MTH STEAM ENGINE STOPPED SMOKING?

Before it stopped smoking, had you just put smoke fluid in the stack? If so:

• Turn off smoke on the DCS Remote
• Blow down the smoke stack or, even better, use a short burst of compressed air.
• Turn smoke back on from the DCS Remote.

See if that gets it smoking.

This and a whole lot more is all in “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition!" This book is available from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at OGR’s web store!

I would try avoiding lashing the Genset and the 2-6-0 because they might be a diffrent version of protosounds, Did that with my genset and Sf GP30 and they wouldn't operate correctly functioned.

SDIV Tim posted:

I would try avoiding lashing the Genset and the 2-6-0 because they might be a diffrent version of protosounds, Did that with my genset and Sf GP30 and they wouldn't operate correctly functioned.

That shouldn't make a difference. I know I've done it plenty of times in the past, when I had DCS and never had an issue.

Just in case you need to get into the smoke unit, this sketch is typical of MTH smoke units. Barry gives you good advice as sometimes recently added smoke fluid clogs on the way into the reservoir and needs a push to get it flowing.

Typical issues I have had with smoke units:

> Fluid clogging;

> Excessive amount of smoke fluid refill;

> Wick melted;

> Smoke accidentally OFF via TIU Remote;

> Blower motor shaft spinning inside of the impeller, so the impeller does not turn;

> Blower motor failure due to smoke fluid contamination;

> Power wire broken off of circuit board;

> Tether continuity between the engine & tender intermittent / open.

Thank you. when i turned it back on and blew down the hole smoke came out from all around the chassis. could it be the blower motor or fan?

Thank you. when i turned it back on and blew down the hole smoke came out from all around the chassis. could it be the blower motor or fan? it is podsible i over filled it  thank you guys i dont know how to reply to each individual post and the genset is a 3.0 and the prr 260 is 2.0  i didnt know i could not mix them  thanks for that advise 

sounds like the smoke tube is blocked has happened to my buddy's layout, if the smoke stack is blocked it will come out wherever it can from under Neath the engine or around the cow catcher or under the steam boiler below  you have to clean out the stack as Barry pointed out then will work fine, you might have a liquid bubble inside the smoke stack!

Alan

Took the top off the engine and cleaned the smoke opening. when i blow into the air intake to the fan for the smoke outlet the smoke comes out great. wondering if the empeller is slipping on the fan? should i replace the fan motor or can the impeller be refastined if it came loose?  seems that the fan is not pudhing the smoke out. i know when i blow into the air intake for the smokr unit plenty of smoke comes out?  

Tim,

I would try avoiding lashing the Genset and the 2-6-0 because they might be a diffrent version of protosounds,

That's absolutely not true. Please, let's not start any false rumors.

There are absolutely no restrictions regarding lashing up PS2 and PS3 engines. Both types of engines are DCS engines and are completely compatible with each other. They will interoperate without any issues at all.

However, original Protosounds (PS1) enghines are a different story. They are conventional engines only and will not respond to DCS commands.

This and a whole lot more is all in “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition!" This book is available from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at OGR’s web store!

Thinking about taking the smoke unit apart but concerned that paper gasket will fail after i reassemble it thinking maybe the impeller is off or sticking or the fan motor is bad.  i do get smoke when i blow air threw the air intake for the fan. is that something i should not attempt ?

I just had this problem with a hudson, turned out to be a bad wire in the tether. try wiggling the tether with smoke on.

Does the fan turn?  Impeller could be loose, but you need to remove top to know for sure.  If fan impeller is not turning that is the issue.  loose impeller, bad motor (saturated in fluid), or bad wire to fan motor or harness as Clem said.  G

Update   after all the great information shared on this forum and some utube videos. i decided to tackle this smoke issue again only this time with some direction.  i set up a test track first with my TIU and DSC and took the steam engine body back off.  this time having power to supply to the open smoke unit i rulled out the fan and blower motor which was operating just fine. i took all the original chared wicking and out of season was able to find some tiki torch wicks. i carefully cut out some of the internal part of the wick and trimmed it appropriately and doubled it over and inbetween the 2 heat elements carefully placed it there and gently squeezed the 2 heat element's together to hold the wick securely. i made sure the wick was off to the side that did not block the blower fan opening so not to cut off the air flow by a blocked wick in front of it. i didnt over wick the fluid reservoir so not to cause any air flow restrictions but made sure there was plenty of wick to reach the bottom and carefully replaced the cover and carefully placed the rubber gasket between the blower fan piece and the reservoir section. i primed the wick and waited a few mins and to my amazement i fired up the engine and it smoked very well and the synchronized  chuff smoke worked very well too.  there was no super smokeout smoke coming out but that may be because i didnt overstuff the wicking or used tiki wick, not sure but it seems to work very well once again. i saved myself probably $60 and had it working the same day so i can enjoy it for the holidays .  i was all ready to just buy a whole new smoke unit with blower motor but midge at MTH i dont think really exists. i have never been able to get a hold of her. now i thank her and MTH. i just said heck with this im going to fix this problem and i got lucky and learned some important things about mth repair along the way. $3 fix and im thrilled. thanks guys for your input, i used alot of it including the detailed diagram.  something im learning about MTH Steam engines is there alot like the real iron beasts. they seem to constantly need attention but when there stoked up and running there is nothing like it.