When and how much. This seems to be obvious. Add fluid when the engine stops smoking, and follow the manual recommendations. However, I don't want to burn the battling on my new Legacy steam locomotive with too little fluid, nor do I want to add too much fluid so as to oversoak the batting, and damage the fans, heating elements, or circuit boards. The manual that came with the train said to add 20 drops initially and then 15 to 20 drops thereafter. I did this and had to send the locomotive back to Lionel for a fan problem apparently caused by too much fluid. When I got the train back, put it on the track and started to run it, I got the 3 blinking lights.(I had not added any fluid). I was able to clear it with the transformer direction control. So far so good. At a recent train show, before I got my train back, I spoke with a authorized Lionel repair technician. He said not to ever add more than 7 drops of fluid. The Lionel Smoke 101 video recommends using a needle point applicator, and insert it all the way into the batting. Then why does Lionel supply a plastic tube with millimeter increment demarcations? The video seemingly states that the heating element and circuit board is above the batting. Would putting the needle point applictator as recommended damage them? Where can you get a needle point applicator?
Any recommendations regarding the smoke fluid, when and how much, would be greatly appreciated.
