Smoke Unit Fill

I assure you, it is a standard smoke unit. Yes, the funnel or duct may never allow you to insert a needle tip into the reservoir. You are going to have to depend on gravity.

https://ogrforum.com/...g-legacy-smoke-units

Also, I wouldn't go poking a metal needle that far into one anyway. I understand your why behind what you want to do, but on the shark nose, I think you are just not going to be able to do that. The risk of hitting the resistor or thermistor is just not worth it IMO.

These news ones are not that different from the previous model run https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ered-A-2020A-6-34702

You are trying to stick that needle into one of these holes and yet get down the center funnel and that seems like a stretch.

The backside of the funnel into the smoke unit

I have the Army versions and again, first hand experience, no, I'm not jamming a needle tip, not even a bent one, and making it down where you think you want to go.

What you do is, you fill it with 20 drops with the smoke unit cold and very gently blow down the stack. My advice also is never blow down the stack in operation (resistor is hot) to clear a bubble, and never ever fill a hot smoke unit. Always let it be cool and off before blowing down or filling as the plastic impellers can be melted.

Talked about here on a recent GP30 topic https://ogrforum.com/...8#159801037157871078

Again, simple rule, just don't blow hot steam or liquid into the fan- that could happen when blowing down the stack to clear a bubble or filling when hot and the fan is or isn't running either way.

Thanks so much for your thoughts, as well as for the link to the other post where there wasn’t enough smoke fluid instilled into the new engines. That could very well be my problem, because I’ve repeatedly read (and heard on Lionel’s support videos) that you should never add more than 20 drops of smoke fluid. On a new engine though, especially if they’re packing them with more batting, more may be necessary. Rather than risking overfill, I may attempt to take the shell off, and see how complicated it is to get to the smoke unit. If I could watch while adding the fluid (at least initially) I think I’d feel better. Then, when adding after initial fill, I’d just stick to the 20 drop rule. As for your other helpful hints, I never add fluid while the engine is running, or for at least 30mins after it’s been shut down. Then, I usually wait an hour or so before using the smoke unit, and usually don’t even restart the engine.

I think the old pellets may have been easier. 😀  Thanks again!!

I have a lot of locomotives apart, many to do maintenance on smoke units.  When adding fluid to a smoke unit with new dry wick, I typically need a couple of 3/4 full droppers of Mega-Steam to properly prepare the wick.  For folks following along, that's 65-70 drops for a dry wick in a standard sized smoke unit.  Obviously, there are smaller smoke units used in some applications, so you have to adjust your expectations.

This is gonna sound like blasphemy to most people but with regular, large, MTH and Lionel fan driven smoke units I just put in about 1/3 of a standard Mega Steam dropper in every time I fill the unit. No counting drops, nothing. Fill the dropper 1/3 of the way and put it in the unit. Even more blasphemous is how I fill during running sessions. When the unit is running out of fluid I stop the locomotive, turn off the smoke unit with the remote, stick 1/3 of a dropper in, blow down the stack, and turn the unit back on.

I've been doing this for years and have never damaged a smoke unit. Not counting drops, waiting for the unit to cool off, or any of the rain dances people do when filling their smoke units. The unit needs fluid? 1/3 of a dropper goes in cold, hot, whatever. Smoke units on all my locomotives work fine.