I thought I posted this - must have done it wrong.
I just received my Lionel B6sb switcher and two Lionel plug door reefers. There are two problems I've found with the couplers on the reefers. The first and largest is that they will not cause the coupler on the B6 to close. I've tried holding the reefer until the wheels on the B6 slip, and I've tried banging them together with force, but the B6 coupler will not close. This is also true of other Lionel freight cars: the open coupler on the other car will not close when pushed against the reefer.
The second minor problem is that the couplers on the reefer will not operate consistently over uncoupling tracks. The moving plate either will not come down far enough to open the coupler, or it will stay down after the coupler opens so it cannot close.
I have not tried lubrication on the coupler mechanism yet - was hoping to hear from someone who has solved the problem first. These are good looking cars and I want them to work (already have operating plans for them). I bought these from TrainWorld, and their response to the problem was to contact Lionel.
Has anybody else experienced problems like these with the new reefers?
