Reading GP30 Smoke Thick, Lays On Engine

Who is the manufacturer?

Have you tried blowing down the stack in case theres a fluid bubble blocking it?

Lionel, and I did blow and so forth. I layed a thin paper on the grill and it did not look like there was a positive pressure...hard to tell. Just wonder what the smoke looked like when the fan ran backward.

I don't remember it being like this when i got it. Any chance the polarity can reverse electronically? Impossible i would guess.

Chuck-

It's a stretch, but maybe the wick material inside the smoke chamber is obstructing the airflow. I doubt that the polarity of the motor could reverse on its own; the only way I can think of is if someone physically rewired the plug that connects the motor to the smoke unit PCB.

-John

Thanks, I decided to do the Mike at Lionel smoke unit update. New fuzz, drilled out the intake hole and gasket...seems like the unit was blowing ok. The fan was running CCW which some internet said was probably wrong but that Lionel says it is not critical. Seems to not be critical.

Anyway it smokes incredibly well. I think the fan was starved for air and the 1/4 inch intake hole fixed that. Huge dense smoke and up away from the engine although the tray that runs from the smoke unit to the top of the shell needs a better gasket. And the tray is kind of loose. Lame design but it's almost like the breakdown B unit now on fire . So I just need to seal the tray to the shell next.

Thanks for the replies.

Hi Chuck, great post, I have some TMCC locos doing the same.  I noticed some of my seuth units (including MPC cabeese) do the same thing, but that is a different design.  Where did you get Mike's smoke unit update from?

Thanks,

Stack   

Lionel's instructional videos...here's the one on smoke units...

http://www.lionel.com/Customer....cfm?documentID=6459

Thanks for the link

Stack

Very nice! Easy to do too!

SAM

My GP30 is a super smoker now. First I did the video update which greatly improved the flow. The smoke then tended to fill the shell which was because the box that plugs into the smoke unit was loose and floppy and did not press against the top of the shell where the rubber seal was. So I carefully put a collar of RTV around the place where the box plugs in to the smoke unit and allowed it to cure with the box horizontal so that it wouldn't get pushed down by the top of the shell when I put the engine back together. Now the smoke goes straight up from the outlet. I find that the appearance is better if I leave the grill off the outlet. This was all worth doing and good fun while doing it.