I have had that issue with my first run Vision Challenger. I have not found a parts diagram for the current run VL Challengers on Lionel’s website but I am pretty sure that this is the same dynamo smoke unit funnel used in it and the first run:
The angled tube on the right is where the smoke fluid is put in and is where the dynamo part fits. The whole funnel assembly is fairly flat so I can see why tilting the loco body might help to ensure smoke fluid flows down into the unit. In my case, I tried using a shot of compressed air into the tube but in fact without taking the body shell off to saturate the wicking in the unit directly it’s a slow process to get it wet at all.
I remember that there is a similar issue with the VL Niagara which Alex M very helpfully explained in one of the videos he posted in this thread:
https://ogrforum.com/...ke-whistle-smoke-fyi
Again, it takes some care and time to get smoke fluid down through the funnel and into the smoke unit.
BTW, the VL Niagara also has what I regard as the most problematic of the many varieties of smoke unit funnels Lionel has used, which is this contraption that feeds the tender smoke unit:
On my Niagara it takes a lot of patience to refill the tender unit through this piping.
