No response from engine

Does it run conventionally?

That's the one thing I didn't check, Thanks I'll check that now and report back.

Okay, so I hooked it up to my 4090 transformer and the locomotive and tender came on, but the locomotive would not move. So I powered down and started it up again, same thing. Everything came on, headlights, sound, but no movement when the throttle was advanced. I swapped out to my TIU Rev L current upgrade 6.10 with a 180w Powermaster. I heard the relay click ( which I had not heard before) and DCS found the locomotive. No sounds or headlight, but it moved the locomotive around the track, very slowly. It went around the track three-quarters of the way, sped up and then died. This was about two track lengths from the transformer connection. I moved the locomotive and tender by hand to the connection point and still no response. I could not get it to move again and the TIU had lost contact with the locomotive once again like before. I re-hooked up my 4090 to see if I could get it to run in conventional and the same thing, no response, no relay click, just dead. Now I fiddled with this numerous times yesterday and could not get a response. The only thing I did that was different was disconnect the tender from the locomotive and let it sit overnight, not plugged into anything. I re-connected both together this morning, it started up and then died, just like previously. I've done a wiggle test of the wires at the drawbar and no change.

Dead battery.  Replace battery.  If too low/dead it can drag down the PS-2 3V power supply causing issues.  G

Okay, I will try that next. Thanks.

I tried a new capacitor type battery that I purchased from GRJ a while ago, still no response from the engine. So just in case that one was dead, I tried another one, no change. Then I fiddled with the connector with about 5 volts to the track and the engine and tender came on. I shut down the transformer and restarted it and the engine started to move forward slowly for about a quarter of a length of straight track and then shut down dead again. This was all done in conventional. So I think the first logical place to look is the connector itself, do you agree?  Are there any recommendations that I should look or try first? Thanks again for any and all help.

Had the same problem with a 30-17431 found that the drawbar keeper loosened . Pushed it back on came loose again. When installing keeper there is a definite click no problem since.  it was still under warranty emailed MTH gave them a purchase date they sent me a new keeper but so far have not needed. 

PRR- Good to know that. Thanks

Tethers do break wires and act intermittent, and pcb at back of engine get cracked solder joints.  So that is what I would look at first.  A search will give more info.  G

Place your tether on  first then then hook the tender to the engine.  Did it the other way it would only move a short distance then stop. that makes a better connection.  You have nothing to lose!  If that works let the Forum know.

G & PRR- I will try those suggestions on my next days off. Should be Sunday. Hopefully I'll have some good news Thanks Again!

All,

As promised here is my update on my 20-3374-1 L-3c Mohawk problem. I took the advice given and did a careful inspection of the connector between the engine and the tender. I separated the connector then sprayed contact cleaner on the female end . After looking at the connector on the engine side I saw another connector just forward of the drawbar, I tried to separate it to spray contact cleaner on the pins and receptacle but I could not and did not want to force it.  I really did not want to remove the boiler cover again just to get a better hold of this connector. So after looking at it the connector seemed lopsided, so with a pair of thin needle nose pliers I gently squeezed it together and reassembled everything. I started it up in conventional mode and it started, so that was good. I then tried to run it around the whole track to see if it would die, it did not. That was a plus also. Next I placed it in DCS mode, I heard the relay click, then not click, then click, okay, so I moved on. I reset the engine in the remote and everything came to life. I then ran it around the loop about four times at about 37 mph and I had no issues. So for the most part I think I corrected the issue for now. I would like to get into the second connector and clean it out but I think I will leave well enough alone. If the problem comes up again I will then disassemble the engine and connector and spray cleaner in the socket. Thanks again to all for the advice. Much appreciated!

Is your track polarity correct on that channel? Red wire is hot?

When you put the engine back in the MTH box that tether can get twisted that was probably was your problem.  That is why i recommended hooking the tether up first. So congratulations on getting your engine back working again in the DCS mode.

Engineer Joe, the polarity was correct, I did make sure of that. And PRR I took your advice and hooked up the tether first. Much appreciated for the advice. I have since disconnected the tether  and reconnected it since this last post and everything started up fine again and ran around the layout a couple of times. So for now I'm pretty confident I have fixed the problem. Thanks again for all the assistance and advice.