My NYC J-1e has no Protosound chuffing sounds in forward or reverse at low to medium voltage settings. Only at 16 volts (derailment speeds) or above I get sporadic high static chuffing like sounds. I have whistle and bell in forward, neutral and reverse. Squeaking brakes when slowing down. Smoke unit operates with gusto. All sounds such as steam pop-off, steam blow down, and injector are all working in neutral. Porto coupler works fine. As soon as the engine goes into forward or reverse the sounds go silent, no chuffing. I have done an reset of the of the chuffimg, Feature 6. Does anyone have any ideas for a solution? It was working fine prior to a traction tire coming off.
Just a few ideas...
Check the wheels on your locomotive for dirt and crud build-up. (I'm assuming you've had this engine for a while since you've mentioned a traction tire fell off.) Dirty drivers can affect the engine's performance, I've seen it on mine, both Lionel and MTH. Clean those drivers 'till they shine like silver and see if it helps. I don't think lack of a traction tire should make a difference, I've got two MTH 4-4-0's missing traction tires and they work fine without them. Your Hudson MIGHT need that missing traction tire for some reason (insulation?) but I'm not sure.
Also, the battery in the tender may need replacement.
Just some guesses on my part, hope they work for you.
Thanks for the input. I will clean the drivers. I did replace the traction tire and have replaced the battery with a 8.4v MTH. Still no sounds when moving forward or in reverse. I cleaned the track, placed the engine on another track and still have no sounds. It seems like a speed sensor is dirty or not functioning as sound (rapid chuff-like static) occurs high speed. Can't find a speed sensor though. Other MTH steam engines are working just fine on all tracks.
Could be a speed sensor as you surmise, but I couldn't tell you where to find it either, possible in the guts of the engine. I've never had the shell off the chassis of any of mine, never had the need, but depending on how long you've had the engine and what kind of enviornment it operates in the area under the shell MAY have dusted up. In that case I'd blow it out with some compressed air, the same thing you use to blow off computer keyboards, most office supply places and some hardware stores should stock it. I'd try the area under the tender shell as well.
If none of this works you may just have a circuit board problem, and a trip to an MTH service center's going to be called for.
Best of luck, and let us know how it turns out.
I cleaned the wheels on the engine and tender. I also cleaned the drivers and center rail pickup rollers on the engine. Sorry to say no improvement. I also put in a brand new MTH 8.4 volt battery. l only get sound underway in forward and reverse when track voltage reaches more than 16 volts. At this voltage you are reaching derailment speeds. Any other suggestions? All other functions work.
Too bad, I'm tapped out. Sounds like a circuit board issue, unless someone else has some other suggestions it seems a trip to an MTH service center's going to be called for.
I got a can of compressed air today. I took off the shells of the tender and engine. Blew off the boards and cleaned every contact I could see. I got a slight improvement, made it all the way around the track at a pretty high speed with sound. Anything below 15 volts produces no sound. I was pulling seven Madison heavyweights too. I'll try contacting MTH.
At least you got SOME result. I'm still thinking a board issue. See, I'm a copier repairman by trade and the trouble with circuit boards is they can last 20 years, or they can go bad tomorrow. You never can tell.
Best of luck!
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