We have an older PS2 premier GP-40 UP diesel #20-2422-1 from July 2004 that's been working reliably since day one. Recently I noticed the rear head light was not working so thinking it may be a loose plug, I took off the shell, firmly seated the rear light plug and put the shell back on.
We run DCS, so I put the engine back on the track, selected the engine just fine, started it just fine, checked the rear head light, that worked fine again, and ran it back and forth a couple times - all worked as usual - lights, sounds, bell, horn, couplers with sounds, etc. So I shut it down and wrapped things up for the night.
The very next day, I went to start it. Found it OK on the remote, hit start up - and nothing. No sounds or lights. After puzzling over this a few moments, I tried the thumb wheel to see if it moved, and it did! So I tried turning on all the lights, one by one, head light, markers, number boards, and I could do it. So I tried the sounds, one by one, bell, horn and engine sounds, and I could do those as well, except the couplers would fire, but made no sounds. I let it sit there for a while idling, then shut it down. When I started it again, it was the same way as before - it moved but zero sounds or lights. Tried it again a day later, the same thing.
So what's the story here? Now this engine still has the original 8.4 V battery from 2004, so my first guess is it's the battery. I don't have replacement or preferably a BCR yet to put in, so are there ways to confirm it is the battery? And if I do swap the battery with a BCR, are there things I should be aware of there as well?
Looking forward to see what you guys think this strange start up is caused by. Thanks.
Tom
