What would you do with PK2 defectives?

[SpaceMouse]

I have a Proto 2000 F2 A/B. The B has a short in the DCC socket and has blown two decoders. The A unit has loud whine and when running side by side with the B unit runs about half it's speed or less. I got them from Train World. They maybe have 5 minutes running time on them.

Would you call Train World?

Call Life Like?

Ask for money back?

Ask for replacements?

Shoot them with a 12 gauge pump until you can't find the parts?

[Anonymous]

I'd get in touch with Lifelike - sounds like you're looking at a new PC board for the B (assuming that's what's causing the decoders to blow), and some work on the A unit. Best approach in my experience is to explain your problem and leave it up to them to find a solution that suits you. Personally I'd be asking for a new A-unit mechanism (and swapping the "good" PC board from the A into the B - I think most of these locos use the same board but without the headlight, my C-Liners certainly do), though I appreciate that taking a screwdriver to expensive locos isn't the easiest thing to do. The alternative with the B would be to scrap the PC board and do a hard-wired decoder installation, checking for any shorts as you go with a cheap multimeter. Certainly approach Lifelike before picking up any tools, as they may get "awkward" about the guarantee if you open them up. Hope this helps!

[cacole]

I've had very good experience in dealing with LifeLike. Phone them and explain your problems, and they will probably send you free replacements. They even paid the postage when I had to replace some trucks on a BL-2 model.

[tstage]

Chip,

Since you lost both of your decoders and it was the fault of the product, see if Likelike will send you replacements, "decoder-installed". Worth a try...

Tom

[cmrproducts]

Well if had them I would have them fixed in about 15 minutes or less. The A unit something is either rubbing or the motor needs oiled. I have had the motors on these need olied when I pulled them out of the package.

I put a drop or 2 of oil in behind the flywheel and rolled the flywheels a bit and then put on hte tracks and run it a bit. The motors would not make noise at real slow speeds but as soon as you would speed it up the vibration shoud would start. It was the motor bushings dry and the motor armiture would begin vibrating.

The B unit might have a bit of solder dripped across the circuit board somewhere.

BOB H Clarion, PA

[rrinker]

Good call Bob. The motor bearings are most often overlooked, usually because they are a bit difficult to get oil to. This can cause all sorts of crazy things to happen - loud squealing noises are common.
On the other hand, the new in box SD7 I just installed a decoder in for my father in law had enough grease in the gearbox to lube a dozen locos. It ran MUCH better after I cleaned it all out and applied a proper amount of Labelle. I've seent his across all brands of locos though - some come from the factory dry, while others have way too much lube in them.
The lesson here is - always check things out before the first run, it can save a world of headaches. As for the short - this is why I take my meter to EVERY loco, even when they have 8-pin sockets. I guess I'm paranoid - I don't trust ANYONE, just because they say it's DCC ready. Especially on those P2K - They do some really wacky things with their directional lighting boards sometimes. After tracing it out and drawing it out in schematic form, I am left shaking my head. I wonde if they have subcontracted Lucas in England for the design work - anyone from there, or fans of English sports cars will understand what I mean. So far the SD7 wins the proce - there was a resistor on the board that absolutely is not connected to anything. I gave up and tossed the board and hard wired the decoder, saved myself a lot of trouble.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

I would called life-Like to address the problem.I owned 5 of them no problem yet going on 7yrs now.

[Anonymous]

Send it back to LL. They have an awesome warranty policy. I recently purchased a bunch of their N-scale GP-20s that are on sale. One of them was extremely loud and would slow down 50% going into turns. Now I could have opened it up and most likely fix it myself (most likely a bearing problem) but I'm short on time these days so I dropped in in the mail.

Sent the loco back on a Sat. and got a brand new one on Thurs. in my mailbox. They didn't even bother to fix it. Granted this is from MD to NJ, the service still is outstanding. I've heard similar reports like this.

Don't bother with Trainworld. They'll most likely tell you to send it back to LL.

[Don Gibson]

MOUSE

Would you call Train World? No.

Call Life Like? Yes

Ask for money back? No ask fo repairs.

Ask for replacements? only if qualifies under warrantee

Sticky part: Addiing sound modules - Any modification to their product nulify's the warrantee. (Perhaps the modules caused the problem?) TALK to them

I doubt reimbusment for the modules is even an option as THEY didn't install them or sell them.

Trainworld can only replace or credit what they sell.
Life Like can replace or repair original unit's, at THEIR option..
Both have exclusions in their policy's.

Only a TONY'S TRAIN EXCHANGE type that sells you a complete product with istallation (theirs) will cover whar you are looking for. Either way you get what you pay for - and pay for what you get.

[SpaceMouse]

I called LL this morning. Left vociemail. No call after 4 hours.

[SpaceMouse]

They told me to oil the bearings on the A unit and they are sending a "circuit board assembly" for the B unit.