Problems with lionel tmcc m1a

Try Reprogramming per the engine owners manual. Also check to see that infrared transmitter and receiver on the wireless teather are properly aligned. Good luck!

Try the tender with another similar vintage steamer with the IR link.  If it works, the issue is in the locomotive.  For the smoke, are you hearing the smoke fan running, or is it dead?  Can you feel any heat from the stack?  Smoke switch on?

I was going to try some of these ideas only to find that now the engine won't move at all. I tried the reset which changed nothing it still won't move it lights up the railsounds come on but it won't try to move. I noticed the headlight flickering when giving it commands so I thought maybe it's an antenna issue so I hooked up an rw transformer to try conventional and it does the same thing in conventional lights up railsounds come on but no movement. Thanks for the help

Sounds like time to "pop the top" and see what's going on.

Sounds like the R2/R4 board is coming loose or going bad.

I purchased a locomotive that was unresponsive like this and opened it up and found the R2 board was not firmly seated...

We'll I took the shell off and checked connections I couldn't find nothing loose but now the engine will move again and it started smoking too. Still the same though as soon as the power is turned on the railsounds start right away and stay in neutral even when it is moving, and it smokes constant doesnt puff just pours smoke out as long as power is turned on. I tried using a different tender and got the same results. I tried it again in conventional and it won't move it will only move with legacy. I don't remember this engine ever smoking in neutral before like it does now. Not sure whats up with it.

Git r done,

    I have that engine and it did have a non puffing smoke unit that stayed on while the engine was in neutral. I did say did because I had mine converted to 4 cuffs and had John's super cuffer board put in. Runs and sounds great only thing missing is the smoking whistle and it would be equal to the Legacy M1a. Alex M did the upgrades.

JohnB

The fact that the sounds start right away suggests that the serial data is not being detected.  Since a different tender does the same thing, it's obviously in the locomotive.  Check the connections to the tether closely, including the wire under the heatshrink on the drawbar.  You can view the IR transmitter with a digital camera or a cell phone camera, you should see a dull purple glow if the sensor is getting power.

Try swapping a different R2LC into the engine and programming it.

The no chuffing sounds like the chuff switch isn't working, that's a pretty common problem.

Hi git r done,

Your post says that you redid your layout. So, do other TMCC locos work ok on the stretch of track where you are testing your Lionel M1a?

Regards,

Allan

Besides weak TMCC signal as posted above.

Simple stuff is alignment of tender and engine draw bar to see signal.

See it Engine IR is working with camera.  Should see red dot.  May have a broken wire.

This is why testing with similar IR tender can tell you if the Tender has issue or the engine.

Reset R2LC, unplug and reseat.

If engine was having problems too, the other simple issue is the antenna is grounded.  Test handrail to chassis.  If low ohms the handrail may be touching shell and shorting out TMCC signal.

G