Durability of wire harness

I have never had a wiring harness go bad.  That's not to say they wouldn't develop a bad connection but I would suspect that it would be one of the more reliable parts of your engine.  Electronic boards would probably be the most likely to fail.

Many Lionel engines use the motherboard as the major wire harness for connecting boards.  They can become damaged, but it would be simple to jumper the bad trace.  The other wire harnesses seem to be available and some what standard.  Also, Lionel sells individual colored wires with the pins already attached so that helps.

Now I would say that the wires being used are not very high quality anymore.  The insulation can be come brittle especially near smoke unit and or heat, and some insulation is too soft intially and can nick easily.  Not talking Lionel specifically here, but a general observation I am seeing.  G

I've seen a number of crushed wires when taking off the shell, it's actually quite common.  Typically, the either get trapped on the side of a PCB and nicked or crushed when the shell is tightened down with them under the edge.

I've only had one failure from this, a wire was rubbed bare on the side of a PCB and shorted. 

Thanks for input everyone. I did order the board last night also. I already recived a confirmation email that order is processed. Very fast indeed. Based on all your advice I am not ordering any harnesses. I am very carefull tucking wires in when putting shell back on, not always easy to do.

Jeff, you should perhaps use some cable ties to dress the wires if they flop down and get in the way of putting the shell back on.  Most modern command locomotives seem to need that for ease of getting the shells back on with all the wiring.  I also stick the shell wires to the top out of the way with hot glue or duct tape, whichever fits the bill better.

John, I will try that. Some engines I have opened used tape but it is always loose. I assumed they do that to get shell on as a one time thing. I never thought of hot glue. Great idea.

When I custom wire lighting in a shell, I almost always use hot glue to clamp the wires.  I normally use #32 wire-wrap wire and stick a little connector in the top of the shell to disconnect from the frame.  I use normal #24 insulated wire to go to the electronics in the frame.  The connector makes it easy to open them up for service, just pull the plug and set the shell aside.

Thanks John. It's the little bits of info like that when put to good use save not only time but aggravation down the road. Time well spent to do it right while the shells off. 

That would be my opinion.

Thanks to all I have learned here in the last month I am doing more maintenance work on my engines. I just opened a UP Legacy GP7 from I believe 2011. It had been opened by me awhile ago and then sent back to Lionel for warranty work back in February.

Before Lionel service put back together they taped the battery in holder with electrical tape. They taped the harnesses to the electronics and I'm not sure but I believe tied a few sets of wires. Pretty much exactly what gunrunnerjohn recommended I try. It did facilitate shell remover.

I found the batting pretty crisp. I changed it with Tiki wicking moistened with a few drops smoke fluid. There was oil inside from my over zealous filling. I love smoke. I replaced battery and taped as they had. Taped wires so they did not crush. Replaced traction wheels and easily put shell back on. Also lubed as needed. 

Main point is from the collective help of so many tips I have read here I was confident through it all. She's running smooth and smoking awesome. I really need to back off on excessive filling of SMU. 

Once you get the smoke unit working, you should wait until the smoke output drops off a bit, and then fill.  I tend to get carried away at times too, I had to open one up and mop up the excess fluid.

Lionel parts order update: I ordered parts for my E6 Atlantic Legacy Lindburg from Lionel on Thursday Sept. 6. They arrived on Monday, Sept 10. Extremely fast service considering there was a week end involved. All parts were in stock.

Lionel service makes it extremely easy to order parts offering an exploded view. I do not know if exploded views are available for everything. This was a newer engine. Kudos to Lionel for their parts ordering set up. I found the prices and shipping to be fair also. 

There were a few small detail parts on the engine specific to this E6. This is an awesome engine and I use it heavily. I am not familiar with how long parts are available from Lionel for specific items so I purchased these parts just for down the road use. Parts came  individually bagged and labeled very clearly which is nice also. 

I think that Lionel is one of the companies that have figured out that existing customers are frequently the repeat customers as well.   It's nice to see a company that offers good service after the sale.

I fully agree that Lionel customer service is one of the very best in the business. I have recently had occasion to contact Lionel regarding some small problems with a recently purchased locomotive. Mr Reagan went way out of his way to help me, and to send me the parts needed to resolve the problems. In my opinion, one could not ask for better customer service, and I shall continue to be a loyal customer until the end of my days.