Winding noise in LC+ A5 when running forward after having run in reverse.

Check your drive gears. Sounds like there might be a fair amount of play in them which could be the source of your problem.

I have the Pennsy LC+ A5. These units have fan driven smoke. The fan motor on mine is pretty loud, it could be that. I've never heard any other gear noise from mine.

Thank you both, I'll take a video of it tomorrow with the sound, but I don't use the smoke unit (it's off) -- also, to check the drive gears, I would assume I would need to take the shell off? I'm a little hesitant on that since I had a really bad experience with my first LC locomotive, the Silver Bells locomotive, it fell open on unscrewing it and couldn't get it back together again properly. Would this be something Lionel should fix or would it be ok to leave it as is without risking damage? This probably wouldn't be related to the can motor? I wish Lionel had a video on disassemble/reassembly for the steam based LC/LC+ locomotives, then I would do it myself. They could just record service techs fixing issues on various models and post them on youtube.

These are pretty simple to open up. 4 screws from underneath and the shell lifts off. Just be careful there's a few wires still attached just lay shell on a towel close to the frame. Motor also comes out farely easy with a couple screws. It's worth a look.

Gigabyte posted:

Thank you both, I'll take a video of it tomorrow with the sound, but I don't use the smoke unit (it's off) -- also, to check the drive gears, I would assume I would need to take the shell off? I'm a little hesitant on that since I had a really bad experience with my first LC locomotive, the Silver Bells locomotive, it fell open on unscrewing it and couldn't get it back together again properly. Would this be something Lionel should fix or would it be ok to leave it as is without risking damage? This probably wouldn't be related to the can motor? I wish Lionel had a video on disassemble/reassembly for the steam based LC/LC+ locomotives, then I would do it myself. They could just record service techs fixing issues on various models and post them on youtube.

You should be able to examine most of the drive gears by just taking it off the track. Gently push the drive wheels back and forth and check the drive gears for play and wobble.

Fixing them is another fun issue.

Thanks Superchief, I'll try that than, sounds much easier and safer than then my first experience and thanks for that tip on the wires. Now for fixing it, if it is gear play, what would I do? Is their something to tighten where a gear maybe loose, slightly out of alignment? I'll say this though, it's a very high frequency in/out noise, which I suspect maybe the motor rather than the gears, but I'll take a peek. That's also great to know about the motor too. I think it's by Mubachi? But I think they are custom and must be ordered directly from lionel by calling them, then I think there's a PCB board for motor detection, etc... but that's another topic, on buying parts now when these parts go and they are not available anymore, like in 8+ years.

Thanks as well H1000, sorry, I didn't see your post earlier, I'll check that too. Still would be awesome if Lionel/MTH (I have a few MTH locos too) would post videos of their service repairs. It would definitely boost confidence, identifying parts, troubleshooting strategies, tips, etc... when doing it on your own. There are hundreds of videos on building / tearing down PC's, building Arduino and Rasberry PI projects, why not Lionel/MTH do the same. Mike Reagan did some on youtube, but they were about running locomotives and voltages and power, not tear downs and reassembly. With LHS's far and few in between, it would really help those who want to fix it themselves.

So, I have a LC+ Diesel I recently purchased as "new" but is not only not new, but used and abused, the two figures were flying around inside the locomotive, plus whoever packed it, didn't put in the foam truck inserts, and only wrapped it in clear plastic wrap, not the double wrap with one having a lionel logo. Anyways, since it's going back, I decided to open that. I'm better at opening someone else's stuff, as I'm too careful/worried with my own which tends to lead me scratching/breaking something, and oddly enough, someone else's stuff is always easier to work with, my stuff tends to have annoyances like stuck screws, etc, while others tend to flow. Maybe it's a Zen thing. I don't know. Anyways....wow. I'm not impressed, actually a little bit worried about the PITA it's going to be having to replace these parts in the future, sooner rather than later. Really shoddy PCB work and cheap caps. At these prices, we should be getting Rubicon/Nippon/Nichicon, not Chong caps. If Dave from EEVblog was in the US, I'd give it to him for public review/scolding on youtube before I return it. Anyways, so many wires. The gears on the Diesel I believe are on the trucks, only the PCB/Lights/Motors inside the Diesel. I'll take a look tmrw at my A5 internally, too tired now.

Edit: Attached some pics of the internals of the Diesel.

SuperChiefer84 posted:

These are pretty simple to open up. 4 screws from underneath and the shell lifts off. Just be careful there's a few wires still attached just lay shell on a towel close to the frame. Motor also comes out farely easy with a couple screws. It's worth a look.

Hi Superchief,

Just a quick question for you when you have a moment, I didn't open it yet, but could you let me know when I do this weekend, will the smoke stack internal parts fall out, meaning, when I did the Silver Bells locomotive, parts of the smoke stack inside the shell fell out and I had a very hard time trying to align them back into place. On the diesel I opened, everything was attached and tied down with zip ties, so that didn't happen with that one. If that's the case, I'd rather send it to Lionel, as I don't want to break this one further while still in warranty. Also, once opened, do I just push the gears in if they are slightly out of alignment together, what will stop it from happening again once I close the shell and run it? I checked around on youtube and trains.com and other places but don't have a definitive idea of what I need to do once I get in. I read about backlash, but I don't think it's that.

Thanks!

Also, something tells me it's a gear issue with the recently repaired LC+ Rio Grande I got back from Lionel that makes a winding sound when running forward with the front facing your right hand (works fine in the other direction.) I'll open that up too over the weekend and take a look around there before I return it for repair again (but I think the gears are on the truck on that one, not inside.)

I can't comment on the gear noise as my gears run smooth and quiet. The reason I opened mine was because the smoke unit wasn't working and I had to replace it. Although I did pull the motor just to make sure the gears were greased and it came out easy once you remove the 2 motor mount screws.

Yes, to answer your other question. Everything is mounted to the frame when you pull the body off. I believe the single wire still attached goes to the headlight.

SuperChiefer84 posted:

I can't comment on the gear noise as my gears run smooth and quiet. The reason I opened mine was because the smoke unit wasn't working and I had to replace it. Although I did pull the motor just to make sure the gears were greased and it came out easy once you remove the 2 motor mount screws.

Yes, to answer your other question. Everything is mounted to the frame when you pull the body off. I believe the single wire still attached goes to the headlight.

Thanks for the quick reply SuperChief, that really helps, now I can open it up without fearing the worst, not being able to assemble it again. OK, I'm going to poke around this weekend and take some photos, I'll contact Lionel if I see something that is suspect and ask them what's the best way to fix it without wasting time and money sending it in.