Just when i thought i had it all working great. my traction tires started slipping on my powered a unit. i replaced all 4 traction tires then also replaced the wick in the smoke unit. i put it back on the track it pulled great but after a few minutes started surging the would shut down suddenly. i took it apart again and saw smoke fluid inside on the wires and chassis. a thin film. i wiped it all off and checked all conections and dried it overnight and it still not right. it know starts up some times and makes it around a 16ft layout then shuts down again. says check track engine not on track then a few mins later starts up by itself but wont respond to dcs comands so i power it down and back up again and it responds but a few feet later if that it stops again and shuts down. all i did was change the wick? i did see small sparks on the front trucks a few times and then it would shut down also so flickeing cab light in engine. i hope the smoke fluid didnt short anything out. i really have to figure this out so i can have it working for Christmas or my grandson is not going to be happy. i set this Christmas layout up every year for him and me. maybe there is a loose connection somewhere even though i checked all connections or smoke fluid is still somewhere causing this problem. all the lighted santafe cars come on no problem but when it did work were flickering alot. i wonder because its a temp layout if i knocked the connection wire loose from the hookup trak? i have a volt meter and will check it but i kinda keep leaning twoard the engine. any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated . im praying i didnt damage the computer circuit board. i also made sure it was switched to dcs. one thing i did notice doing that is there seemed to be some fluid in the switch and when i switched it back and forth to dry it out with a qtip with isopropyl alcohol every time i thought it was dry and switched it back and forth it still seemed to have a film of liquid inside the switch. im getting very discouraged by the smoke units. they can be a bad thing if used improperly or not fixed correctly but i changed out the wick twice on the steam engine with no issue's but it also didnt have as many wires and only 1 motor. any advice or troubleshooting help would be appreciated . im going to take it off the layout and set up my temp dcs test track like i did when i fixed the steam engine the other day. thank you
Dave
