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Offline Rwill  
#1 Posted : 31 May 2017 19:36:31(UTC)
Rwill

United Kingdom   
Joined: 04/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 777
Location: England, London
I read with admiration, jealousy and sometimes disbelief some of the posts on this forum.

Particularly with my older loks I am not averse to a drop of oil, change brushes, addresses and friction tyres but I still manage to occasionally have one little screw over or worse. I will play with my electrics on the track layout, decoders signals etc and only very rarely do we have smoke or worse nothing.

So when I read of some of the amazing things some of you guys achieve I am dumbstruck. I realise that many of you are from a professional engineering or IT background and it all comes naturally – my background in logistics management does not really help!

But although the UK is not at the bottom of the world or an Atlantic away from Germany it is still a 15 Euro plus postage and there are no nice dealers around the corner.
So when I took delivery recently of a new lok my excitement soon dissipated when I found that the first function did not switch the lights on going forward but did going in reverse. At some point I popped a little smoke fluid in to try the factory fitted generator and immediately smoke gushed out vigorously controlled by the first function. The only way to switch it off was to go into reverse when the smoke stopped and the rear lights went on! My simple mind worked out that we probably had a minor case of crossed wiring and that it could not be simply ignored. I looked at the schematic in the little booklet and soon realised that just taking the top of was much more that a single screw in the body and the top pops off. My mind then went through the thing that I had spent quite a few hard earned pounds on this thing it was brand new I should expect it to be perfect. I also figured that if I had a go turned it from fault to FUBAR I would not have a leg to stand on with supplier or manufacture. The dealer was very very good and replaced it without question (albeit I paid the return postage) and of course another three weeks without my lok.

So am I totally alone here would most or all of you just got on and fixed it?
Offline Webmaster  
#2 Posted : 31 May 2017 21:02:50(UTC)
Webmaster


Joined: 25/07/2001(UTC)
Posts: 11,161
It's not as clear & easy as it used to be, almost like learning a new hobby trade nowadays... Mellow

And product items that obscurely slipped through QC do indeed make us wonder sometimes...
Juhan - "Webmaster", at your service...
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Old Chinese Proverb]
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Offline RayF  
#3 Posted : 31 May 2017 22:07:50(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
How much you are willing to dig into your loco is very much a personal preference. Some locos are quite easy to open for a quick look, whereas others need a lot of looking at before you can work out how to do it. As far as the warranty is concerned if the manual explains how to take the body off it should not invalidate it.

For those who are not confident they can open up a loco without damaging it then maybe the best option is to send it back to the dealer. You might miss the chance of an easy fix but at least you won't create more problems.
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Offline Jabez  
#4 Posted : 31 May 2017 22:27:02(UTC)
Jabez

Belgium   
Joined: 30/08/2016(UTC)
Posts: 636
Location: Brussels
Originally Posted by: Webmaster Go to Quoted Post
It's not as clear & easy as it used to be

Even some of the exploded-diagrams that purport to tell you just how to dismantle the body from the chassis can be ambiguous or misleading if you haven't done it before.Cursing

I heard that lonesome whistle blow. Hank Williams
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Offline petestra  
#5 Posted : 31 May 2017 22:31:01(UTC)
petestra

United States   
Joined: 27/07/2009(UTC)
Posts: 5,824
Location: Leesburg,VA.USA
Originally Posted by: RayF Go to Quoted Post
How much you are willing to dig into your loco is very much a personal preference. Some locos are quite easy to open for a quick look, whereas others need a lot of looking at before you can work out how to do it. As far as the warranty is concerned if the manual explains how to take the body off it should not invalidate it.

For those who are not confident they can open up a loco without damaging it then maybe the best option is to send it back to the dealer. You might miss the chance of an easy fix but at least you won't create more problems.


It is ridiculous to assume or believe that opening up the Lok is going to void the Warranty. The instructions themselves tell one that oiling and/or brush/light bulb replacement is

necessary. The new fat oil is only put into points that are only accessible when the shell is off. Also running some of the newer loks on M tracks may result in a wire

becoming loose and therefore it will have to be re-soldered. Peter Cool
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RwillH0
Offline Rwill  
#6 Posted : 31 May 2017 22:52:02(UTC)
Rwill

United Kingdom   
Joined: 04/05/2015(UTC)
Posts: 777
Location: England, London
Although I totally agree that simply taking of the body of a lok is never going to invalidate the warranty my problem would have almost certainly needed "the next stage" - a soldering iron at which point I believe the warranty has gone - I used to be very good at soldering my efforts now leave a little to be desired.

By the replies so far I think I am alone - everyone else would have had a go? Perhaps I should give up MRR and go back to Technic Lego.
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Offline David Dewar  
#7 Posted : 31 May 2017 23:56:07(UTC)
David Dewar

Scotland   
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 7,333
Location: Scotland
I would have returned the loco to the dealer for a replacement. Regarding postage my dealer ..modelbahnLippe only charges 3 Euro to send and the only model I ever returned they credited the postage to my account. Sorry if I should not advertise a dealer on the site.

Locos as you say are expensive and it is disappointing if one does not work out the box. In my view with Marklin this rarely happens.

Don't give up model rail though as it is unlikely you will have the same problem again. (famous last words LOL)
Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
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Offline river6109  
#8 Posted : 01 June 2017 05:33:13(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,636
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Rwill, I have given up on buying new locos especially expensive ones, if anything is not right it is to expensive to send it back to Germany.
I have many Roco locos and never had a problem with lights or any accessory. this doesn't mean Märklin isn't any good and mistakes will be made.

its the money you spend on a loco and the postage if anything goes wrong, this is my problem and I avoid going down that path just in case I get a faulty loco.

You are quite right in saying to use a soldering iron to fix a new loco you've automatically lose your warranty, Märklin technicians most probably look at anything they could identify someone has tampered with the loco regardless if it was a factory fault and put more salt to the wound by asking for a repair bill., this of course is just speculation regardless what the out come may be, there must be 1000,s of customers who don't have any problems with Märklin's locos and swear by them.

John
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
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Offline rugauger  
#9 Posted : 05 June 2017 14:22:35(UTC)
rugauger

United Kingdom   
Joined: 19/12/2003(UTC)
Posts: 1,205
Location: Swindon, Wiltshire
I was facing the same dilemma a few months back.

Bought a new KoF in Germany, came home to the UK, loco didn't move. This was my first purchase of a brand new loco. Having googled the issue and found out what it was most likely to be, it was very tempting to open it and "have a go". However, I didn't want to write off my hard earned cash invalidating the warranty on a new loco, especially because a) the KoF is so tiny and likely hard to work on and b) I don't have access to the necessary spare parts. So on this occasion I reluctantly sent it back to the dealer who in turn sent it in to Marklin for repair. It was gone for a good while but came back eventually running perfectly. The dealer also "padded" the parcel with a branded freight van and a few other small goodies. So this time I'm happy to have done it this way.
Richard
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