I have two of these ES44's. They run great. one of them quit smoking. I never run them dry on smoke fluid. Anyone ever had one of these a-part to fix the smoke unit? I can get the parts from Lionel I hope!
Thanks, Ernie 
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If your warranty is up look inside the unit to see if you have a singed filament. If yes then that is your problem. Fluid can't get to the heating element.
Did you try cleaning off the element and using batting from say a old Flyer replacement kit. The element may be fine.
Bill, I tried cleaning off the element. The wire was broke. I ordered a few elements from Lionel. I have a few old Flyer replacement kits that I can get the batting from. I bought these smoke element kits with the #40 nichrome wire wrapped around the batting years ago. I have been using them a lot on my old A.F. engines.
Thanks, Ernie 
Thanks Bill and Chuck for your likes!
Well done. Glad it's back on track and working again. That one was really fried. All of that type of smoke unit (element pushed into a batting/wadding with no wrap around) are prone to eventually losing contact with the batting. That one though is really burned. Plus the fact that apparently the nichrome wrapped around the element's core snapped. Did you happen to measure how much power the element is getting? I hope it lasts as long as possible, but if it fails again prematurely, you might want to check that. Great photos. Thanks for posting.
No, I didn't measure how much power the element was getting. I did adjust the voltage on the Track Power Controller back to 14 volts instead the normal 18 volts to help from burning out the smoke unit too early. I guess that didn't really help to much. I will see how long this element and batting will last this time. I made a note when I installed the new element and batting.
Thanks for your concern , Ernie
Ernie,
One of my SD70s and one ES44s have stopped smoking. I may have the same problem you did. Could you please list the part numbers of the items you ordered. Thanks.
Craig
Craig,
If you would please, when the smoke unit is disconnected, but the element is still in the smoke unit, try seeing if there's continuity across the poles. If not, maybe the coil wire on yours also snapped. If there is, see what the resistance is for comparison to a new unit. Then if you would, measure the power getting delivered before you install the new element. I wonder if these engines are developing a smoke unit voltage regulator problem, or if the usual wadding burn-down is all that's going on. Thanks.
Dave
Craig, the SD70s and the ES44s use the same parts.
Lionel part #'s
691RS16OHM / ALT 691RESC016 SMOKE ELEMENT / 16 OHM / WIREWOUND $2.00 Ea.
691SMKP008 SMOKE UNIT BATTING / 8" LONG / PRE-CUT FIBERGLASS $2.50 Ea.
Shipping is $10.00 !!
Hope This Helps, Ernie
Thank you Ernie. I still have other ES44s and SD70s that smoke so I've been reluctant to touch the two that don't smoke. I WILL order the parts in case the non-smoking becomes contagious!
