MTH uncharged.
I removed the four body mount screws but I could not get the top to pop off. I also removed the fuel tank but it looked like a speaker was in there so I put it back on. The manual that came with the engine was basically worthless. thanks again.
some of these are held by 6 screws . See what the illustration shows in the manual re number of screws.
I've run across some that hide the center screws under other stuff, very tricky.
I am guessing that your engine is the F40PH Metra There are eight body mount screws There are four in the corners and four on the other sides of the truck. I would suggest installing a BCR from JW electronics instead of a battery
I forgot how easy a pic is now This might help
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I would recommend a BCR, then you would not have to go through this again.
http://www.mth-railking.com/service/bcr.asp
NOTE:
The newer MTH engines have a low-voltage battery plus an external charging port, with no disassembly required. The MTH charger has TWO different plugs, one for the earlier engines with the 8.4 volt battery, and one for the newer low-voltage battery (shrink-wrapped in BLUE).
The newer low-voltage system performs better than the older system, and I have personally found it unnecessary to switch to a BCR.
the first post stated "I have an older..." so I took that to mean ps1.
NO problem - I just put the info about the newer PS-2 locos out there for those that are unaware of the changes. 
I have also personally recommended the BCR's to friends with PS-1 locos.
Thanks to everyone for your replies. I finally was able to get the shell off the body. This Metra diesel had eight screws that had to be taken off(4 on the corners of the body along with the 4 screws attached to the speaker/tank).
I did follow advice on this forum by installing a BCR battery and now the engine runs like a top. Thanks again for your assistance.
