I have an MTH PS-1 Big Boy that the chugging sound is very sporadic, just an occasional chug or two randomly, with no apparent rhyme or reason as to when it chugs. Has anyone else had one of these with this problem? Did you find the problem/solution? I am wondering if it has an optical sensor on a flywheel or an axle that may need adjusting. I was hoping that someone might know if so where is it located front/rear engine set, or some where else? For obvious reasons I would prefer to not disassemble anything more than necessary to fix it, so I am holding off on the exploratory surgery, Hoping that someone can point me in the right direction before I start.
Thank You in advance for any help that may be offered,
Doug
Doug,
Did you check the MTH site to see if there is an illustrated parts breakdown ?
What about a reset, think that mite help ?
One of the other Dougs
Don’t know if this will help, my one gauge challenger has an optical sensor on the rear driver set. you must take off both sets to access this. not a bad job, and you can do the yearly lube while it’s apart. the optical sensor reads a strip of tape around the flywheel and maybe it’s something easy. I would not be afraid of dissassembly and a little extra work. MTH has a parts view incase you lose track of parts locations and I would recomend to take pictures along the way to help reassembly. If I can help, please ask, Joe
Lionel uses a micro switch driven by a cam. I’ve had a couple of these switches go bad and had the same symptom. I don’t know if MTH uses the same technology. One way to check is to turn the volume down, run the loco, and listen closely for the clicking of the switch. It may sound erratic as the chuffs do.