Kato Allegra Problem

[enoden]

The lights go on, the train does not move.  Less than 20 minutes run time.  Any suggestions or information would be much appreciated.  Thank you.

 

 

[cteno4]

Dcc or dc? If dc it sounds like the drive chain got bound up.

 

First thing is to look with a bright light and magnifying glass at the trucks for any stray hairs or bits of grit gummed up in any visible areas of gears and axles. Use long sharp tweezers to probe into any truck opening to see if it pulls anything out. I’ve had power using haded to me that one cat hair gummed up the whole thing!

 

past that the it’s getting into disassembling the unit to see if something in the drive chain got bound up or for some reason the motor has lost power. Also once opened you can apply some power directly to the motor contacts to see if the motor and drive chain works and you just lost power to the motor somehow.

 

can you hear any motor noise when the lights go up? If you hear the motor whir and it doesn’t move then most likely the little drive shafts between the motor and the truck worm gear got stripped or snapped.

 

good luck!

 

jeff

[Tuga]

" Less than 20 minutes run time" 

 

Is it a "brand new" train? 

If so, maybe you should ask for a return or a replacement before you try to open it.

 

 

[enoden]

I carefully examined the gears and trucks, etc. with a magnifier and could see nothing wrong.  It was a big mistake to do that because that did not allow access to the motor, etc,. and it was a hercuiean task for my old eyes and hands to get it back together.  Man, is that ever a delicate piece of engineering!  Next, I turned it upside down and removed  the bottom plate which allowed access to the flywheels. I slowly turned the flywheels by rubbing my finger on them and lubricated the gears in the trucks with tiny drops of plastic compatible oil.  The gears seemed to be turning as I moved the flywheel with my finger so I replaced the bottom plate, put the unit back on the track and now it runs.   I have no idea what was wrong with it nor do I know what exactly I did to fix it but it runs now and I am happy. 

[cteno4]

Hey great! It sounds like it most likely just got bound up somehow and you cleaned the jam. I’d say 1 in 10 power units I repair I don’t quite know what fixed it but fiddling with it in increasing levels (start with the most non invasive and likely first and work up) until I’ve found the issue or it just starts running again! Good news is it’s not stripped or broken drive shafts and the motor did not get burned out! 

 

The more you do of this the easier it gets as its mainly proactive and seeing how things go together.

 

glad its working!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[enoden]

Somehow, a sentence or two in my last post got left out.  I started by removing the shell which was not at all helpful because it didn’t provide access to the motor or flywheels and the reassembly was what I was  referring to about it being so difficult and not helpful in attempting to resolve the problem. 

[cteno4]

ahh good info to know about models! thats an odder one to reach from below like that.

 

good its all working again!

 

jeff

[Welshbloke]

I've had a few models where there was nothing wrong but the motor just didn't kick into action. A good long run at speed generally fixes it.

[cteno4]

Yeah i do ascribe to the break in run like that to just smooth everything out and look to see if it overheats (indication of a problem and good to know early to not burn it up and also to return it if you desire). also helps get the lubricants well moved thru the system and you can see if it need any (ive had some come w/o any lubrication at all) more lubrication. also good to do it on a test track as ive had some new trains have wayyyy to much lubricant in them and then spray that on the tracks as well. we had this happen a couple of times on the club layout where a new train mucked a viaduct track and it took multiple cleanings during the day to try and get it all cleaned off!

 

this could have just been a little stray fleck of plastic from manufacturing/assembly that jammed up the gears or drive train that with fiddling got cleared.

 

jeff