Need help evaluating a PW ZW Ebay purchase

Test it with an actual load - a whistle on a section of track.

You do not mention if you are making this test with the top of the case on or off. If the case is off and the whistle control is activated, it is very easy to push the control past the point of activation. Try it with the case top on as the case will limit the travel of the control.

Your second problem sounds like the A-B or C-D roller arms are touching. This will happen if the rollers are worn out. I would suggest replacing the rollers first as this will more than likely fix the problem. If the rollers are good or you replace them and the arms still touch they can be adjusted, but I would suggest leaving that to someone with experience repairing ZW's. At $115.00 it sounds like you got what you paid for in this item. It sounds like you may need to put some money in to this transformer to make it right. By the way how is the cord?

Regards,

Randall

Here's and excellent checkout page for your ZW.

http://www.tranz4mr.com/site/ZW_Checkout.html

ZWTranz4mr’s ZW Page has a wealth of ZW information.

Thanks everyone for the advice.  Randall, your suggestion about the cover was spot on.  With the cover on, the whistle works fine.  

Something tells me the contact arms will collide even after I replace the rollers but I will give it a try since I was planning to replace those anyway.  Did Lionel ever ship them with this issue? 

Another small issue is that one of the Whistle/Direction switches doesn't really snap back to center the way it should.  Is that usually due to a worn spring / bushing or do you think it just needs to be cleaned and lubricated?

This might come in handy too.

PW ZW Wiring 

My opinion - utilize some of the folks that speacilize in ZW or postwar Lionel transformer repair and have them look it over very carefully.  Yes, it will cost to ship and return ship, plus any repairs, but to me that is alot less expensive than shorting- out your layout or worse yet blowing out boards on a very expensive engine.

I bought a KW from e-bay about 3 weeks ago.  It arrived with broken handles.  I wanted the thing, so I ordered parts and am having a friend check it out thoroughly. He is very expereinced repairing any train item for any brand.  I am glad I did as the seller claimed the KW was serviced by a retired but experienced Lionel store owner.  OK, but my firend has found plenty of shrotcuts that were done by the seller/his retired Lionel store owner to get it to work well enough to pass the sniff test.  For example, the rollers worked, but had little life left in them.  Original cord (although no exposed wires, why not just replace the darn thing??).  So, although I am probably investing another $30 - $40, and probably would have been smarter to just buy it from the gentlemen's who has the ZW web site (linked in an earlier post), I am just glad I had it checked out. 

My lesson learned:  buy from folks that are recommended here because 99 times out of 100 you will get good advice and in the 1 instance where it might not be a good unit, the seller will probably make it right.

Since you, like me, already invested in the e-bay transaction, I highly recommend having it serviced by someone that is experienced with this brand and type of transformer BEFORE using it.

If you live in the Washington DC area, I can recommend an excellent place to take the transformer for repair.  If you want to mail it to him, I am sure that is do-able.  Contact me off line via the e-mail in my profile and I can hook you up.  Or just go with someone else that may be closer and recommended by a forum member.  Good luck.

Repairing and restoring old mechanical and electrical devices is part of what makes this hobby fun for me.  Every time I learn a little something valuable.  Like for example how metal rectifiers work.  I already knew how silicon diodes work, but Lionel's copper disk was a mystery.  Now I know that the disk is actually a sandwich of two materials with different electrical properties.  I probably wouldn't have taken the time to learn that if I didn't have an example if front of me.  Know what I mean?  Anyway, I mostly run postwar engines, so to me blowing out expensive boards isn't much of an issue.  Thanks for the advice though.