runaway engine

your R2LC radio reciever board is bad.

It could also be some loose connections, I'd make sure everything's securely connected.

hello pete and john. thanks for the replies. will check the connections and i think i have a spare r2lc. i will let you know. thanks again. bill

hello again. just an update on what i did and the out come. not good. changed board and looked for any loose or broken wires. no changes. it hasn't runaway yet but when it backs up the front coupler uncouples and it can't be trusted. looks like it is going on the shelf for now. thanks again for your help. 

For the electrocoupler uncoupling, the first thing I do is determine if it's electrical or mechanical.  Unplug the coupler from the TMCC board and run it.  If it doesn't uncouple, put a 1uf non-polarized 50V capacitor across it, that usually solves the issue.  You can connect the capacitor at the TMCC board or anywhere along the coupler wires.

hello gunrunnerjohn. thanks for the help. went digging again on the front of the engine found the coupler had both wires exposed. fixed that and the coupler worked just fine. still have problems with the engine even after changing r2lc board. like i said, i don't trust it and it will gather dust on the shelf. lol. thanks again.

It's a shame to have an engine you can't run, that's like an itch that I can't scratch.  I have to work on them until they run properly, I have a character flaw that won't let me leave one that doesn't work.

I would get an RA FRom Lionel and send it in. They repair almost any engine made from 1995 on. Just call and their customer service will assist you. These engines need to run, not sit on a shelf. It's economical, quick, and virtually Painless. Good Luck.

This is just for a laugh,so don't take it serious.Try shooting a little TV Tuner Spray into the e-unit!!!I love my OLD TRAINS!!!

thanks for the replies gentlemen. i like your idea kennyb, lol, but i think i will dig deeper into this problem and find the cure. just need some time to do it but thanks for the ideas and the support

Kenny is old-school, but hitting the Odyssey circuit board with tuner cleaner is unlikely to yield the result you seek.

hello everyone. just a follow up on this engine which i got it running just fine, except for one problem that just surfaced. like i said, changed r2lc board and that did the trick. now for the odd thing. when i run my lionel atsf 3000 on the same track, the headlight on the sd-80 starts blinking. when i tell the 3000 to shut down and after it goes thru the shut down sequence, the blinking stops. werd, huh? 

Check and make sure the antenna is properly connected.  That's usually the reason for the headlight blinking.

As far as other sources of interference, could it be you have high resistance in the feeders and the track voltage is changing?  That would explain why stopping the other locomotive makes the problem go away.

hello gunrunnerjohn. thanks for your reply. it is not that i stop the atsf 3000 engine that the blinking goes away, it is when i push ax1 and then 5 on that engine, then when the sounds stop from the 3000 the headlight on the sd-80 stops blinking. now if i continue to use the 3000 and it is running on the track with no sounds the sd-80 headlight doesn't blink. i did check the antenna on the sd-80 and even exchanged it with another one i had laying around. same out come. bill

I think that qualifies as kinda' odd.

Does it happen on any track or just a specific place or loop?

it happens on all the tracks and the sd-80 is the only one that goes crazy.

Maybe Possessed like Christine?

Did you re-program and set the feature code.

Bill

hello boxcar bill. thanks for the reply. i reset the engine according to the manual if that's what you mean. other than that, can you direct me to the reprogramming procedure and setting the feature code. 

gunrunnerjohn. thank you. but i did that. but thanks for the post.

Thanks John, I'll have to try the reprogram on my ATSF Warhorse Hudson and PRR Torpedo (6-18052).  I lost the chug a while back on both and then forgot about them. Currently, they are both back in their box as I tend to "rotate" stock periodically.

Would the 6-18052 fall under  #0 or #34?

I usually try 4 first, then the alternative if that doesn't fix it.

As far as losing just the chuff, that's probably more likely the chuff switch, but reprogramming certainly is easy to try first.