We have a Lionel Pennsylvania freight starter set which no longer smokes no matter how many drops are added. Have heard that there is a problem with Lionel smoke units and wonder if anyone can help us with this.
I havent heard anything about this, I too have a prr atrter loco and it smokes fine. Have you moved the switch under the locos cab? there is an on off switch next to the e unit switch. The unit can also burn out if it is run too long without adding smoke fluid. also too much fluid will flood the unit and will take very long to burn the excess oil before it again starts smoking. If you flooded it the best thing to do is turn the engine over and simply let the fluid spill out. If you used any other fluid besides what the manufacturer says, this too can cause the unit to fail or sometimes the unit just fails because it is faulty. Hope this helps.
Lionel smoke units are usually pretty trouble free, they just won’t choke you to death with smoke. Follow the advice above and you should find your problem. Especially to much fluid.
Got one of those Pensy Flier engines. Love it. Mine stopped smoking one day. Removed the shell [will make you say ugly words trying to reassemble it] and found the wire to the ground had come unsoldered. Resoldered it and it really smokes now.