Sorry I can't help with your problem because I don't own one of those locomotives, but I sympathize and say that something that costs as much as a Precision Craft model should not have those problems.
I have found Broadway Limited and Factory Direct Trains customer service people to be some of the best in the industry. I bought one of the Precision Craft California Zephyr A-B-A LokSound equipped locomotive sets from FDT. The decoder in the lead A unit somehow shorted out and smoked. FDT sent me a replacement along with a pre-paid UPS label for return of the defective unit.
My suggestion would be that you telephone BLI and ask their customer service department for advice and assistance.
Not sure if this should be in the DCC section or here, lets try here for now. Little back ground, I bought this PCM Big Boy all most a year ago. It was DCC ready with out sound. When I first got her, the tender had a derailment problem. I was able to fix that with some sanding on the drag bar and oil on the mounting post in the tender.
Next problem, engine lost both head light, number boards lights, smoke unit and started running badly. Sent it back to PCM/ BLI and got her back 3 months later. Repair order said the worm gears where out of aliment and bad power cord from the the engine to the tender. Ran her on DC and was fine, happy, happy, joy, joy.
Installed a none sound DCC decoder, started stalling on turnouts. Wheels must be dirty so I cleaned them, well to a point. Found I was picking power up from the tender only, not from the engine! Called PCM/BLI and they did send me a new wiring harness for the tender. She stopped stalling and would craw at slow speeds, happy, happy, joy, joy again! Time to buy a sound decoder for her! NOT!
Next problem, sometimes the number boards light will go out, I was not worried about that. When you remove the upper shell where the LED's are for the number boards, there are 2 springs from the printed circuit board contact the leads for the LED's, they must need to be cleaned.
Now the headlight stop working, but the number boards are working fine? When headlight goes out, if I crank it up (engine) to full speed for two laps it starts working again? I have had the PC board out of the engine before, I do not remember any wires that go to the front pilot to power the head light. How does the head light get power?
Looking foward to some answers from the great folks at this site.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust