BLI 4-8-4 Northern

[D&J RailRoad]

I picked up my BLI Northern yesterday and put it on the tracks last night. Ran it for a few minutes to take some pictures of the great smoke action. Very impressive. I'll post a picture later.
Anyway, went back down to run it some more today. Got about three scale miles on it when it started to stammer then quit. It still had sound but became very rough in rolling. It would completely quit then run a few feet then quit again. When it was stopped I could still operate the bell and whistle but it wouldn't roll under its own power. The wheels aren't locked up as I could move it back and forth just so slightly within the constraints of the gear train lash. I didn't have any time to investigate it further as I had my grand kids here for the weekend.
Oh, the track is good and clean.

 

[Selector]

If the tether is seated well and fully to the back of the receptacle, and you know the tracks are clean, and a factory decoder restore to defaults doesn't cure the problem, then back it must go...sorry.

 

[blackz28]

yea call bli they are pretty good about taking care of their customer base

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I had time to mess with it for a few minutes while the Grandkids were eating breakfast. I think the problem was only the plug going into the rear of the engine. It's got about 7 or 8 wires in it on a straight bar. It doesn't seem to have a click point so it just has to be pressed in until the body cracks or until ya think it won't come back out.

 

[eric2448]

How has your fix been working out Ken, is it running any better?

I've had a few issues with mine but nothing that makes me want to send it in to BLI for who knows how long. Mine doesn't like it when I program a long address. After I shut the system off then on again it wont respond but I can change the address and it works again. I don't have this problem if I give it a short address. I'm also still trying to find the source of a metal on metal noise coming from the front of the locomotive. Its nothing I'm too worried about, it doesn't affect the performance. The one thing I did email the parts dept about was that the front driver has a large scratch on it. There is also a small chip in the tender frame. I've heard there were some QC issues in China, now I've seen them.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

My BLI has been running just fine since I reset the plug. Great sound and smoke plus the pulling power is impressive. I'm thinking of maybe buying a second one.