3/21/15: FIXED! Just updating this to give credit where it is due. The engine was received back from MTH in the beginning of 2014. They replaced the board with the broken capacitor, and they had re-soldered the drawbar pins previously. This resolved all issues, and more than a year later the engine has been running great! Many thanks to all the forum members here, especially Forest, for all your help!
Respectfully,
Robert
1/15/14: Latest Update...'lets highball'!
12/14/13: Please see first post on 12/14/13 for the latest update and recap.
EDIT 6/23/13: Yes, title edited for the umpteenth time...endeavoring to be accurate.
Well my MTH Pennsy 4-6-0 was acting up again (I had a previous problem with a binding side rod that caused labored running, noise and a short that's been fixed).
Just recently when running I had a wierd studder on the engine. I didn't get to video it, but it acted exactly like this gentleman's PS3 Tin Plate loco...
from this thread...
https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/2415514336933182
I cleaned the track, rollers, and inspected the drawbar connection. I also ran my PS3 SD70 on the same loop without any issues (before or after cleaning). So I decided to take the body of the engine off today and look for a wiring issue. I could see a couple wires making contact with the side of the motor, but not contact with any moving parts. The one thing I noticed was the blue wire coming off the draw bar moved a fair bit when I swung the draw bar back and forth. I didn't really re-route the wire as much as I moved it away from the others as it runs beside the motor, and also loosened a little slack from where they meet up in the center of the engine and are zip tied together.
After that it still moved more than the other wires running along side of it to the drawbar, but it had more room to move...my guess is maybe it was binding. I put the shell back on and after one test run, so far so good.
So my questions are:
1) Anyone else encountered the studder as video'd above?
[mine didn't do it quite as much, but the noise, the stall, and light going out were all the same, just more sporadic].
2)This is just a general question about MTH warranties. Does it void the warranty to remove the shell?
I only slightly adjusted the wire routing, but I had also taken the tender cover off back when I had the short (sparks and smoke) because I wanted to make sure nothing was scorched.
Thanks for any insights y'all can offer. I'm still fairly new to all this.
Robert