Well brother, if all else fails call a Catholic priest in to do an exorcism rite!
I found the problem, a section of track had a ground off. Cars work fine now, thank you. Still a problem, narrowed it down. Two lighted cars on track and engines runs fine, 3 cars on track and engine bell goes off. On a z1000 transformer no problems. Something to do with lionel cars and z4000 transformer. It does not matter which cars, I cannot put 3 lighted cars on track. I thought it might be the z4000, but it runs everything else just fine. I will talk to someone at my hobby shop about it.
That IS strange. How does the K4 work with MTH cars?
I can't imagine why Lionel Madisons would cause a problem, UNLESS there's a short in one of them that doesn't manifest itself below a certain voltage.
Like yourself, I run my stuff with an MTH Z-1000 and everything works as it should. I don't have a Z-4000, my layout's not big enough to justify one.
well, that was not the problem. Found out that I have 4 lionel madison cars no. 6-29061. I do not know the year they are. They will work with a mth z1000 transformer, but not a mth z4000. The cars make the engine bell ring off and on at 13 volts or more. Go figure!
Well there you go! Nice detective work!
This happens on any engine I put on the track. I have a z4000 and a z4000 remote. I think the problem is there. I soon as I get to around 14 volts the bell starts to go. I believe the problem is the remote or the transformer. I hooked up a z1000 to the track and every thing works correctly.
Could be something electrical like a board issue, but my advice is before you do anything else check the wheels and pick-up rollers for built-up dirt and assorted crud. I've got a Lionel Jersey Transit U-34CH that ran beautifully until one day it started going haywire, horn and bell sounding when they wasn't supposed to, erratic starts or no starts at all, all around weird problems.
Checked the wheels and power pick-ups and sure enough they were LOADED. Cleaned 'em off and it's been good ever since. Cleaned the track while I was at it too.
I have a old railking k-4 that was upgraded from loco sound to ps2. Works fine untill the volts go above 11, the the bell rings off and on and the speed slows down or speeds up. Any suggestions?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month