How do I troubleshoot a new Kato?


TaeOH

TaeOH

or just Tom...
Just picked up a Kato EMD SD40-2 and it ran fine for about 20 minutes, then just stopped. The lights are still working in forward and backward, but the engine no longer moves.

My track is a simple oval of Kato Unitrack with a Kato powerpack...so DC.
 
Unfortunately I got it at a hobby show that is now gone. I just sent an email to Kato.

Some threads on the NET I found that have the same symptoms are all dealing with decoders and DCC. Something about the motor contacts not making contact since the lights are coming on and it is obviously getting power.
 
I took the shell off and did not see anything that looked wrong...but this is only the second engine I have ever looked at. I found some threads that said some Kato motors are not hardwired to the trucks and those that are not have had this issue. The solution is to hardwire the trucks. This will be fun, I have to learn this crap anyway when I start doing decoders, so this may be the first. I will wait for a reply from Kato first though, see what their answer may be.

My temporary solution was to go buy another engine for now :D and put the SD40-2 aside till I figure out what to do with it. I am sure the motor is fine and not fried, probably just some connection issue. It ran really nice while it ran.
 
N-scale Kato's were never hardwired to the trucks, this was done in HO only. First thing I would do it slide the light board back and forth a bit to see if it's a contact issue. Also make sure that the motor contacts are under the wings of the light board. Was this engine new or used, also is it a the new mid production SD40-2 or the early production?
 
mavrick0 said:
N-scale Kato's were never hardwired to the trucks, this was done in HO only. First thing I would do it slide the light board back and forth a bit to see if it's a contact issue. Also make sure that the motor contacts are under the wings of the light board. Was this engine new or used, also is it a the new mid production SD40-2 or the early production?
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It is a brand new mid-production unit. I would have guessed Kato would have changed this since it seems to be a fairly common problem. I have found several resources about this issue on the older releases, the recommended solution is always to hardwire the trucks.
 
I am pretty confident it is just a poor contact problem and just plain poor design. I used Kato's instructions for disassembling the entire loco, I really could not tell any obvious issues other than the fact that is is using pressure contact on copper leads. When I put it back together without the shell and put it on the track, while making sure all the contacts looked good, I could not coax it to run and started thinking that maybe I did get a bad motor. Then after I put the shell back on, for some reason I tested it again and the damn thing surprised me and started moving and went right up the rerailer ramp. But once I got back on the track, it was not running again.

At this point I am just going to wait for the response from Kato. If they offer a replacement I will take it, knowing full well I will need to do the hard wire mod eventually, but I would like to get an engine that will run out of the box for a bit if possible. I just want to see how they respond. This is a bit disappointing because I have high regard for everything Kato so far. My F7A and GS-4 are running beautifully.
 
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You might want to try resetting the decoder to factory default. Look in your DCC reference for the decoder and find the value. Most manufacturers you set CV8 to 8 to reset.
 
hamltnblue said:
You might want to try resetting the decoder to factory default. Look in your DCC reference for the decoder and find the value. Most manufacturers you set CV8 to 8 to reset.
Click to expand...

No decoder involved, this is a stock Kato.

Kato customer service already responded, I am going to send the loco to them. The problem threads I found about the hard wire of the trucks were related to HO and not the N engines. These should be very reliable, so I will send it to Kato and let them figure out what is wrong with it.
 
Out of the 100 plus Kato's I have none that have this issue. It is either a bad motor or simply the contact between the frame and board. There might be enough contact for the LED's to light but not enough for power to get to the motor. The easiest way is clip to the motor contacts with the board out and see if the motor runs.

The design is rock solid and has been working for decades and as I stated before the hardwire thing is HO only as you found out from Kato.
 
I realized what you meant in your post after the email with customer support. I think I may have just gotten unlucky with this engine and hopefully Kato will take care of it, even if it comes to them charging for a repair. Every other product I have from Kato is top quality, so this won't shy me away from buying more engines.
 
I wouldn't worry about Kato charging you. A friend had issues with a one truck on the SD40-2 mid and Kato sent him a new pair free of charge.
 
Out of several hundred units, I've had this problem with two of them. On mine it was a wire on the armature that had come apart. I applied power to the motor, and spun the flywheels with my fingers, and the motor ran, though not smoothly, until I shut it down again.
 
Kato just returned the engine fixed under warranty. Looks like they replaced the motor.
 
This is by far my best running engine. I have 3 new Atlas's that are nice, but they can't touch this sucker. The Atlas Master N series has really nice detail though.

I just ordered a second one of these Kato's, if I can get a hold of some undecorated ones I am looking to turn a couple of these into Rio Grande's.
 
Since they took care of it for you, the point is moot, but when I spoke with them about a missing part I got static about buying from a train show. They don't like honoring their warranty when you buy from a show, they feel the person that sold it to you was the original purchaser, and so you have no claim for warranty repair.
So if you get a new locomotive at a train show, be sure you get a dated receipt with the hobby shop's name and address printed on it, otherwise you may be SOL.
 
bnsf971 said:
Since they took care of it for you, the point is moot, but when I spoke with them about a missing part I got static about buying from a train show. They don't like honoring their warranty when you buy from a show, they feel the person that sold it to you was the original purchaser, and so you have no claim for warranty repair.
So if you get a new locomotive at a train show, be sure you get a dated receipt with the hobby shop's name and address printed on it, otherwise you may be SOL.
Click to expand...

Matter of fact, I did have just such a receipt. But this is good to know, because I bought from another train show vendor last weekend and I did not get such a receipt. Luckily the Atlas Master N engine I got from him has no problems.
 
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