StPaul posted:gunrunnerjohn
good news I finally received the pre programed RCMC board from lionel and installed it this evening I added smoke fluid to all smoke units cleared engine in remote and then re-added it as new taking no chances let it sit on track powered up let the smoke units have 15 minutes to warm up and both smoke stacks are working again. the whistle smoke and blow down seem to work better with this new rcmc board.
as all who own this big boy know it eats smoke fluid as a snack! apparently mine also likes to snack on rcmc boards this makes # 3 failure most say rcmc board is good design personally after 3 failures i'm not a fan of them.
later on if your willing gunrunnerjohn I'd like to send the last one to you see if its repairable. for those that like to fix own issues with locomotives this isn't a task for faint of heart folks but the photo lionel shows online of wiring color code on the various connectors and where they go are very helpful the hard part is getting all the wires back inside the lower area of frame so boiler top will lay flat.
time to let the BB stretch her legs
I am not a fan of RCMC boards either. A repairman put at least 3 in my FEF-3. After I got it back it lasted for 10 minutes. After spending more money on shipping He installed yet another one. That repair lasted another 10 minutes. Reached out to Lionel to please repair. Since it was out of warranty, they wouldn't touch it. In the end Lionel did refund my purchase price but I spent 600.00 in shipping and repairs.( non refundable) Have not bought Lionel since and wont again. I will try to maintain the few Lionel locos I have but wont buy any more.
