I recently purchased an operator class 2331 which was in bad need of cleaning and lubrication. She ran but sporadically . The engine was filthy with old congealed grease and had obviously been heavily over lubricated. I figured a good overhaul was all she needed. I gave the commutator, brushes and brush wells a good bath in CRC plastic safe solvent and cleaned out the grooves in the commutator segments. I took the motors apart and cleaned out a ton of old gunk and replaced it with Red and Tacky. While giving the E-unit a bath as well I noticed that the drum had one of its pins which insert into the body of the E-unit housing was broken so I replaced it with a new drum. I only gave the E-unit fingers a superficial inspection but they looked clean and seemed to be making good contact with the drum. After reassembling everything and giving the engine power the lamps came on and and the E-unit plunger and drum cycled perfectly but the motors would not engage. I checked every connection and everything is perfectly secure. No breaks in the wires or unsoldered connections. My question is this, would bad E-unit fingers cause the motors not to work? If so I'll just replace the fingers but before doing that I would like to know if there is some other area I should troubleshoot. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
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Yes the fingers can cause this. Usually you will be able to get it to respond in some direction as the drum goes round. Did you get the drum installed the right way so it hooks the drum? Also check the motors with jumper wires to make sure they run. That old copper most likely lost its spring.
franktrain
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Brushes and brush springs are cheap--I'd replace them, as well.
the fingers must be bent slightly and avoiding good contact.
Engines with e-units look nice behind glass on a shelf!
Bad fingers it was. She's running fast, straight and normal now. Thanks for the help.
AlanRail posted:Engines with e-units look nice behind glass on a shelf!
Yes, you'll be able to take them down from the shelf and run them a few years from now when the capacitors and other solid state components in your command locos dry out and fail.
I'll be running all my noisy old growlers until then.
Steven J. Serenska
Serenska posted:AlanRail posted:Engines with e-units look nice behind glass on a shelf!
Yes, you'll be able to take them down from the shelf and run them a few years from now when the capacitors and other solid state components in your command locos dry out and fail.
I'll be running all my noisy old growlers until then.
Steven J. Serenska
Ditto for that Steve. As time passes I appreciate my post-war stuff more and more.