I am in process of putting a Tsunami sound decoder into a P2K GP38-2, and am having this strange problem. This is on my new 4x8 layout (meaning clean rails) powered by a Digitrax Zephyr.
Although the loco will start moving at a very slow pace, it does so in a 'jerky' kind of way, as if something is binding. (start - stop for a fraction of second - start again - repeat). I already took the trucks apart, cleaned the gears and re-lubed. There is NO binding and the trucks roll as freely as they can be.
However, once the loco makes a loop around my layout, it sort of smoothes out and the jerkyness goes away.
What's even funnier is if I cut power to the whole layout, even for just a second, and turn it on again, the binding behavior immediately returns. Then it will go away again after completing a loop.
None of my other locos exhibit this kind of problem.
Has anyone experienced something like this? Does it sound like a bad motor, or a decoder problem? I have been trying to fix this for 3 days with no luck, and am seriously on the verge of throwing the whole loco into a trash can.
Although the loco will start moving at a very slow pace, it does so in a 'jerky' kind of way, as if something is binding. (start - stop for a fraction of second - start again - repeat). I already took the trucks apart, cleaned the gears and re-lubed. There is NO binding and the trucks roll as freely as they can be.
However, once the loco makes a loop around my layout, it sort of smoothes out and the jerkyness goes away.
What's even funnier is if I cut power to the whole layout, even for just a second, and turn it on again, the binding behavior immediately returns. Then it will go away again after completing a loop.
None of my other locos exhibit this kind of problem.
Has anyone experienced something like this? Does it sound like a bad motor, or a decoder problem? I have been trying to fix this for 3 days with no luck, and am seriously on the verge of throwing the whole loco into a trash can.
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