An update,
I had to take the wheels off twice but the second time around I did a very thorough clean of the axle pins (the part that sits in the truck socket) and the sockets themselves.
I pulled out the wheels and cleaned them with isopropol alcohol which I rubbed off (hard) with paper towel. I then used alcohol/paper towel to scrub the axel pins until they shined. You couldn't believe the amount of black carbon crud that came off them! This is when I knew I was on to something.
Then I used one of those plastic micro brushes dipped in alcohol to clean the inside diameter of the socket where the axel pin rides. I used a separate microbrush to dry it. I put it all back together and for now, the loco seems to run well. It does hesitate a bit going slow over the unpowered frogs on my Atlas turnouts, but that's a different fix (which I plan to do).
I must say here that I did get good help from the people at Horizon Hobbies, which owns Athearn now.
I will keep watching this thread. I'd like to hear if this (or any other tips) helped anyone else with this.
CPfan I managed to get the trucks off and clean and reset the wheels. I did the front truck, tested it and the loco ran like day one. I figured I'd do the back truck while I'm at it and ... loco wouldn't run. Sound decoder worked and I could turn the headlight off and on but turning the throttle up wouldn't make the loco move. Then suddenly it did. Not only that, but the rear headlight I thought had burned out long ago suddenly worked. For about 19 seconds. Then it went out and I can't get it back on. Gremlins in this loco it appears. The good news is that the loco runs much better now, so thanks for everyone's advice and input. Now I have to glue on all the detail parts that came off in the fixing! Still not sure about that headlight.
I managed to get the trucks off and clean and reset the wheels. I did the front truck, tested it and the loco ran like day one.
I figured I'd do the back truck while I'm at it and ... loco wouldn't run. Sound decoder worked and I could turn the headlight off and on but turning the throttle up wouldn't make the loco move. Then suddenly it did. Not only that, but the rear headlight I thought had burned out long ago suddenly worked. For about 19 seconds. Then it went out and I can't get it back on. Gremlins in this loco it appears.
The good news is that the loco runs much better now, so thanks for everyone's advice and input. Now I have to glue on all the detail parts that came off in the fixing!
Still not sure about that headlight.
Don't forget to solder the connections. Particularly the ones on the metal sideframes for pickup and the other end of those pickup wires on the DCC board. From what you're saying that's what I'd do. Those plastic push on clips can work loose.
Richard
CPfan So I'm starting on this repair and ran into trouble right away. How does one remove the side frames on the trucks? I tried to gently pry them away but met with resistence and so I'm asking everyone out there if there's something I'm missing. I got the shell off the loco with no problem. Just wondering how to get at the inside of the trucks.
So I'm starting on this repair and ran into trouble right away. How does one remove the side frames on the trucks? I tried to gently pry them away but met with resistence and so I'm asking everyone out there if there's something I'm missing.
I got the shell off the loco with no problem. Just wondering how to get at the inside of the trucks.
You have to take off the bottom cover by prying off the four clips, two per side front and rear of gear housing. It has four legs that hold the sideframes on.
LOL, yea I'm working on mine today and got it working fine, finally. I didn't solder the wires-YET, will do so tomorrow. All the typical stuff was done beforehand, so won't bore you with the details.
With my ohm meter I diagnosed the problem to the wheel axle, pickup interface, at least that's what it looks like. The ohmmeter kept bouncing around when I moved the wheel with the tip of my ohmeter and the other tip on the opposite end of the pickup wire. Could be the ID of the pickup side frame is too large? Regardless, what worked for me was to lubricate the interface of the axle and side frame hole ID with mobil 1 10w20 and to reset the sideframes(don't really know if this portion is necessary). AND I also recentered the wheels on the gear shaft connector. It appears that one or more of the gears was up against the inside of the gear housing because one wheel was closer to the plastic connector than the other, ie offset. The wheel that had very little distance to the gear shaft connector probably also couldn't allow the larger portion of it's axle to contact the side frame pickup hole. So with the NMRA gauge and a small screwdriver I centered the gear to be almost exactly between each wheel while maintaining proper NMRA specs before assembly. This way the axle shaft portion with the larger OD could more easily get contact on BOTH sides with the side frame pickup. As you know there's some pretty large tolerance with the NMRA gauge, so I set my wheels on the wide side (but not absolute max) so that the larger axle shaft would contact the side frame pickups better.
The above fixed my intermittent problem, hopefully it will fix yours.
I also clipped the worm gear housing clip on the outboard end(one side each clip) to allow for more free movement of the truck as the guy above did. We likely saw the same problems--lol.
I had some problems because the trucks could not swing freely and loosing contact with the rails sometimes. I removed a tiny bit from the clip holding the front truck. After that did the engine get contact at all eight wheels on not so perfect tracks.
Reinhard
Greetings,
Just read through your thread because I have the same loco, with the same problem. Thanks to your work, I won't bother taking it apart.
I've got an email in to Athearn, I'm hoping they can help me. If they do I will give them a shout out on this thread and a thankyou on my blog.
