My mth ac6000 is new but, the rear motor gets real hot! At slow speeds 0 to 5
mph it well jerk, at higher speeds its ok. As it runs by I can smell it getting hot.
Hope someone can help!
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I assume you have the body off, so your smeller can determine which motor is hot. If you raise the loco slightly off the track, will the other motor run ok? Is the hot motor the one with or without the tach tape?
I wouldn't put much work into it, if still under warranty. Let MTH bear the cost & effort of Chinese mfr errors---that's why the warranty.
It is the rear motor and I did remove the shell. I took out the rear motor and
look to see if tell if there was a problem. Put it back together and test it, so
far so good!
Reason I asked about the other motor is that if it isn't pulling properly, the rear motor would tend to overheat.
Yes, while I had the shell off I checked and it was working. Have been running
it with a 30 car train, it is getting warm, but not as hot as it was.
30 cars is a lot of weight even on a flat layout. With a 3% ruling grade, I'm double heading at 18 cars and above. Otherwise a single engine will start throwing off traction tires and motors do get hot.
I think you are right, I ran a short train and it is a lot less heat coming from
the rear motor. But I used some other locos and no problem, there motors
where warm at best.
2 points:
Just saying the number of cars is meaningless without considering the type of cars. Postwar Lionel cars, even when just lubricated, have much more drag than a modern MTH car. Just pull a string with 2 fingers on the lead coupler & you'll see.
If one motor on one loco gets much hotter than other motors on the same load, the motor must be defective. It could have an internal short which doesn't keep it from running but increases the amps drawn. If one can [spelling corrected] disconnect one lead at the motor and feed the power thru a DC ammeter under like loco loads, this can be checked.
I would suggest a phone call to MTH tech support, especially if under warranty. Sooner or later the motor will fail, probably from heat-weakened brush springs.
You're certainly correct about the vintage of the cars. PW cars have much more rolling resistance than modern cars, it's almost 3:1 difference using a pull scale. The weight of the cars is also not hugely significant on a flat layout, obviously that changes with grades.
