Scale Legacy Polar Express 10th Anniversary 6-11451 Blinking Cab Light Whistle Steam

5 blinks would be a Aux unit fan bad. Your element is probably just bad. No way to know until someone opens it up. Worse case is that the driver for the element on the RCMC is actually shorted and that’s where the problem is coming from. But like I said no way to know until you open. Keep in mind if you replace the element you’ll need high temp solder otherwise when the element heats up it’ll just re liquify the solder.

How imperative is the hi temp solder?

I’ve never used “hi temp solder” in a smoke unit rebuild……and I’ve never had an issue. Obviously the OP is going to have to dive into the smoke unit being it’s NLA. If this smoke unit uses the thermistors to control heat, a known issue on some units is the thermistors are too far away from the heating element to affectively do their job. Bending the thermistors towards the element after replacing a charred element helps them regulate the amount of voltage supplied to the element for a longer life. If this locomotive uses a regulator, suspect its failed if seeing a lot of char in the smoke unit….first thing that’ll have to happen is to open the smoke unit up for an inspection and testing of the individual components…..

Pat

7+ months and still no replacement smoke unit from Lionel, so I fixed myself.  Had a couple free minutes yesterday, along with spare element. Turned out no soldering required.  Updated Lionel parts website for 610-1462-200 shows the screw/nut/wrapped element lead (like a washer) configuration.  Bent the leads of the element like the one I took off.  Whistle steam is back, and the blinking cab light is gone.

Success stories are always good.

FWIW, I've never used hi temperature solder for smoke resistors either, and I've done hundreds of them without ever having an issue with the solder melting.  If the solder melts IMO, there is a more serious issue with the smoke unit!

@VADarthDad,

Just to be precise, is this what you're referring to?:

Mike

Exactly.  FYI - replacement elements from Lionel come without the leads pre-shaped.

So the dreaded 4 blinking cab lights of whistle steam death came back in the Christmas season of '22.  I  didn't want to fool with it a second time last Christmas, so just ran without the whistle steam in hopes that a new assembly would be manufactured so I could have a complete replacement backup.  After 2 years, I would have thought that Lionel would have made more of those smoke unit assemblies for parts/repairs, but still no luck.  Still out-of-stock.  With 24 hours of rain and upcoming holiday season, I decided to replace the 8 ohm smoke resistor (again) for the whistle steam and rid the engine of the 4 blinking cab lights...  Fixed a second time.  Maybe it will last longer than a few weeks this time.

There's no point in replacing the whole smoke unit for a heater issue unless the PCB has been seriously damage by overheating.  I can count on one hand all the times I had to replace a complete smoke unit, normally I just fix them.  If the resistor keeps burning out, there's likely an issue with the RCMC, not the smoke unit.