PS3 Hard Failure

Did you make sure the harness is securely plugged into the drawbar? That’s about all you can check if you’re uncomfortable opening up the engine, …..and if for sure you’re uncomfortable opening it up, definitely don’t leave a mess for George ……best to leave it be so he can figure out what went wrong,…..

Pat

If you had one spark or ground anywhere you definitely blew the board! I had a friend of mine who pulled a very large consist of cars and running the engine fast under load, the Diesel ps 3 board is now dead and draws no current at all!

Alan

I'll check the plug again. I had that happen on another PS3 and the pins on the engine side of the plug had backed out a little. I can't remember if there were sparks or if the breaker tripped. I hope not.

I took the shell off during the holiday expecting/hoping to find a broken wire inside. No way. The drawbar wires go over the top of the motor and into a giant bundle with loop and metal clip to secure the wires. Engine is still amazingly dead.

I'm still convinced that it's one of the wires to the drawbar. Can someone tell me which of the six wires being broken would kill a PS3 engine like that? Or did some kind of board failure occur?

Thanks! As it is, it is most likely going to GGG for surgery if he is available to help.

I hear through the grapevine that George probably has some time available.

Thanks John, will contact him via email.

Here is a pinout of the 6-pin drawbar connection. A basic power pickup check on pins 5 & 6 can be done without harming anything or removing the shell.

Thanks! So that means I should have continuity between the pickup roller and pin 6?

My working theory is that the sudden pull from the tender and cars the engine was pulling yanked the wires hard enough to break one internal to the insulation if that is possible.

Yes and left side wheels/chassis ground for pin 5.  But if the bottom of your drawbar pin area hit the track or any part of the engine chassis that usually means the board took a hit.  Testing each board out of engine with bench tester to confirm.  Also don't be surprised if you have continuity, but a wire can't carry current.  Chasing these wire issues is a lot of fun....not!  G

Yeah. That's beginning to look like the scenario. I checked all the wires from a board/connector inside the engine to the tender end of the drawbar and got continuity. Per the schematic you can go from pins 5 and 6 right to the track. So after the drawbar screw fell out on the engine side, the bottom of the drawbar and exposed pins probably hit the center rail. So maybe a dead board in the tender.

@GGG posted:

Yes and left side wheels/chassis ground for pin 5.  But if the bottom of your drawbar pin area hit the track or any part of the engine chassis that usually means the board took a hit.  Testing each board out of engine with bench tester to confirm.  Also don't be surprised if you have continuity, but a wire can't carry current.  Chasing these wire issues is a lot of fun....not!  G

Thank You George!

Latest is I shipped the engine to GGG and sure enough the exposed pins on the bottom of the engine side of the drawbar hit the center rail when the screw fell out and the 20 V ac blew up two boards in the tender and took out the tach reader for good measure. Total cost to repair: A LOT but well worth it. In hindsight, maybe that's why there was that clear little plastic cover protecting the pins. I tossed it because it was unsightly. But who would have thought that the screw would back out? Will Loctite it in place when I get it back!

You could also put some liquid electric tape over the the exposed pins on the bottom of the drawbar to prevent future shorts.

I did that on a number of these, and first I trim the exposed pins so they don't stick out through the liquid tape.