I recently purchased a Polar Express set and I have always been a O gauge guy so I put about 10 drops of smoke fluid in the locomotive but now it doesn't smoke at all. Is it possible that I broke the smoker? I ran the train for about one hour but still zilch. I can hear the smoke units fan puffing but no smoke.
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In my experience with Lionel Smokers in Legacy locomotives this can happen. I do not know why it happens, and I do not know if the PE smoker is wired like a legacy unit. But I would say if the fan is operating you can not hurt the smoker by running the locomotive.
I would turn it upside down and see if you get smoke fluid running out of the stack. Turn the smoke switch off and on and see if that makes any difference.
Good luck,
Aflyer
What also happens is that the fluid blocks the opening. Try blowing down the stack. I have two Berkshires and 10 drops will not hurt the smoke unit. Like Aflyer said also try turning the loco over to see if excess fluid comes out.
Thank you I will give all of the above a try.
Okay I don't know how but she is smoking again. I let the locomotive sit for a couple of days and then fired it up it took about 10 minutes for her to get smoking again.
I think it was flooded, and after a couple of days some of the fluid had evaporated, or as Major suggested it could have been that a fluid film was blocking to opening in the stack. I have had both happen to me.
I am glad to hear all is well.
Aflyer
RRADDICT2 - Go ant look at Smoke Units 101 on the Lionel website. My guess is that you will learn a lot about the smoke unit's behavior.
The locomotive is at Lionel getting repaired it started making a screeching noise. It is new so it is still covered under warranty. It was also only running intermittently so they will check the smoke unit to. I also found that Lionel smoke fluid works better in their smoke units than other brands.
I had one of my Lionel A/F diesels develop a rather high pitched screech, and it was the smoke fan, they changed it out at the service center and all was good after that.
As for your PE running intermittently that usually turns out to be an electrical pickup problem from either the pilot or trailing truck. It is also a pretty easy fix for the techs in Concord.
Hope you get it back quickly,
Aflyer
I just got my PE back from Lionel and they replaced the trailing truck, the tender, and another part or two. I guess there were more problems than just the screeching. I haven't got to run it yet but I will post this weekend and you all know.
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