Good news: Mike Reagan fixed all the problems with the Big Boy! He knows the Big Boy.
Keep in mind that I am the destructor of smoke units and now the RCMC board - either I starve them of drown them.
After Mikes repair, all the smoke units smoke like they have never before; voluminous.
Here are his findings - great feedback on what he found and fixed; 2 different emails. Mike takes the time to explain his work. Long read but much info.
Email 1:
"Rick,
Big Boy is finished. Wow, what a lot of work! The main stack smoke unit (DSMK unit) had 1 bad element and 1 bad fan motor. The blowdown smoke had a bad element and a bad fan motor. The RCMC also gave up the ghost, which is why it refused to run. Replaced the RCMC board, repacked all 3 smoke units (the main stack unit is actually two units, inside one bowl). The main stack funnel was severely melted at the base, where the vapor enters the funnel. Drilled both holes out so smoke blows out of stack nicely. The blow down works great (when you know how to use it*), whistle smoke is great as well.
*Blowdown smoke; when you want blowdown smoke press AUX1 then 6, let off 6, give the smoke unit 15-20 seconds to produce smoke inside the bowl, then lay on 6 and you will get copious amounts of smoke out of each side of the cab.
I would caution you to keep all the smoke units full of smoke fluid. All of the batting I removed had the elements stuck to them, a sure sign of not enough smoke fluid! I used the Lionel Premium fluid to fill everything up and it smokes wonderfully!
Email 2:
Rick,
I wouldn’t say that starving the smoke units caused the damage. The blow down unit fan motor was encrusted with smoke fluid residue, if anything it was too much smoke fluid in that unit. Keep in mind the blowdown smoke unit only uses the fluid when you activate the feature, the element turns off after 1 minute of not being activated (so as to not burn the unit out when there is no air flow in the chamber). There was an excessive amount of heat evidence in the main stack chambers, so the smoke unit ran for a long time with what I believe was in a starved state. The excessive smoke fluid on the blowdown fan motor most likely lead to a short that traveled back to the RCMC, the same could very have happened to one of the main stack smoke motors as well. There were no scorched wires or melted solder, so its difficult to say for certain what caused the failure, I am merely speculating based on my experience.
No reason to replace the main stack funnel, it performs same as it did new, the new batting and elements (and you keeping a proper amount of fluid in the stacks, as well as being aware of the issue) should prevent the heat build up moving forward.
As for fluid, I would run the engine with the fluid that’s in there, when the smoke starts becoming anemic, that’s when its time to add fluid (now remember to blow down the stack if you do not see any smoke coming out and the units are on, when the smoke fluid runs low you will see smoke coming out of the stack, but it will be very weak, in terms of smoke production, but there will be smoke. When you see nothing coming out it is typically because the outlet hole is blocked (fluid creating a film in the outlet hole).
Don’t be afraid of it, just keep it in mind when running the train. Also, smoke fluid rarely dries up in the smoke units (providing your using Lionel Premium Smoke Fluid) when the train is in the box or on a shelf or sitting on a siding for a very long period of time."
As a side note: I think I drowned the blowdown unit and then the RCMC by inserting a straw into its fill hole and blowing hard into it after a fill; not a good idea.
Happy Camper,
RickM46
)
I mean, what's the point?