The problem in my case seemed to get worse with time. I've had the loco since 2012. I ran well for while, then the pickup problem just got worse. I went crazy constantly cleaning the wheels and track, but other locos ran just fine. I thought it was unpowered turnout frogs, but I'm now sure it's a loco problem, not a track problem. I use DCC and have tons of feeders, most rails joints are soldered, etc. I can't make any of my other locos stall at all.
Hopefully Athearn is willing and able to fix this problem. This is the only problem I've ever had with one of their products. Stay tuned.
relationThanks to all for your help I'll keep at it till I get it.
and just by chance ,you dont have it adressed on a 2nd throttle do-ya, ...Jerry
relation But if someone else has any ideas as to remedy this that would be great.
Stop guessing and narrow it down.
Remove the shell. Attach a 14v lamp temporarily to the decoder input connections. Operate the engine until the concern is present.
Does the lamp go out or flicker? If yes, then you have a pickup problem.
If no, then the decoder is getting adequate power. I would then suspect a defective decoder if all connections are good at the decoder and motor.
Jim
Just for giggles - try running it with the shell off and see if it reacts the same. Soundtraxx decoders tend to run on the warm side. You might just have one where too many tolerances are on the low side and the thermal breaker is tripping. I had one that exhibited the same thing. Would run longer with the shell off, but still ran too hot and would still keep shutting down - just longer intervals. Blowing on the decoder to cool it also helped it function longer .... although obviously not a cure. The decoder was returned ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Mark I have cleaned the bushings the wheels. Have soldered all connections no plastic clips and also did the suggested ideas from Tonys. It still has problems if the wheels don't work it has to be the decoder. But if someone else has any ideas as to remedy this that would be great.Thanks so far for the posts.
Longer axles won't cure anything. If they are more than a few thousands longer, they will likely just cause more problems due the the side frames possibly pinching the ends.
Have you cleaned the INSIDE of the bushings ?
Have you soldered all the wire connections from trucks to decoder ?
Did you try the idea as suggested above from Tony's site ?
There's really nothing wrong with the factory set-up .... it was just executed poorly and needs some fine tuning.
Just an update it has been 7 days since I sent an e-mail to Athearns and have not heard anything from them about this problem.So I ordered new wheels with a longer axle from Northwest Shortline they should be here any day now will install them and see if that solves the intermitant problem. If that doesn't do it it is in the decoder there isn't anything left so will let all know the results.
Relation
I did take the trucks apart and cleaned them again and tryed it once more with the same results. It could be the sound decoder but not sure how to determine if its the trucks have pour pickup or the sound decoder before I do anything else I sent Athearns an email to see if they could help with this problem. And Rich I also sent Northwest Shortline a mesage to see if any of there products would help the problem I'm haveing. Just kind of an update as to where I'm at as of this point will keep everyone posted in case someone is haveing similar issues.
I don't own an Athearn Genesis MP15AC, but as soon as I saw the title to the thread, I recalled reading about intermittent starting and stopping problems with this loco.
Here are a few links to a common problem - - the interaction between the axles and the trucks. Pay particular attention to the discussion on the Tony's Trains web site, and see if that can remedy your problem.
http://www.tonystrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3197476
http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3766
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks Mark I did take the axles out clean them and the hole and put some Deox It which is a conductevity cleaning electrical connections but I do think that is the area which has a problem but not sure what to do with it.
More often than not, the problem is that lubrication has gotten into the axle pick-up bearings. Remove the bottom truck cover, pull the side frames and remove the wheel sets. Clean the axle ends and also clean the inside of the hole in the contact strip where the axle rides. Re-assemble clean and dry - do not apply any lubrication to the axle ends.
The DCC system isn't shuting down the engine just stops and of course the sound shuts down then has to start up again I don't think the decoder is overloaded because if I move the wheels it starts up. The way this engine picks up power from the rails dosen't seem to work real well but I'm not sure how to go about fixing it.
Does your DCC system shut down, or only the locomotive ? If only the locomotive, it sounds like the decoder is overloaded and its internal circuit breaker is shutting it down to keep it from being damaged. If your DCC system is shutting down, there is an electrical short circuit somewhere in the wiring. Watch the LEDs on your DCC system to determine whether it is shutting down, or if it's only the locomotive.
Lack of lubrication or a mechanical problem with the drive shafts and gears could be causing the decoder to be overheating. If this is what's happening, you need to tear down the entire drive system and check to make sure nothing is binding.
If it's a defective decoder, which has been known to happen, you need to contact Athearn about sending it back for a replacement. Since it is a factory inistalled decoder, I don't think SoundTraxx will replace it, but will tell you to contact Athearn.
I have a Athearn Genesis MP15-AC engine with factory installed Tsunami sound in HO scale and it will run for awhile then quite then startup again I have taken it all apart and took all the plastic clips that hold wire conections out and soldered all wires and checked for broken ones with a continuity tester but it still is intermittent. I think it might be the way the wheels pickup current from the track so thought I would check with all you knowlegeable railroaders on the forum to see if anyone had that same problem and how do I fix it. Thanks