Put too much smoke oil in my bachman h0 scale engine, and it stopped running at all. Anyone have advice for fixing this? A bath in denatured alcohol? Dismantling and wiping out?
I myself don't know why but I do know that my life like smoke generator and it says not to fill the unit more than 2/3s full. I don't know enough about the units, might overfilling it have caused it to overload every thing in the loco?
In my case, it simply overflowed, therefore probably getting on some electrical component and shorting it out...that's my theory, anyway. Just need to know what people have been able to do to fix this.
As smoke oil is non-conductive in bulk, it could not short out anything. But if it got on the motor brushes, it could cause them to lose contact the the commutator. If this is the case, remove the brushes, clean the commutator with alcohol, clean the brush holders with same. If you use a Q-Tip with some of the cotton removed, you can probably use it with the alcohol inside the brush holders. And a Q-Tip can be used on the commutator if you are prepared to pick all the loose strands off afterwards. Just be careful of the motor windings where the attach to the commutator plates.
To clean the brushes, soak them overnight in lacquer thinner, then blot dry with a clean cloth. Reinstall and test the motor.
Just pouring alcohol through the motor may give you a temporary fix, only to cause more damage down the road.