I bought a 4013 (no DCC/sound) on eBay which appeared never to have been removed from its packing.
However, when placed on the track, it may run a few inches, then shorts out. On my test jig, with
rollers under four of the driver axles, it runs well and only shorted very briefly once. I can’t
spot where the short is occuring. When I lift the rear engine wheels off the track, the short
goes away, so I suspected the rear pickup wiper assembly, and removed it; no dice. But to my
annoyance, the four retaining tabs on the wiper assembly all broke off even though I took my time.
Overly brittle spring material, I guess, but I’m going backwards.
Have any of you had this shorting problem and found the cause?
Also, is it possible to separate the engine and tender? No clue in the manual or from inspection.
Can you tell me how to remove the shell from the tender? (I’d like not break anything else)
Found the short. It was a wiper on the tender
five-axle section that got on the wrong side of
a wheel when I re-assembled it. It takes three
hands to do, and I came up one short.
It would appear you should have gotten a some more practice on a cheaper model before trying your mechanicing skills on that Trix. Hope you got everything back in good ordr.
Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes the best way to get experience is to dive right in. Not only did you find the problem, but you also figured out that you have to be REAL careful taking it apart. Good for you.
Yeah, I certainly got into it without good information. The only
Marklin service manuals I could find online are in German. Would
have been nice if some assembly drawings and DCC instructions had
been included, as with most locos sold here.
That broken wiper assembly on the engine is supposed to be a readily
available replacement part, I guess, because it is the only one
mentioned in the VERY brief english parts of the owners manual. So
no harm done; just time spent. The engine now runs fine because
there are at least seven other pickup points.
And Ken at Tony’s Trains told me how to get the tender shell off;
a screw is under one of the hatches. A speaker is on the way.
I have worked on other locos that were less complex, installing
decoders, etc., but make no claim to skill.