Strasburg 90 - Issues/Questions

Typical Lionel smoke unit.  My L1 started off quiet, now it whines & screams. Sent it to lionel,  they said nothing is wrong.  Try to exchange it if possible.  Lionel service is a joke.

I bought it from Lionel so I might be SOL with an exchange or service lol

@Arcadebrothers posted:

I bought it from Lionel so I might be SOL with an exchange or service lol

That thing looks like a bear to repack & send back to them.  Most all experiences I have had with Lionel service have been bad, plus I'm sure you seen some of the post on the forum too. Im sure you don't want to open it up & try to oil the fan.

Lionel has not made a quiet smoke fan motor since the mid 2000s or so.

Some of my newer engines have a slight whine, as long as it's not a severe squeal, I leave well enough alone.

Sometimes they will quiet down, after running awhile. Sometimes they don't.  A drop of oil on the impeller shaft may quiet them down, but it may come back over time. For the really loud units replacement is the only option.

For a " weekend" train tinkerer. I find Lionels shell mounted smoke units a bit more tedious to work on versus the old chassis mounted ones. So unless the fan noise is really bad, I leave well enough alone.

However, replacing with a Lionel fan it could end up noisy all over again. Many have used Mth fan motors instead.

I’m with Rick on this one, ….it’s par for the course with them using low bid vendors for parts …..if the whine isn’t affecting performance, doesnt sound like it’s going to grind itself to pieces, & the sound system drowns out the whine, I’d leave it be too…..I’ve had close to a dozen come across the bench now, they all had some level of whine,…..all of them….as long as the sound system drowned it out, I considered no action required at this time…..sending it back to Lionel is just going to get you a different sounding whine……😉

Pat

Thanks Rick! I have another diesel with a similar problem but honestly, I rarely run the smoke units anyway. But I do like to test everything out.

@tom21pa posted:

Mine doesn’t sound this bad…so maybe I feel better about it. Thank you all!

@Arcadebrothers posted:

Thanks Rick! I have another diesel with a similar problem but honestly, I rarely run the smoke units anyway. But I do like to test everything out.

I typically only run smoke units occasionally, and /or when I have a visitor to the layout.

Smoke units are off 90% of the time. They are a routine maintenance item. Add to that, a fluid fill is maybe only good for five minutes or so (if that), likely less on the high setting.

A longer running session will require multiple fills if you don't shut the smoke unit off.

Lastly, the smoke fluid tends to migrate everywhere once it's vaporized, making a least a slight mess no matter how careful you are filling. Nature of the beast, as they say.

If I open one up that has the full sized smoke motor, I use the MTH motors, I've had much better luck with those.  You might try MegaSteam Eliminator in it, that actually does quiet some smoke motors after a couple of fills.

I haven't gotten mine yet, but if it has that issue, I'll just pop a new motor in it.  I'm not going to ship it for something that trivial!

Two reasons for the whine are the top motor bearing needs oil or the fan is hitting the top of the smoke unit cover. Being a warranty voider I just open them up and address the issue. To oil the bearing the top of the unit has to come off as well as the fan. Up to you.

Pete

Years ago everybody talked about a product from JTMegasteam that helped eliminate the fan motor squeal. Any truth to that?

@romiller49 posted:

Years ago everybody talked about a product from JTMegasteam that helped eliminate the fan motor squeal. Any truth to that?

@romiller49, gunrunnerjohn mentioned Megasteam Eliminater sometimes helps after a couple of fills, in a reply 2 positions above yours.

@Gary P posted:

@romiller49, gunrunnerjohn mentioned Megasteam Eliminater sometimes helps after a couple of fills, in a reply 2 positions above yours.

In order to have an effect you would have to overfill the unit so the fluid ran into the fan chamber. Probably not a good thing.

Pete

Gary, thanks. I didn’t see that.

@Norton posted:

In order to have an effect you would have to overfill the unit so the fluid ran into the fan chamber. Probably not a good thing.

Pete

Pete, apparently, it didn't require overfilling.  I never tried to make it work, but it was discussed here at some length a few years ago.

Hi,

I tried Mega Steam Eliminator and found it silenced noisy smoke units, just use it as you would their regular smoke fluids. I would try that before I did anything else.