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Athearn Genesis GP39-2 Problem Locos and rolling stock
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Active Member 58 posts SD70M2 Active Member 58 posts
SD70M2

Last October, my (very understanding) wife got me an Athearn Genesis GP9-2 (MKT) for my birthday. Outstanding detailed model and it ran just fine up until a couple of months ago. On my switching layout, I never run the models over 10 scale miles per hour, but I had given the model quite a few minutes of break-in time on an oval of track I keep for such purposes.

The first thing I started noticing was that the model would briefly speed up or slow down for no reason and then start exhibiting jerky starts and stops. Things got worse when several times, the model would not respond to any throttle changes and I had to kill the power to the layout to stop it.

I did a decoder reset and noticed that when the sound came back on, there was a squealing sound and I'd have to reset it a couple more times to stop that. I reprogrammed the model and it would run fine for 15 or 20 minutes then start exhibiting the same behavior.

I talked to Soundtraxx about it - followed some of their suggestions and still not luck. At my age, I'm really afraid to disassemble the model other than I did lift the body shell enough to make sure there were no loose wires or wires that might be rubbing on something. I also rotated the drive train with my fingers to see if I could feel any sort of binding and there was none.

After talking to Athearn about the issues, I sent the model back to Athearn and they replaced the decoder (or so they said). When I got the model back, no change at all - same issues! So at this point the model has become just a display model and I'm at a lose to figure out what has happened.

I don't know anyone in my area that is good at working on these models, so I'm looking for any suggestions or thoughts on what might be causing these issues and/or what I might be able to do.

Thanks.

Ed Vasser, Frankfort, KY
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Nick Santo amsnick MRH Advertiser and MRH Author 2,813 posts
Nick Santo amsnick

Where do you live?

There might be someone in the area that could help.

Have you checked for dirty wheels and or track?

Nick

https://nixtrainz.com/ Home of the Decoder Buddy

Full disclosure: I am the inventor of the Decoder Buddy and I sell it via the link above.
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SD70M2 Active Member 58 posts
SD70M2

Clean Track/Wheels

I live in Frankfort, Kentucky, so I may check with the hobby shop in Louisville and see if they can recommend someone to check it out.

First thing I did when the model starting acting up, was to check the wheels and track, which are clean and I also checked each wheel/axle set to see if they were picking up power. No problem there either.

Ed Vasser, Frankfort, KY
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Larry of Z'ville Frequent poster 984 posts
Larry of Z'ville

To be clear

What has come back, the lack of response to the throttle or the squeal?  
what DCC system are you using?  Are there any other engines acting similarly regarding the throttle issue?

Have you tried running the engine on the test track again for any period?  I find that decoder resets have to be done more than once to actually clear out any electronic junk.  After the reset, can you check a few relevant CV’s to be sure they are what they are supposed to be.  
 

Athearn probably did change the decoder, because it is easy to do.  They probably did a simple go no go test,  it is unlikely that they ran it for any period.  

It would be interesting to know if the squeal is electrical or mechanical.  To understand that If I had it on my bench, I would take the decoder out of the motor circuit and run the chassis in DC for a while to see if the squeal was present.  If so then I would focus on the gears & bearings.  
If the squeal is from the sound system, then I would look at the speaker wires.  They may be the source.

So many trains, so little time,

Larry

check out my MRH blog: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/42408

 or my web site at http://www.llxlocomotives.com
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SD70M2 Active Member 58 posts
SD70M2

All Issues Have Returned

All the issues I was experiencing with the model have returned. None of my other models exhibit any of these issues and run just fine.

The squealing noise came from the speaker and stopped after I did another reset (or two). I have looked at the wiring and saw no loose wires or any wires that might have been rubbing on something.

I have run the model on my test loop for a good 15 minutes in each direction and there is no change.

I'm trying to find someone close to where I live that is good at working on these models, as I just don't trust myself these days to try and disassemble one of these models.

Ed Vasser, Frankfort, KY
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