I believe Kev has a point. New grease has Teflon and etc. I use a very light synthetic oil [not motor oil] in combination with the new grease.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
I did not think anyone was arguing the point that the old Lionel grease would turn to stone or that oil in a controlled condition " a box in the closet" will not collect dust and get dry. I have also chiseled Lionel grease out of postwar engines.
Today's grease is much better than the stuff you have used from 60 years ago and would be much better on gears. My point is you need to use both oil and grease in a motor and gear combination. I have used synthetic motor oil for years and it is way better than oils from the 50s & 60s. But to each his own.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Motor oil doesn't dry out or get sticky. Motor oil has a vapor pressure of 10^-2 torr at 100 C. The vapor pressure at room temperature is 10^-5 torr which is extremely low. It has to be low or it would evaporate in car engines due to the heat.
I cannot find data on the vapor pressure of greases. Nobody publishes data on the Internet, so I won't use grease. I know that Valvolene MoS2 grease doesn't evaporate very quickly, but it has a higher viscosity than motor oil, so it takes more pull to make the cars roll.
I have used motor oil for 50 years with good results. I have also dug dried grease out of one 2343. The gearboxes were full of dried grease and I cleaned them out and oiled. I have a 2353 that is many years old, and I oiled it about 20 years ago, and I have had it open recently. The oil has not dried out nor has it dropped off of the gears.
I have a 2025 that I oiled around 1965 and then put it in a box in the closet. I took it out of the box about 5 years ago, and it ran just fine. The oil had not dried out or gotten gummy.
I
I have been using the white grease by Lionel now for about 15 years now and the only thing I have found is it might turn a dark color from use but other than that I have yet have one to turn hard now if you find an old post war engine that has original type or Grease that was around then ( and a lot would use the red automotive type) might as found some hard in engines with traces of that. but present stuff never had a problem and a lot of my engines set up for ever it seems I have a original Lionel NYC 2380 6-18563 I have yet to take out of the box but when I do will open and look at it and bet its fine. As I have gotten engines from the 80's that were fine with original lube and oil which I would open up and maybe add a little more and were fine
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servoguy I would suggest you lube it with motor oil for everything. The grease supplied with the loco will likely turnto concrete in a short time. Motor oil never dries out or gets sticky. Lionel Lube is one of the worst. It turns into concrete in a few years. Don't use 3 in 1 oil, light machine oil, sewing machine oil, lithium grease, most greases, etc. I have used motor oil for almost 60 years with good results.
I would suggest you lube it with motor oil for everything. The grease supplied with the loco will likely turnto concrete in a short time. Motor oil never dries out or gets sticky. Lionel Lube is one of the worst. It turns into concrete in a few years. Don't use 3 in 1 oil, light machine oil, sewing machine oil, lithium grease, most greases, etc. I have used motor oil for almost 60 years with good results.
servoguy,
You must still be using the Lionel lube they supplied 60 years ago. The new lube is far better than the postwar stuff. Motor oil runs off and will dry up and collect dust requiring more maintenance than using a grease. JMHO It takes both oil and grease to corectly lube a motor and gear set.
See page 27 of the owners' manual for lubrication points. You may need to disassemble the locomotive to grease the gears.
Larry
If we factor in that the engine in question is close to ten years old and you've never run it then I'd suspect lubrication is the problem instead of faulting the transformer. I'm in the midst of reviving a number of dormant locos that have very little previous run time and yet balk snort and fart due to lack of maintenance.
Bruce
If you have a CW-80, there is a transformer inside it; but it is not itself a transformer. Unless its overcurrent protection is shutting it off, you are not running it at full power. So, if it's not running at full power and the locomotive isn't going fast enough at full voltage, you need more voltage, not more power.
Bob Nelson
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