Well I sent the engine back to Walthers and the tech from there called me and told me the motor shorted out because it was binding on the frame, something they don't see very often. So they are sending me a new chassis. I'm glade I sent it in because the motor is really stuffed in and hard to get at. The engine was still under warranty so I'm happy about that. Thanks to everyone for all your help.
Railcon44
Rail,
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QSIndustries/
Gerry Pruss, or any of the other members will be able to answer your question and solve the problem witha minimum of fuss.
Erik
Erik Fiske
I couldn't fix your brakes, so I made your horn louder
Basically at this point the decoder needs to be checked for voltage beign present to the motor. If there is no voltage with the throttle raised the problem will be the decoder. If you have voltage then the problem will be with the motor or the gears binding.
Springfield PA
I tried it on a DC track and it still does the same thing. I also had a friend that works at scale model supply look at it and he check the wires and the chip to see if any thing was loose, everything seem to be good. We also looked at how hard it would be to get at the motor and I decided to send it back to the distributor and see what coarse of action they will take to help me. I'm not that good at taking things apart and the way things look with that engine, well to me it looks like a night mare.
I would agree on trying it on DC. If it doesn't move there either, it probably means the motor isn't getting any power. Could just be a loose wire to the motor leads from the decoder.
I use a Philips Sonic Care ultrasonic toothbrush. They wear out the bristles eventually, and all toothbrushes should be replaced ever few months for hygiene reasons. In any event, the detachable want with the brush had a surprisingly powerful magnet that does the vibrating. It would hardly be worth procuring such an implement solely for the magnet, but it is on a metal wand and can reach into places and do an excellent job.
I offer this in the off chance you have something like it that might have a magnet.
Since there is no tether involved (?), as there would be on a steamer with tender, it sounds like the decoder is the problem. It is getting power, as evinced by the sound, although the power leads to the motor may have been compromised...not sure there. A tech would do a continuity test from the decoder's motor outputs right down to the motor contacts to narrow down the area of concern.
-Crandell
In my experience, the magic wand is too weak to reset some decoders. I use a more powerful magnet out of a microwave oven's magnetron, but any magnet that is stronger than the magic wand should help.
A double press of F6 should wake it up if it was put to sleep with F9. After resetting did you cycle the power? Try running it on DC to see if it could be a mechanical problem? You may have to remove the shell and use the magic wand to reset it.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
I have a proto 2000 E7 with sound from the factory. I was running it today and all of a sudden it just stop moving. The sound is there and I can hear it rev up, but no movement. I tried the F6 botton thinking i might have hit the F9 by mistake, but no good. I did notice that their is no independent air release when I put the throttle to zero. So now I tried resetting the cv's to default, both electronically and manual with the magnet, still no response. I don't get it! It was running really good and now just sound and no movement. Anyone have any ideas what is going on?