Hi folks, hopefully I can find a few people who are adept at breaking down their N scale diesel engines and tuning them up. My issue is with an old Lifelike FA2. I purchased a pair of these way back in the early 2000's. 1 is still a decent runner, although it will need cleaned and lubed, the other had several issues upon purchase. The previous owner went inside and rewired the nose light with a rice light that never worked. The engine would not run slow at all. It simply wouldn't move slow - period. It also was running a bit loud and sometime a little choppy. I broke the engine down to the motor and cleaned a bunch of dried-up grease and other dirt from the gears. I rewired a new rice light. I resoldered the truck connection for a good, solid connection. I made sure all wire connections were clean and solid. I put her back together and there was definitely a lot of improvement. The engine was running fairly quiet (a lot quieter than before the break down), the rice light worked, but is not the light I want in the engine. The engine is no longer choppy and will run slow, just not the way I would like it to run. The main issue is the train runs very well but I have to give the throttle half power to get the train running at a normal clip, slightly less than half power to run the engine slow. The engine needs a lot of juice to perform it's normal functions. Any ideas on what I could do next? To be honest, she runs fine now, but I know she could run better. All opinions and ideas would be much appreciated.
Might be a issue with the magnets in the motor. If the motor requires a lot of voltage to begin turning, and the slow-speed control is poor, it usually means the motor has low torque. You can try re-magnetizing the magnets with one of those magnetizing machines, or you can try to find a replacement motor. Spookshow gives these models a decent review, so I think your model still has potential.
I'd go for a re-engining job. Better to start off new with a motor that has zero mileage on it and no old issues plaguing it. A heavy current draw from a motor like that, in my experience, doesn't bode well and promises more maintenance in the future. While you're at it, upgrade that 244 to a 251...
You could also have a dirty armature, so the brushes aren't making good contact. Another problem readily fixed if you... ..lol But there could also still be a little binding in the driveline, and a new motor won't fix that. Make sure none of the shafts are tight enough to bind.
These were built to a price and were decent runners. Your work looks really good, but improvements beyond what you've done may be limited. Spookshow's review is at [ http://www.spookshow.net/loco/llalcof.html ].
What is the current draw? High current draw indicates binding in the mechanism or problems with motor windings (shorts). Needing to turn up the throttle higher than normal for a given speed but normal current draw indicates a problem with brush/commutator interface (resistance to current flowing from one to the other - dirty, in other words). Doug
Thanks folks. Many of the suggestions I have already given thought to. A new motor would make the unit run like new, which would be a logical and proper fix. taking the motor apart is too tedious for me simply because I am as blind as a bat and my hands are not extremely steady. I could see many issues with me trying to clean the com and fit the brushes back into place. I think I will stay away from the engine breakdown. Actually, the engine does run very well with the exception of the extra juice required to get her rolling at a steady clip. Does anyone have a good suggestion as to where I may find a motor replacement for the unit?
Doug I haven't taken a meter to her. I figured I can already tell that I need the extra juice, so either breakdown the motor or replace it.
I know how it is to have deteriorated skills. Things I used to routinely do with my N scale stuff, including rewinding motors, have become a real challenge, now, with reduced eyesight and dexterity/feeling in my hands. it's sad. Those motors are real scarce, these days, so, unless somebody knows of a secret stash of them somewhere, replacement probably not a realistic option unless you buy a Life-Like parts donor engine and then you have a non-running loco laying around, something I dislike. The commutator isn't very accessible on these, otherwise, you could take a toothpick and clean the segments. Another thing I forgot to mention, above, is that, on a five pole motor, if one winding becomes detached from the commutator, the motor will still run but at a reduced speed for any given power pack setting, compared to a normal loco of the same type (your other one). Doug
I was going to start a new thread but figured this post would belong here. I was working on some of my Lifelike engines which seemed sluggish or just poor runners in general. I took apart my GP18 and gave it a good tune up. I rewired the trucks and cleaned and lubed the gears. I did notice I was having the same issue with the GP18 as with the FA2 as far as extra power needed to get the engine moving at a normal clip. So, as I would expect my Tech II pulse throttle worked wonders. My FA2 ran great at all speeds, I even had the unit creeping. The GP18 ran very well, but I still have some issues running backwards. The unit just does not want to run as well backwards as it does forward. Any solutions on this gentleman? Also, the unit makes too much noise. How can i dampen the sound? Other than that, on a grade scale it is running VG+. Some photos of the breakdown. Dirty, gunked up worm-gear box Some gunk in the trucks and dirty wheels Trucks cleaned up and rewired Reassembled and ready to splice wires Test run with my Tech II pulse control
It looks like there is too much forward-backward play in the worm (where those white washers are). That can affect backward-forward performance of the loco. Try adding some more washers so there is very little movement of the worm as the direction is changed. Doug
I gave up on the original chassis for the gp18s in my fleet. I bought some gp20s with the newer chassis design and beat-up shells, then swapped in the newer chassis under the gp18s and discarded the gp20 shells. The gas tank is not prototypical, but it doesn't bother me. They now run like Katos. I highly recommend this approach. Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk
I found that hard-wiring Athearn contacts with a supple wire between the truck contacts and the long strip on top of the motor, greatly improved performance and made a huge difference in the growling noise too. Once in a while, brush replacement is necessary. Quite often, I saw that disassembling everything to give a thorough cleaning of old grease, dirt-laded oil and other schmutz, followed by a re-lubing usually restored a faltering engine back to its former vigor. I did that with my old Model Power sharknose a few years ago, and it ran like new again. That one is turning 50 next Christmas!
Doug, I have tried the extra spacer suggestion but ran into issues. It appears that the design of the spring and shaft attachment to motor needs to have some play in worm gear for the gear to turn. The added spacer allowed no play and the gear refused to turn; the torque caused the spring to eject. I tried this on my Rock Island GP18, after several adjustments I decided to remove the spacer, I had added. I did notice a bit of a bur on the spacer I made, I am not sure if that was causing the gear to bind. I may retry this with a thinner spacer and see what happens. The current spacer is .015 thick. I believe I have some .01 laying around, I also believe I will need perhaps a nylon material as I believe the styrene may be problematic.
The washers or spacers need to be the right combination to allow just a minimum of back and forth movement of the worm but still allow free movement/rotation. Also, ideally, you want the worm to remain centered in the opening. Doug
Thanks for the heads-up, Doug. I tried a few different options and had no luck. I will try thinner spacers and see how that pans out.
@KWE You might try some silicone tubing instead of the springs . I think that will help the worm from moving back n fourth . Mike
As far as a replacement motor goes, this con-cor motor look almost identical to the one shown above. You will have to check the dimensions with those shown in the photos. https://con-cor.com/shop/n-scale-con-corkato-motor-for-pa-1-e8-u50-dl109-1978-1991/ If you want to do a can motor upgrade, I have gotten a few motors from these guys and they work well. You can even get cradles to adapt to the box shape in the frame. https://tramfabriek.nl/motors.html#!/~/ This was A video I found for servicing the motors in Micro Trains Z scale F7s. It is a similar motor design, but it involves cleaning carbon buildup in the communicator/brushes and replacing the brushes. I have no idea where you would get replacement brushes from for the motor. But even just a good cleaning might help things.
