Legacy Engine not responding to anything

I understand you want your engine to work and I don’t blame you a bit, but it sounds like it has an issue that not even Lionel can fix. If I were in your shoes I would return it to the dealer, get a refund, and go buy something else. Do you want an engine that seems likely to keep giving you trouble and costing you money when out of warranty?

Sounds to me like it needs a new board, send it back to Lionel. Dealer shouldn't have given it back to you if it couldn't be programmed correctly.

Matthew,

      The item you have are the Southern E8 AA set correct? Although both engines are powered only the lead A unit has sounds. When programming use the same ID number say you use #69. Both engines need to be programmed as engines using # 69. However the trailing A unit 6914 does not have sounds so you will not hear a horn blow when programmed. Make sure you hit set after programming each engine and move the Program/Run switch to run. Now put them on the track address them as engine 69 turn the throttle on your Cab2 and you can blow the horn, ring the bell etc but sounds only come from engine 6901. Let us know how you make out. Good luck

JohnB

First off, with your description, I'm 99.44% sure that nobody will have an accurate diagnosis of the issue without actually seeing it and being able to do some testing.  If it won't run in conventional, it clearly has some internal issue.  It could be simple, or it could be not so simple.

@JohnB posted:

Matthew,

      The item you have are the Southern E8 AA set correct? Although both engines are powered only the lead A unit has sounds. When programming use the same ID number say you use #69. Both engines need to be programmed as engines using # 69. However the trailing A unit 6914 does not have sounds so you will not hear a horn blow when programmed. Make sure you hit set after programming each engine and move the Program/Run switch to run. Now put them on the track address them as engine 69 turn the throttle on your Cab2 and you can blow the horn, ring the bell etc but sounds only come from engine 6901. Let us know how you make out. Good luck

JohnB

Hello JohnB,

I tried this when first programming them and the trailing A unit acknowledge that it was programmed since the cab lights turn on but no horn since it doesn’t have sound. The front A unit does not make any sound nor does the cab lights come on. The number boards are the only thing on it and that’s it

That's one clue, the number boards are directly track powered.  The fact that nothing else happens suggests either the RCMC has croaked or the board is not getting power.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

That's one clue, the number boards are directly track powered.  The fact that nothing else happens suggests either the RCMC has croaked or the board is not getting power.

What I don’t understand is why it was working but then it stopped working. Would that be maybe because the RCMC fried itself?

Like I said, without actually seeing what's happening inside, it's really difficult to have an informed opinion of what is actually wrong.  It could be a plug not seated, a wire connection broken, or it could be the RCMC croaked.

Since this issue seems too complicated for me to fix myself without voiding the warranty. I think I will send it back to Lionel for them to fix it. I like this engine too much to return it and I would return it and get a new one somewhere else but I can’t find any of these. Does anyone know if I can directly bring this to Lionel in Concord, NC either to there retail store or warehouse? I actually live close to there and I think it would be better to directly talk to someone about fixing it rather than on the phone. Also don’t want to ship it again since when I got the engine back one of the air tanks on the top broke off so I had to re-glue it.

I'd contact Lionel to see if you can drop it off, that would be a good option.  You might also ask if you can pick it up when it's done, again it would be nice to not have it shipped back.