My 2018 is having problems. Tuned it up, cleaned everything. Engine works great with shell off. With shell on, shorts out. I have taken it apart and put it back together many times. Checked for high solder points, anything touching shell-no luck. Anyone out there have this problem before, what did you find? I am almost ready to coat the inside of the shell with the 3m electrical insulation spray as a last resort. Need some ideas
Thanks
northernpike
From experience you cannot use the can type brushplate.
Second guess is the wire to the front bulb is cracked, depending on how it is fed to the front.
Check the wire that holds the railing on the inside.They need to be pushed out of the way
Wrong size E unit? Does the motor.actually go with the engine?
I would check your E-unit. I had a later 2026 that I had the same problem with, ran great without shell, and shorted with shell. When I finally fixed the problem, it turned out the drum in the E-unit was bad, worn or broken post on one end. New drum, and engine ran fine with shell on. Don’t know how that actually worked with shell off, and shorted with shell on, but that was the problem.
I’m going to guess with a pinched smoke unit or headlamp wire. Actually, I’ll go with a pinched headlamp wire that is smashed between the smoke unit and the boiler. Not that I’ve ever done that on a postwar steamer or anything…
J White
I had a similar problem with a 221 steam engine (it’s somewhat similar to the 2018). If I took the shell off it would run fine, then put the shell on and it showed an instant short. I found a wire that was pinched where the philips screw that holds the shell onto the motor chassis. It was hard to see the damaged wire, but upon close examination you could see the wire insulation was damaged right at the point it was pinched.
This is probably a long shot but I had something similar happen with a 2026 (2-6-4 model). Check the mounting screw for the rear truck. If it is just a hair too long it can short out on the e-unit shield. Had that shell on & off three times before I finally discovered the problem.
Shorted out smoke unit resistor wire-wire was pinched. Thanks to all for good advice. Now I just need a new smoke resistor. At least engine now runs!
had the truck screw happen once. had me scratch’n my head over that one. And IIRC, the can type brushplate will keep the shell from fitting on the motor, so if that happens it’s readily apparent.