MicroAce A-5071 motor problems.

[Sascha]

Hi guys. My new Tokyo Series 03 from MicroAce has problems getting into gear. Most of the time I have to give it a little push to get it started, so I thought it has to be driven in, but today it took about 10 seconds for it to get started. The front and back lights turn on if power is applied, but it wouldn't drive ,so I'm getting a little worried here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[katoftw]

Have you tried it with just the motor car on the track?  You need to single out any other possibilities first before tearing apart the motor car.

[cteno4]

Sascha,

 

like kato said, first just try the power car by itself and seen how it behaves. few questions:

 

a) does it run smoothly in slow speeds once going?

 

b) did this do this right out of the box?

 

c) have you run it for a little bit (like 15-30 min) in both directions yet? at time some motor mechs need a little breaking in to get the lubrication all in there and running smoothly. this is really variable, many times they run clean right out of the box, but sometimes a little break in like this helps if there are some jerky or stalling issues (that is on clean track!)

 

d) so you said that it took 10 secs with power to get going, did you need to push it to get it going or only 10 secs after pushing it did it get going?

 

then make sure to clean the track you are testing on well. 

 

then if still having issues, first look at the wheels to see if there is gunk on them at all. while i doubt this is an issue if new, still next in line for checking before opening it up. if there is crap on the wheels then take your 62mm power feeder track and put it on the wheels of one truck with the motor car on its back to make the wheels spin. while spinning use a qtip with a bit of isopropanol on it to clean the spinning wheels. go very lightly on the traction tire wheels.

 

before you crack it open you could give it a small drop of medium weight gear oil on the truck gears you see exposed on the underside of the trucks. do this very, very sparingly with a tooth pick to apply a tiny bit at a time and runs some. you can use the wheel cleaning trick above to apply a tiny bit and run a little bit in both directions (just flip the track) and apply again. this way you can do a tiny bit at a time and work it in and also any extra wont be spraying onto your tracks. I have had MA motor cars that come pretty dry on the lubrication and run poorly, but with a little careful lubing they get going much better.

 

other place to look at lubing would be the motor bearings, but probably not as much an issue on a brand new train. there you want to use very light weight bearing oil and again very very tiny amounts to where the shaft enters the motor housing.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[HantuBlauLOL]

Someone said MA motors runs bad at the first time. You should run it for 15 mins continuously to make it runs better.

 

Btw MA doesn't offers spare parts as far as I know, but you could send your broken train to them to get it fixed.

[railsquid]

Both MA trains I've bought (Keihan 800 and DD16) were a bit rough at first and have improved with some running-in.

 

I've just scored a third one which though new has probably been sitting on a shelf for a while; I'll see how that one goes.

[E6系]

Hello,

 

I have the same model.  Please allow me to investigate over the weekend and get back to you.

[Sascha]

Thanks for all the answers. First of all,this is a NEW train.I did try the motor car only, but the same happened, and its doing it out of the box..It runs great on low speed. I did run the train for a view hours since I got it. When it runs, it runs, and doesn't stop by itself.I had to push it after 10 seconds, and I found out that it doesn't start if I push it to the left, I have to push it to the right, for it to start running.I clean my track once a week, and I did try it after cleaning, but the same thing happens. I don't really want to open it, because I might ave to send it back, because I don't have the experience to mess with a motor. I will try putting oil on the gears. Any suggestion of what kind of oil I should use (Company)? Thanks a lot for your offer HantuBlauLOL, but if I can't fix it without taking the train apart, I send it back. I'll keep it running, and see if it gets better in a view days.I hope its not a big problem, since I really like the Train. Thanks everybody!!!!

[katoftw]

It is not normal even for MA standards.  When all my MA trains were new, low speed running was very jerky.  After 5-10 minutes of running, the low speed jerkiness was gone.  What you are experiencing is a completely different ball game.

 

I would with someone of limited abilities to try a semi dissassemble the motor car a little.  Make sure wheels aren't contacting shell/chassis.  Make sure bogies/trucks have free movement.  Make sure axles, flywheels and motor spin freely.  All these can be done with very minimal dissassembly.

Edited December 12, 2014 by katoftw

[HantuBlauLOL]

Well, that isn't normal.

 

Btw have you reassembled the bogies and chassis? If you didn't, try doing it and apply power directly to the motor. If it's running, then it would be an electrical contact or gear problem.

Edited December 12, 2014 by HantuBlauLOL

[railsquid]

I've just scored a third one which though new has probably been sitting on a shelf for a while; I'll see how that one goes.

 

Runs fine, no complaints.

[Sascha]

I'll see. Thanks for the help.

 

 

 

Live long and prosper.

[cteno4]

Sasha,

 

Yes you might try to wiggle to trucks some to make sure they are rotating freely, sometimes they get a tad out of kilter ans then can cause running issues.

 

For oils I've used the labelle oils for a very long time and they've done well. There are a number of suppliers out there and some new high tech things as well (but some of these require cleaning all the parts well first.)

 

107 is light oil for motor bearings and such

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Labelle-107-1-2-fl-oz-Multi-Purpose-Oil-Medium-pla-p/lab-107.htm

 

102 is a heavier oil/light grease that works well on the truck gears.

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Labelle-102-1-2-fl-oz-Gear-Lubricant-plastic-compa-p/lab-102.htm

 

Couldn't hurt to try a touch of luning on the gears at the bottom of the truck and smoe more running and see if it gets going.

 

This is not sounding good for a new train and might be good to talk to the supplier about returning it or having them send the motor car back to ma for you for repair (in my experience you need the dealer to send things to ma for repair, they won't take it directly from the customer, especially overseas).

 

When ma trains show up new not running great it's usually just a tad rough and growls that a little running and sometimes a tad of lubing takes care of. Usually it would be stalling at slow speeds that might be the issue if the arrive running rough out of the box. But that's fairly rare, but does happen. Micro ace mechs are not quite as smoothly engineered as kato or tomix, but are good runners nonetheless. Some can be more challenging to get apart than kato or tomix mechs (some of their drive trains are maddenly like a Chinese puzzle box to pull apart!)

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Sascha]

Thanks Jeff. I'll try that.

 

 

Live long and prosper.