Dies after 30 seconds

What is the number of the engine?

I'd be curious how it acts with the smoke turned off.

Marty:  6-11319

GRJ:  I had read about Legacy smoke unit failure shutting down engines so I tried again with off both smoke units turned off....same result.  This happens no matter where the engine might be on the layout so I think we can rule out electrical continuity

Bruce

Sounds like the RCMC board might have failed. Just a guess but I have had some similar experiences.

Sounds like a power supply regulator failing.

I'm kinda leaning to Jeff's thought, the RCMC board sounds suspect.

Does it run in conventional?  If not the board failure sound correct.  Something failing when hot.  If it runs conventionally, may be the Receiver board.  Reset can't hurt.  G

With smoke off, do a reset then with smoke still off, try and see what you have.    George, it could be the pins on the receiver board we just talked about on Friday.  

Bruce, when the engine goes into funk mode, can you fire the rear coupler or hit reverse and see the backup light?  What do you get with the Odyssey switch turned to the off position?

Sorry for the delayed response.  A few of life's chores got in the way.   I shall perform everything suggested and report back ASAP. 

Bruce

I performed these things in order.

First, with both smoke units turned off I did another basic reset then ran the engine with the smoke units off.  Again, it stopped within about 30 seconds with a dim, flickering headlight.

After a few minutes at rest the engine was again able to be powered up as normal and run.   I shut off Odyssey, turned on smoke, powered up and ran around the layout for almost 2 minutes before it stalled again.  I was almost convinced I had it narrowed down to Odyssey, but no dice.  I suppose it's time to open her up and check out the power supply.

Bruce

Roller hot and ground feed directly into your RCMC board.    Grey wire is roller hot and the black wire is ground.   On the other end of the board are the plugs for the smoke unit and whistle smoke. 

Marty, where did you get that diagram?

John, I have them all.  Tech info from Lionel.   Save it as this board is the best yet.  When obtaining one, (board) it needs to be coded at Lionel for the engine it is going into.  Good board for troubleshooting smoke or couplers.   Just swap plugs from one output to another.    One stop shopping.  No more modular boards or motherboards to deal with.  An RCMC takes only a few minutes to change.  The good thing is they are a very good board.  When in doubt about a board, I have a known good board I swap in.   Takes only minutes.  This board has been around for a few years.  People usually do not pick up on it as they usually do not cause much trouble.

John, Lionel uses this board in non powered locomotives to run smoke, couplers, and lighting.