Hi everyone,

I have a 2842 "Olio Fiat"set, which I've never run myself, but went in for service tonight before doing so as it looked a bit worn. I did a tear down and it was rather dirty, so I gave it a good cleaning/decreasing. So far so good. I put it all back together and a brief systems test went ok, but it of course was making some large screams and squeaks. I touch of oil later it was better, however there is still a hell of a screeching noise from the motor or the first primary gear, I can't quite tell which. Its exactly the noise these things make when they are bone dry and need oil, however it was lubricated!? Any ideas as to the cause? I haven't had this one happen to me ever in spite of a considerable amount of repairs.

Thanks in advance! I can always take a video tomorrow night if needed

Edited by user 28 January 2019 14:14:38(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

And don't over-tighten the motor housing screws. Finger-tighten, then just a touch more, it's easy to overtighten plastic because it compresses.

Smallest drop of oil on both ends of the armature, each gear pin, and each wheel axle should be all it needs.

Cheers

Hello John,
I have a Brown S3/6 Bavarian Lok that does the same exact thing. No mater what I tried. I can't remember weather it was flat or drum armature but it went back into the box for a rainy day ball bearing conversion.
I don't believe oiling the shaft with the motor apart or assembled will make a difference. I really don't think WD-40 caused any damage. Somebody put it there because they were having the same trouble as you and the can says "Stops Squeaks". Maybe I'll try it on the FD.
Mikey

Sadly no, it seems all across the speed range. And not in sync with revolutions or anything else easy to pin it to. I ran out of time last night due to some household repairs, but I'll look again tonight....

That is the only way that I apply oil to my DCMs these days. I have opened them and found then floating in oil when it was applied externally, and that was using a small clock oiling point! When I see the diagram showing a giant drop from a Märklin oil dispenser I think what a mess that would make if you followed their suggestion.

The good news is I have the tools to rebuild it, but knowing I have the identical locomotive (as sold separately) already digitized, I may just let this one be. A strange situation knowing the geartrain and motor show very little usage at all. Who knows, for now it runs well just with the noise so I'm going to let it be

Well, I'm not 100% sure how, but I just fixed it.

I went to put the locomotive away, and decided to take one last look because it was going to haunt me. I realized there is a small plastic cover which looks like part of the cast motor block, but in fact is not and can be removed. I popped it off which gave access to the gear just below the motor primary. Another way to describe it would be the gear connecting the primary the the 3 driven axle gears.

I gave that a good contact cleaner spray and a bit of a scraping with an xacto wrapped in a paper towel as well. (too small for a qtip or other device) It didn't look dirty at all, but somehow that fixed it. In the end, I suspect it was caused by the mystery (WD40?) oil over-lubrication, and when I stripped the rest of the loco the cleaner/stripper just didn't reach these very tight confines.

Noise solved, motor lubricated, and we have a lovely running locomotive

Edited by user 01 February 2019 16:15:50(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Excellent advice. Someone brought me a mechanical clock a while back which was gummed up and would not run. They had taken it to a so called clock repairman who sprayed the entire movement with wd-40. After that stuff dried it left the whole movement frozen and I had to disassemble it all, clean it thoroughly, reassemble it and oil it properly. It has run perfectly ever since.

Many more clocks fail due to over lubrication than from too little oil, and that lesson definitely applies to HO locos as well.