Short answer is that you are on your own.. The slightly better answer is that there is usually someone on this forum, who can help in a crisis..

Even little use is not a guarantee of not needed a repair. Nylon/Plastic gears can split or go brittle with age. Motor's suffer from lack of use as much as too much use..

FD's Maxi collection has needed new brushes for the contact wheels. They did not wear out, the plastic housing split, the spring popped out and the brush would no longer contact the wheel reliably. This is from something that only gets out once per year at Christmas and spends 1 month under a tree and is moved about once per week, during that time, for a maximum of one hour..

I have a 55224 BR194 which would only run for 20 minutes before grinding to a halt and requiring a power off reset for about an hour before it would run again only to do the same thing again.

I sent it back to Marklin at considerable cost (150€), they poked around with it for 3 months then sent it back (they never did say what they did to it). The loco then ran for 40 minutes before doing the same thing. Given sending the loco back to Marklin again would cost another 150€, I decided to spend 250€ and buy one of the new LGB 4amp G1 decoders and installed that instead of the original one which I suspect was overloading and cutting out. Marklin declined to give me an E94 sound project so I had to concoct one based on an H0 sound project for the E94.

I have run the loco on my test track and it seemed much better but this weekend just gone was the first time I've been able to run it under exhibition circumstances. The loco ran fine with no issues.

So, all I got from Marklin was extra postage expense in sending the loco back, and I still got a non-functioning loco at the end of their repair process. I also got no help after taking the decision to install a new decoder myself, and no offer of assistance with costs even though I asked. I got the "you've decided to fix it yourself so we ain't going to help you" spiel, but at least I now have a loco that works!

Does that answer your question?

I have found that the Maxi line was its own beast in the Marklin scheme of things gauge 1. With some being made by ETS in the Chech Republic and some made in Hungry by Marklin themselves. Some of the later Maxi started to blue the line between the higher end Gauge 1 product and the tinplate Maxi. I love the Maxi line, its shiny and colorful style just sparkles under the Christmas tree and in the garden. Probably why I like UK gauge one as its very colorful, atleast thru the steam era it was. Parts have been a challenge, from replacement wheels to traction tires. For my UP F7 diesels, I swapped non traction tire wheels from the non powered unit and converted the locomotive to onboard battery power. so no more issues with wheel pickups and traction tires splitting from age. I keep loads modest so as not to stress the single axle drive on each truck. The variety of USA style cars was limited anyways, so one cannot make a really long train anyways. Hopefully I can keep my Maxi going for many more years. Mike