Athearn FP45 pickup issues?

[ChrisKLAS]

Hi guys,

I recently picked up three of the latest-run Athearn FP45s with Tsunami decoders. All three, out of the box, lurch along the track (the same track other trains are running across flawlessly) losing power every 1 or 2 seconds. These aren't momentary power drops that cause the sound decoder to reset, these are drops severe enough to where if one engine is running alone, it'll stall and just sit there without power. No headlights when they lose power so it doesn't seem like a motor-decoder connection issue. I've checked the electrical contacts from the trucks to the frame and they appear to be fine, so I'm at a bit of a loss.

Has anyone experienced this with these models?

Thanks!

[peteski]

After experiencing the power dropout does the loco start running again by itself (after a brief stop) or do you have to give it a manual nudge to get it running again?

[jagged ben]

Oil on the wheels?

[nkalanaga]

No, mine haven't had any issues, other than some dirty track, where I haven't run in a while.  Once I cleaned the track they worked, and it didn't take much cleaning.  All I did was rub the railheads with my finger.  Apparently it was dust more than oxidation.

[ChrisKLAS]

Oil on the wheels?

Bingo! I opened up the trucks on one and they were absolutely drenched with lubricant, almost like they'd been dipped in it. Gobs and gobs of it. Cleaned them all out, lubed them up properly, and now all is well. Thanks for the tip!

[nscaler711]

That explains alot with mine also... Thanks!

[peteski]

Bingo! I opened up the trucks on one and they were absolutely drenched with lubricant, almost like they'd been dipped in it. Gobs and gobs of it. Cleaned them all out, lubed them up [properly, and now all is well. Thanks for the tip!

Most model locomotives are grossly over-lubricated at the factory. Kato was the exception, but nowadays even some of their locos are a bit over-lubricated.  Some of the models (several Atlas and LifeLike models) had so much oil applied that it actually oozed out of the mechanism and onto the body. There are actually shiny oil stains on the outside of the body! In worst cases there was so much oil that it actually got absorbed into the model's foam cradle!

[WBRRVP]

I've been bitten by the over lubricated trucks on several F45s as well. Now I just pull them and clean them out before putting them on the layout.

Jerry
Washington Belt

[jagged ben]

Bingo! I opened up the trucks on one and they were absolutely drenched with lubricant, almost like they'd been dipped in it. Gobs and gobs of it. Cleaned them all out, lubed them up properly, and now all is well. Thanks for the tip!

Glad to help.   This is actually one of my favorite locos (I have several F45 and FP45s), but yeah, some of them come with way too much lube.