Unusual Track Signal behavior on MTH 44 Tonner.

How do I fix this?

Try cleaning the metal wheels to improve the ground

ctr posted:

….

I cleaned my dirty Atlas track.

clem k posted:

Try cleaning the metal wheels to improve the ground

good thought Clem.

& can you tie the outside rails together? (maybe just to test)

Any pictures or videos to show? Some engines find the weak areas of layouts that others don't.

I polished the black off of all the end wheels on both engines--they are nice and shiny!

One of the engine gets readings in the 8-10 range. The other engine gets much lower readings in the 1-3 range.

I am still looking for suggestions on how to fix the engine with low signal readings. 

If your TIU is older than REV L are you using a "magic light bulb".   This is nothing more than an 18 volt light wired in parallel with the power going into the TIU channels (so you can see at a glance which TIU channels have power).  

If you have a REV L TIU, I'm at a loss for suggestions but I am by no means an electrical expert.

-Greg

Seems like the one with low signal might have an internal problem. I just clean my wheels with Q tips and alcohol. This past weekend I had one of my premier FP-40's keep stalling on a switch,  Could't get it to run upside down for cleaning, so I put some masking tape on the rail sticky side up. Drove the engine over it couple of times to each side of the engine and that solved my stalling problem. (I had cleaned my switch points first). these engines always run together so why one and not the other ?  I don't know. 

Polished the rollers on the engine with the weak signal. No significant improvement in signal.

I suspect that this section of track needs to be rewired to get a stronger signal. Other engines get 9/10 in this section but this one doesn’t and it probably is the canary in the coal mine.