Worth Fixing?

I would let someone on the forum at least check it out for you.  Get a cost estimate.

Check the tach tape on the flywheel of the motor.

A damaged or missing tach marker can cause problems with speed control.

I don't know squat about MTH but they do sell Proto 2 and Proto3 I believe you can put in engines with out it. If your any handy with stuff like that it might be better to go that route your self I install TMCC in engines all the time but it's a very simple process to do.  

From what I hear DCS can run TMCC so that may be a option as the board with cruise is only about $120 I think and not sure if you can use your sound board but there about $85 I think and I know your coil couplers will work with it. Just a secondary thought for you. But I do agree let someone that here and knows DCS take a look at it. I take it your in central PA so you should be able to find someone not to far away. 

Panther, I would not bother with a dealer.  Many will just send it out anyway.  There is a frequent contributor to the DCS Forum who goes by the name GGG.  He is a crackerjack at repairing DCS, and does some repairs no one else can do (not even MTH), at reasonable prices.  His email address is in the forum.

Do check the tach tape as suggested above.  Also make sure that the tach tape reader has not come loose, and that it has a gap of 0.75-1.25 mm from the tape.  Also make sure all plugs are seated in the boards.

If you post the model number, forumites could give more specific help.

I am running MTH diesels and steam, DCS, that are over 15 years old.

Also, move this post over to the DCS forum.

It should be an easy fix for someone who knows whats up.  The guys gave you good things to look at.  Also, look for traction tires that have come off causing an issue.

Do what Robert suggested and call George. 

PANTHER97,

   Let GGG, MartyF or Guns right here on the OGR fix the engine for you.  You might want to take a close look at MartyF's schooling in the last part of his post, GGG & Guns are just as impressive, these guys are the best in the business, have a talk with one of them and send one of them your Engine.

PCRR/Dave

Thanks Dave.  I take a back seat anytime behind George  (GGG) and John.  We are all in contact with each other and hopefully can be of some help to members who are dealing with a problem. 

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'll check them out.   If they don't work I'll look up one of the gentlemen mentioned in the post.  I truly appreciate the help.

My last engine repair cost me around $300 and took several months; it required a new PS3 board after just a couple of years.  I sent it to MTH, thinking they would be faster:  not so.  I will find a local (meaning NOT MTH in Maryland) next time that is simply a listed repair center if out of warranty or a warranty repair center if IN warranty.

Assuming I stay with MTH in the future, I will plan to go to the repair class and become a repair center myself when I retire.  If for no other reason, to take care of my own stuff.  You can too.  You just have to find a dealer to affiliate with.

Looping back around on this one.  I finally had a chance to take the diesel apart again and investigate the tach tape.  The tach tape was fine.  However; I checked each wire again and I found a soldered wire that was loose.  I made a better connection and the diesel is running fine again.  It looks like that's my culprit.  Thanks for everyone's help.

Panther97 posted:

Looping back around on this one.  I finally had a chance to take the diesel apart again and investigate the tach tape.  The tach tape was fine.  However; I checked each wire again and I found a soldered wire that was loose.  I made a better connection and the diesel is running fine again.  It looks like that's my culprit.  Thanks for everyone's help.

Good stuff. Thanks for the update.

Had you "moved this thread to the DCS Forum" as suggested above, I would have never seen it. Glad you didn't. Bit too much pigeonholing these days. I still learned a bit from it, though I'm not so much a DCS guy. This was a generalized "locomotive wiring problem", actually.

Panther97 posted:

Looping back around on this one.  I finally had a chance to take the diesel apart again and investigate the tach tape.  The tach tape was fine.  However; I checked each wire again and I found a soldered wire that was loose.  I made a better connection and the diesel is running fine again.  It looks like that's my culprit.  Thanks for everyone's help.

And you just saved yourself a ton of $$$, by simply removing the shell and looking around.

I had an intermittent problem with my RailKing NW2, found 1 strand of wire that was brushing against the chassis causing a short.  Clipped the strand off and it has run fine since.

Good job!