R30 Help

Flashing lights indicate a fault in the doors - usually a jam.

 

If you are are using a remote, press the reset icon on the CAB-2 (stop sign with an R in the middle), or the zero button on the CAB-1. You'll hear two short horn blasts and the affected car will stop flashing. Once reset, the doors should close when commanded to do so. In conventional mode, the only thing to do is shut down the set and remove power for a minute or so to allow the cars to reset themselves.

 

Usually the car will blink after three unsuccessful attempts to either open or close the doors, or in the event the doors open/close but the motors remain on for too long. Prolonged jamming or if only half the doors on one side open could be signs of motor gearbox issues, and should be addressed by a service station. You can service the door operator motor/gearbox assembly and related linkages, but there isn't much to be done save for minor adjustments or freeing a jammed set of doors.

 

I have the R27 set and door jams were a periodic occurrence. Doors would work one time, then jam another with no consistency. I kept making my own adjustments in the hope of not having to send the set back for repairs, but in the end I waited too long. Lionel's factory technicians determined that 6 of the 8 gearboxes had to be replaced (there are two per car; each controls the doors on one side). I have nothing but high praise for Lionel's excellent factory service, but at $50 per gearbox (plus labor), it was a hard lesson to learn.

 

Hope this helps!

 

-John

 

Acela, this would be a good reference for many of us. If you broke it down, how much would it have cost per car for the repair?

Below is the exploded parts view from Lionel for the R30 subway car, but it also applies to the R27 and R16 units. Part #11 is the motor and gearbox for the left side doors and part #14 is the motor and gearbox for the right side doors; both plug into a circuit board underneath the ceiling of the car. Each assembly is about $50.00; Lionel's current labor charge is $60.00/hour. Some cars needed one, but most needed both gearboxes replaced (ouch!).

 

The good news is Lionel will sell these parts direct to customers, and they can be replaced "in the field" with only basic tools. If you can wait until the annual Customer Service Open House (in July), these parts can be discounted by up to 50%.

 

I do have a used spare gearbox in case there is a need.

 

 

-John

Thanks for the info John, good to know. Where is the open house you mentioned?

Lionel's service center is in Canfield, Ohio, but fortunately the sale is extended to orders placed online on the day of the open house.

 

-John

 

Thanks to all for the help.  I will try the reset option first.  Hopefully I won't need parts to fix it!  Thanks again.

did the reset work?

Unfortunately the reset did not work. When i did the reset the horn blasted as explained, but the doors did not close and the motor kept running with no acton. I think I will have to take the set to a service station and let them assess the situation. Thanks again for all the help.

You might have to send it back to Lionel.

 

My local authorized Lionel Repair center told me when I had an issue with my R-30 that they were instructed not to work on the subways but to have them sent back to Lionel for repair.

 

Not sure if that was true or not, but that is what I was told.  Lionel did resolve my issue.

 

George

Definitely sounds like a jam, but I am unable to determine what flavor of jam it is from this distance. Seriously though, the good news is your cars are making a grinding/running noise, which means the motor is trying to close the doors but somehow can't.

 

Assuming the set is out of warranty (most are by now), you can disassemble the car to clear the jam in the hope of avoiding to send the unit back to Lionel. All you need are a few screwdrivers (mini philips and slotted work best) and tweezers. Place the car on a soft surface or in a foam cradle and remove the eight perimeter screws along the underside of the frame. There are a few screws under the truck sideframes, so you may have to remove the sideframes as well (they're held in place with two small screws each). With all screws removed, the shell will lift up smoothly; there are no wire harnesses (Lionel uses a circuit board; part #33 from the exploded parts list in the post above) to worry about disconnecting. Put the frame aside for now as our efforts are focused on the area underneath the ceiling of the shell. Identify which set(s) of doors are jammed, and proceed to remove the plastic door sills (part #15 on the diagram above) under the affected doors. These parts are not glued in place, but rather are held in by ridges molded into the shell. 

 

Next step is to remove the center gearbox. Each gearbox is held in place with two screws; there is a fiber washer under each screw, so be sure not to lose them. Lift the gearbox up, and you will notice the driveshafts that connect the outer door pairs to the inner door pairs will lift too. These are all plastic parts, so you will need to carefully wiggle each driveshaft out of the couplings to fully remove the center gearbox. Once the driveshafts are clear, you can disconnect the gearbox wire harness from the circuit board. Removing the outer door pairs are easy now - simply back off the two screws that hold each in place to the shell, and lift out.

 

Examine each set of doors to see if anything looks broken or if there are any obstructions along the threaded rod tracks. Any damage here cannot be repaired (as far as I know), so the affected door gearbox (part #11, 12, 13 or 14) must be replaced. You do not need to replace the red doors (part #9 and 10), as each door can be removed from the door hangers.

 

Essentially what happens is if you rotate the coupling on the outer doors one way, the doors open; rotate the coupling the other, the doors close. On the middle doors, you have to first remove the small motor (held in place with two screws) to rotate the couplings by hand. If any gearboxes do not rotate freely in either direction, that gearbox is the likely culprit. Sometimes the gearbox is stuck (over travels), and just needs a helping hand to turn freely again.

 

Once all gearboxes are turning normally again, it's time to reassemble. The easiest way to reassemble is to set all the doors to the full closed position (I turn the couplings until the doors are closed and the coupling won't turn anymore, then back off a turn or so). The middle gearbox goes back into the shell first - remember to replace the fiber washers (tweezers help here), which go in between the gearbox and the screw stud. Be sure to plug the wire harness back into the circuit board.

 

The left/right gearboxes are more complicated to get back in, as you have to ensure the driveshaft is properly fitted between the two couplings. The way I normally do this is to seat the driveshaft on the left or right hand gearbox first, then as the door gearbox/driveshaft assembly is being lowered into the shell, I connect the other end to the middle gearbox before the entire assembly is seated. Both driveshaft couplings have to be oriented the same way for this to work, and a mini-slotted screwdriver is helpful here. Once the driveshaft is connected to both the outer and center gearbox, screw the outer door gearbox back onto the shell. Repeat with the other side, then replace all four plastic guides, ensuring the flat side of the guide is against the shell. It would be a good idea to put a drop of oil on the threaded portions of the door gearboxes (this is something referenced in the Acela maintenance manual, but not the Subway despite the mechanisms being similar).

 

Place the shell back on the frame, ensuring the circuit board connector lines up with the slot on the frame. You can leave the screws off for now to test the car with the powered unit to ensure the doors close (be sure to connect the tether between the power car and the dummy car, otherwise the doors will not respond to the open/close command). If the doors close and all is well, congratulations! 

 

Hope this helps!

 

-John

 

It's worth the trouble

empt53, please let us know if you get your issue resolved.

 

George