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The front electrocoupler on my LionChief Plus CP Rail GP38 #82825 is not working. The coupler sound works fine, and the rear electrocoupler works fine. I tried unplugging the molex connector and plugging it in again, and there was no change. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

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One of Weaver's last models.  GP38-2.    LC GP38 may have been Weaver stock, or molds, when they went out of business.  IMO  Mike CT.   

My guess ERR may have replacement couplers that would work, if Lionel does not respond.  There were several different coupler lengths that were used. 

  

Last edited by Mike CT
Mike CT posted:

One of Weaver's last models.  GP38-2.    LC GP38 may have been Weaver stock, or molds, when they went out of business.  IMO  Mike CT.   

My guess ERR may have replacement couplers that would work, if Lionel does not respond.  There were several different coupler lengths that were used. 

  

Not even close. Lionel’s LionChief Plus GP38 units are from its 1980s toy train tooling.

http://www.lionel.com/products...-locomotive-6-82825/

gunrunnerjohn posted:

First step is to measure the resistance of the coupler to see if it's the coupler or the board.  You should get around 5-7 ohms across the coupler when it's unplugged.

Hi John.  I'm having this same problem with my UP LC+ GP38 (6-82828). The front electro-coupler will not operate/open.  I can check the resistance as you mention.  Do you know what voltage is used to operate the couplers?  AC or DC?  I was planning to disconnect the front coupler and try to test it separately, to confirm if it is a problem with the coupler, or the control board.

I see replacement electro-couplers from Lionel are $14.  (part# 6308821550)  I didn't want to order a new coupler until I confirmed the problem is with the coupler itself.

Well, I found and fixed the problem with the front electro-coupler on my LC+ GP38.  After swapping the front and rear coupler connections on the PCB, I confirmed it was a problem with the front coupler.  After removing the electrical tape wrapped around the front coupler coil, I found one of the leads had a bad solder connection and had become disconnected: 

 electrocoupler1

I re-soldered the connection, and opted to cover the coil with a piece of heat shrink tubing instead of wrapping it with electrical tape:

 electrocoupler2

So overall it was an easy fix.  Although it’s a bit disappointing the electro-coupler would fail like this after a few years of ownership and not much run time. 

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