Lionel smoke unit troubles

Have you tried reprogramming the engine per the manual page 27?

Most likely bad motor, replace it.  G

Make sure the fan motor is not pushed too far down, make sure its not warpped or has a broken blade that is hanging up, test it without the shell on...then replace if it still dont work.

Tripping the controller and "sniff" noise confuse me. Not sure what you mean by either one of those.

No, I have not re-programmed. I will try that. 

With the engine powered up, I would turn the smoke unit on and it would trigger the overload on the power pack. Since I pulled the batting off the resistor this does not happen anymore. The "sniff" sound is the sound that is made as you cycle through the low, med, high levels for smoke off the legacy remote. 

The fan motor likely the culprit? I put some light oil on it since I had it open as it was making the high pitched hum when running. Is that a pre-curser to motors dying? Thanks!

Even though the fan may run on a battery, the voltage from the legacy board is much lower and it may not run.  Also it may run but draw excess current, again not good.  Lionel fan motors have what seems to be a higher failure rate.  So just replace it.

The high current is definitely the element side.  If gone, good, if not be careful or it will cost you a new RCMC board if this is a newer Legacy.  G

Replace the motor and make sure the element isn't shorted anywhere to the frame.  Like George says, you're flirting with a $120 replacement of the RCMC if you leave that short and run it.

John, that is an early Legacy with modular boards.  No RCMC.  I just worked on that one last week.  Good point on the smoke unit resistor being shorted.  That engine has the metal smoke unit.  

George is right on replace.  Motors are very cheap.

One important aspect of repacking the batting compartment is ensuring the passageway to the fan section is open.  If not, the fan may not be able to blow through the wicking and produce the smoke you are looking for. 

If your volume is turned down from the CAB-2 you may not be able to hear the "chi" each time you raise or lower smoke level.  Make sure volume is not turned down.    

Thank you very much everyone. I will order some parts. Really appreciate the help.