Proto 2000 Engine running sluggish, any help?


N

NIevo

Member
Well I have a friend who I gave one of my Proto 2000 GP38-2 engines to that has developed a problem. It seems like it has no power at all. He says it acts like it is only getting about half power and if you put your hand in front of it won't even spin the wheels.

Any idea as to what the problem might be? It doesn't sound like the cracked axle issue as there is no noise or jerking, just poor performance. It is a fairly brand new engine and only ran a couple times so I doubt if the wheels are dirty. Also, Walthers was of no help what so ever, they want $60 just to look at the engine +parts.
 
The thick grease used to lubricate the trucks may have thickened over time causing the slugish performance. This is more common with the older Proto engines, but might be worth a look.
 
Well its in the newer blue boxes but it is a few years old and like I said hasn't been used so that might be a possibility.
 
I know you said earlier that it doesn't seem like a cracked axle issue, but have you actually checked. I have about 4 Proto 2000 locos...1x GP38-2, 2 GP30's and 1x SD9. They are all from different runs and 3 of the 4 have had similar problems. My GP38-2 had cracked axles from the factory and I didn't even realize it! :eek: Anyways, you're best bet would be to check the gears, take off the shell and watch the motor as it runs...See if it smells electrical or its burning. I know its frustrating but as soon as you find the problem you'll be very pleased with the performance! Let us know how it works out!

-Rich
 
Or: just pull the bottom plate of the truck and remove the axles for a very close look. Take a small screwdriver and work it around the center gear teeth, sort-of trying to spread it. They sometimes are hard to see. ;)
 
NIevo said:
Well its in the newer blue boxes but it is a few years old and like I said hasn't been used so that might be a possibility.
Click to expand...

Slightly OT here, what year's were the P2K locos in their respective box colors? I have a GP38-2 in the grey box with "limited Edition" on the box. I also have a SD60 that seems to have the hesitation upon powering up that is described above.
 
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The blue box line is from when Life-Like was still independent. The first P2K engines came out in 1996 and were made by Life-Like until 2004, when the company was bought by Walthers. Walthers switched to the gray boxes and there should be no mention of Life-Like, although there was a short period of time in 2004 when products in the pipeline from Life-Life were sold by Walthers in the Gray box with Walthers stickers over the Life-Like name.

My experience is that any of the P2K locomotives made before 2005, when Walthers took over full production, can have the cracked axle problem. The issue is that Life-Like uses a knock-off copy of the Athearn gear box but saved money by making the axle slightly thinner and the gears of inferior materials. In many cases, the cracked axle or gear doesn't show up until the engine has been run for a while. Since the gear is reverse engineered from the Athearn 60024 gears, they are a perfect drop in replacement. Walthers corrected the problem by mid 2005 and later engines have not had this problem. As Rex said, take off the bottom covers and carefully examine the gears and axles. I'm 100% sure you'll find the problem. Talk to Larry at Walthers customer service. I've had about five P2K engines with this problems and he has always sent me a complete replacement set of gears and axles for no charge with no argument.
 
Jim~ Thanks for that detailed explanation, it has definitely cleared up some things in my mind concerning the P2K locos. I also happened to stop into the LHS here today to talk with a friend and asked him about the cracked axle problem. He pretty much responded with the same thing that you did concerning using the Athearns as replacement.
 
onequiknova said:
Actually, the Proto 2000 BL2 was introduced in 1989 according to this.


http://www.hosam.com/model/modate.html

John.
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John, I'm not sure where got his dates from but the first Life-Like engines labeled as being Proto 2000 were the GP-18, the SD-7, and SW900, all of which came out in either very late 1995 or early 1996. I am certain there was no Proto 2000 BL-2 released in 1989. The list has a number of glaring errors, like the Athearn F-7 and GP-9's being listed as first issued in the 60's. Both came out in the early 50's and the first Geeps had rubber band drives.
 
UP2CSX said:
John, I'm not sure where got his dates from but the first Life-Like engines labeled as being Proto 2000 were the GP-18, the SD-7, and SW900, all of which came out in either very late 1995 or early 1996. I am certain there was no Proto 2000 BL-2 released in 1989. The list has a number of glaring errors, like the Athearn F-7 and GP-9's being listed as first issued in the 60's. Both came out in the early 50's and the first Geeps had rubber band drives.
Click to expand...

I agree the Athern F7 is older than that, but in the 50's it was under the name Globe, wasn't it? He's right about the BL2 though. Check this out...

http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=BL2&MAG=ANY

Look at the explosion of BL2 detailing/review articles at the end of 1989. I distinctly remember the BL2 as the first Proto engine, I bought one. There are also articles as far back as Sept 92 about Proto's new GP18.

http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=gp18&MAG=ANY

John.
 
John,

I'm going off memory here but I think Athearn bought out Globe in 1952 or 53. I bought an Athearn F-7 in 1956 so I know they owned Globe by then. I also bought a B&O "Hi-F" GP-7 in 1957 so I know they were both out in the 50's. I remember the release of the BL2 but I don't think it was under the Proto 2000 label. I could be wrong though, since I may be mistaking the 1996 date of the P2K freight car line. It seems to me that the P2K label was added to the locomotive line maybe a year or so earlier.
 
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