MTH PS2 Engine Problem

Might be a broken connection to one of the pickup rollers.

how about a product number???

You can tell if you have a wire disconnect on a roller. Put a short piece of scotch tape on the center rail of a regular track section. If the engine loses powere when it passes over the tape, the roller closest to the tape will be the one that is disconnected.

I have seen problems with some MTH PS-2s that show the syptoms you describe going over Ross Turnouts on my layout and not everyone of them. It also happens that coupling a lit car with the roller seems to improve the situation. I have found that the engine seemed to be loosing its ground connection and that seems to cause the dropout.

I installed jumpers to tie the running rails together which solved the problem for those PS-2s. Now have both runningrails tied to the common terminal and everything is good. 

Hope this helps.

When either truck contacts the switch it loses power, I tried it with a lighted car on each end but that did not help. I will have to remove the body from the frame to look inside. I hear something bouncing around inside so it is possible something is loose. Thank you for the suggestions.

Guys, when the poster refuses to give a product number, why waste your time.

BOB, try making sure both outside rails are grounded on your tracks leading into and out of your switch tracks.

Dave, do you know what his engine is?  

I agree with Marty,  no product number - no response.

I don't have the box it came in. It is an SD-45 #3612 Susquehana engine. It has 1 pick up roller on each truck.

30-2363-1, PS2, 5 volt was a Susquehanna #3612. 

Thank you Dave.

Did you try putting tape on the center rail as mentioned above By LLRRSTEAMER ? or use a continuity meter at the work bench to check out the continuity between rollers. The engine doesn't have to be moving just park one set of rollers on the tape, the other set should fire up the engine.... repeat with other roller.

If you don't have a volt meter try the tape. it's an easy test.

 Yes I did do the tape test, When the rear truck contacts the tape the engine loses power. When the front truck contacts the tape it has power. I can hear something loose if I turn the engine upside down. I will have to remove the body from the frame to find what is loose.

"I will have to remove the body from the frame to find what is loose."

Always good to put this near the top of the check list.

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The way I check continuity on rollers when one is suspect is with a multimeter - quick and dirty; if there is no continuity between the rollers, one is not connected internally, as their wires each go to the same place on the board. This will not tell you which roller is dead right off the bat (especially with only 2 rollers), but it will let you know whether or not to look into it any further.

LIRR Steamer posted:

You can tell if you have a wire disconnect on a roller. Put a short piece of scotch tape on the center rail of a regular track section. If the engine loses powere when it passes over the tape, the roller closest to the tape will be the one that is disconnected. 

Wouldn’t it be the roller furthest from the tape that is the culprit ?!?

Larry

PSA you are correct. Its the roller not in contact wit the tape or  furthest from the tape is the disconnected one.  Sorry for the confusion. The mind thinks one thing and the typing thinks another, 

I removed the body from the frame and I did not see any wires disconnected. I ran the engine and both motors were working. I did the tape test again with the same results. The front truck passes over the tape and it continues to run. When the rear truck gets to the tape the engine stops, so the problem has to be with the front truck.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It is great that you pinpointed the problem in the front truck. Do you have a meter to test the wiring to find where exactly the power loss is?

You could try powering the front truck back to the board, with wires to help see where it is.

The problem was the wire connecting the pick ups was disconnected. I found the problem wire and was able to connect the 2 pick ups. The engine runs like new now. Thank you for all the hints and help.