Ken,
That clicking sound is possibly a bent drive rod catching on a screw head, but you should not attempt to perform your own repair or you risk voiding the warranty.
I have never had to send anything back to BLI, but have read nothing bad about their service here on this forum, so your best bet is to phone them and ask for advice on sending it back.
A 4-piece nutdriver set that fits those small hex head screws on models is available from Micro-Mark, but it is rather pricey at $17.30 plus shipping, catalog number 80240.
Well, I recieved my Reading T1 one December fresh from the factory, I could not get home fast enough.
2 sad feet down the workbench track it went back into the box and I was in tears or close to it thinking the thing does not perform at all and may be written off or replaced with a new T1.
5 weeks later I had the unit back in perfect order with a handwritten repair order showing things that I missed and fixed.
My BLI F unit lost a speaker (We did not know it at the time, we thought we muted the unit and hammered the Digitrax trying to program the sounds to live again) that took 8 agonizing weeks. But BLI was being hammered with stuff in that period and stayed in touch.
I do have the M1a and that engine has yet to toss anything. The rest of my BLI steam fleet are doing ok but they are picky at times. They sleep in boxes until it's time to run, the day or two before, I go over them with a lube, hex screw driver checking all the nuts on the rods and run with the sound off to see if there is any problems and look for waddle.
I also had a Spectrum 4-6-0 tender that got destroyed but replaced within a week from Bachmann over the phone and 60 dollars on the credit card.
My MRC 4-4-0 appears to have one of the drive rod's bolts working loose. It is right now on the bench ready for tomorrow's inspection with the Jeweler's Hex Bolt tools.
I have heard horror stories of 400 dollar engines taking the dive of death after breaking a rod off and raring up to smash itself on the floor 5 feet below. Maybe I go over all the rods before they run on a railroad.
The only engine I own that does not get any attention from me is the Like like's Proto Y3 2-8-8-2. That thing runs sooooo smooth that if anything happens it will become very apparent very quickly, and at 20 smph should be able to stop in time. (At 50th production unit out of whatever total run that was it better be smooth)
The day the the Y3 breaks and dies, Off to PCM for the Y6b thank ye!
Have some faith in BLI. Im sure they will make your engines right as rain before too much time elaspes. Reckon that if they require a few dollars to complete a repair due to age of the unit I dont mind. I ship it to them USPS Priority, insured and tracked all the way there, bother them all month and watch it make it's way back to the house ready to go like new.
If they stopped taking so good care of sick, broken and sad engines I would think it might be time that we found some one else to sell us HO scale steam engines. But that is my opinion.
One other thing, I do suspect that some if not all of the engines come out of the factory lightly lubed if at all. The M1a was my second BLI engine and that one gets alot of attention lubewise because it runs the most. I dont want to depress you but wanted to encourage you with the testimony that the M1a that I have has not failed me yet.
The amount of lube used on this one engine indicates to me that it does not hold lube very well. Either that or im not using the right ones (Labelle plastic compatible) I hate to think of all the oily wheels im going to see in my rolling stock.
There is a T1 4-4-4-4 coming soon to my home. When it gets here, that thing is going to be inspected and if there is a problem, right back to BLI for repair it goes. if I think it's a keeper it's a good day and one less problem for BLI.
Im awful demanding when I expect a product to work reasonably well and so far BLI's repair department has been outstanding. I am happy with them. Not like my cell provider... they totally screwed up January for this year. But we fixed that pronto with some red-faced yelling on the tech support phone.
If I ever call BLI and hear "Hello my name is Abdul, I know your problem and will help you fix it" in that bad accent especially before I have a chance to explain the problem; from somewhere beyond Bombay India is the last day I will deal with them.
Turn around will be between 4 and 8 weeks. The only engine that has given me problems was an Outlet Direct Niagara. It was just under seven weeks about a year ago now, but that was to and from Vancouver Island. Customs probably held it about two to four days in total. It was the decoder.
I have had good luck with BLI, and have had good service from them. You'll get an answer to emails within 24 hrs, usually by the end of the day.
Sorry about your steamers, Ken, they don't seem to have served you well. But, if you can maintain an upbeat attitude, they will all be running well in a short while. Let the warranties to what they offer, and you will be rewarded.
Now the BLI question, my new M1a must have blew the center drive gear. Yes it will run but makes a clicking sound like a PK2 with a cracked gear. I have had the M1a for 2 weeks max and is under warrtany. (when I first heared the clicking going backwards a fellow M1a owner said it was lack of lub, not now) What do you think the turn around time would be?
If I can buy the center gear I would rather fix my self, better to spend say $15.00 for part's than have the engine gone for 2 months with me holding my Tender in my hand.
But if I can get the part, where do I get a tool set for the small nuts?
At this point I am wondering if BLI is all it is cracked up to be? My first BLI Class J stripped out what I am guessing was the worm gear on the Arm after 2 hours with traction wheels that came on the engine. Came from K-10 trains and the replacment has worked fine for 60 hours of track time. Next was the Hudson, works great and draging some hoppers as I miss spell. Now the M1a, hum broke down. Plus I now have BLI Monon USRA Heavy 2-8-2, wondering if it wil hold up now?
Thanks for the answers that are coming and I really want some tools.
Broken again Cuda Ken
I hate Rust