MY last ? for this week. MY engine is making a funny noise can anyone help me?

[KCS-221987]

My engine the EMD GP40 dcc which is the one that i asked for help in taking the shell. it is making noise the like something is grinding and it will only run when it wants to. so if you no how i can sovle the problem my ears are open.   thank you to the people who help me out on the shell.

[simkon]

you could have a broken gear or axle, or it could be something else, it would help if I could see it.

[Jim Banner]

KCS-221987,
I agree with simkon - it is hard to tell what is happening without seeing it.  But maybe we can tell you what to look for and you will be able to see the problem.

Remove the shell (that should be easy by now )  Put the locomotive on the rails and apply power.  Does the motor turn?  Do the universal joints at the ends of the motor turn?  Do the drive shafts turn?  Do the gears at the tops of the gear towers (on the trucks) turn?  Follow the motion right down to the wheels and see where the turning stops.  Sometimes this will require turning the locomotive upside down and looking inside the bottoms of the trucks.  To power an upside down locomotive, take two wires from your command station or from your rails and touch them to wheels on opposite sides of the locomotive.

Once you find where the turning stops, you have to figure out why it stops.  Is a gear turning but the shaft inside it sitting still?  Look for a split gear.  Is one gear turning but not the one that it meshes with?  Check the gears for worm or missing teeth and check that the gears are held properly in mesh.

If the motor turns sometimes but not at others, check for wiring caught in gears or drive shafts.  Check to see if it runs in some positions of the locomotive but not in others (this is a test to see if there is something loose inside the motor.)  If the locomotive runs when off the track but not when on the track, check to see if anything is dragging, such as a coupler trip wire.  If the locomotive is noisy when run with the shell off, get your ear close to the locomotive and move it around to see if you can tell where the noise is coming from.

Others may add other things to check and you may think of some yourself as you search around inside your locomotive.  Good luck.

Jim

[KCS-221987]

if anyone wants to see the engine go to youtube.com and type in guitar446 and i have a vid on it and another one coming with the shell off.