# BLI issues



## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

I have 7 BLI locos (5 diesel, 2 steam) I have acquired over the last 10 years. Until my last two, they have been reliable/dependable. My last two (purchased through Model Train Stuff) were defective on arrival.

The first one, an F3, couldn't pull more than 5 cars around 22" radius curves, nor could it maintain a constant speed. I got an RMA number from BLI and returned it for service. To my surprise, they told me warranty repair turn around is 11 - 12 weeks.

My last one, a Pacific, barely ran when I got it; the loco made a "roaring" noise as it attempted to run. This time I got an RMA from Model Train Stuff and exchanged it (they did an excellent job of shipping the replacement). The new one runs better, but still has some squeal from the motor, and has trouble maintaining a constant speed at lower speeds.

This is different from all my earlier BLI locomotives. these two are their Paragon 3 decoders; I don't know if that affects the performance or not.

Are others experiencing problems with these recent releases? Or have I just had the bad luck of getting two (three counting the exchanged one) defective products in a row?


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

I have about 30 BLI locomotives and have only had a problem with one of them about 7 years ago when a sound board burned out. I returned the loco to them and had a new one in about 3 weeks.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

The squeal may be something in the internal drivetrain spinning and making contact with some insulation or heatshrink wrap, or with flashing inside the shell, maybe against something else. Or it could just be a dry articulated joint or pass-through bushing.

Can you remove the shell, support it, and let the locomotive move a bit? Maybe the squeal goes away, in which case it's something about the shell.

The roaring sound could be the decoder not getting signal from a chuff sensor and the decoder is guessing at the chuff rate, thinking it's very high. If you can reset the chuff rate per the instructions for their decoder, you may find that going away. Mebbe..

BLI always has three pages of refurbished locomotives listed on their site. Lots of Mikados, so either they produced thousands and have 30 problem children, or they produced much fewer of them and have serious QA problems with that batch. Not sure which. But aside from speculation, they always have repaired or blemished stock for sale...a limited selection. It means they have to fix things now and then. That goes for Bachmann, Athearn, Atlas, Intermountain, Kato...they all have the odd lemon.

I have 20 BLI locos of various kinds. I sent one back when I blew up a QSI decoder, and explained in my note that I know I reversed an axle on the tender. They fixed it anyway, no charge. Years later, I returned a costly Hybrid Q2 because the headlight wouldn't work. It was gone three months, but it came back fixed.

So, what can I say. Tell them you're still not getting what you paid for, repairs or not, and that you'd like to either get them fixed or replaced. Then, grit your teeth for 12 weeks. Works for me.


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

Thank you, Mesentaria. The roaring occurred with sound on or muted - made no difference. As for the squeal - which is better described as a whine - I'm waiting to see some video reviews of the new pacifics to see if they also display it. I hesitate to take the loco apart myself, since that could void the warranty. I got a message from a person who had problems with Paragon 3 decoders when they first came out; the decoders didn't like older Digitrax DCS. BLI came up with a revision, replaced the decoder, and the problem went away. I'm going to try running the loco on DC and see if that changes anything.

D&J, my experience with BLI has always been their locos were great out of the box and continue to run well after years. That's why I'm so surprised that my last three all were defective or had problems right out of the box.

I have now run the locomotive around a figure 8 loop for 4 hours (2 forward and two reverse) to see if these need more extended break-in than their earlier ones.


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## blackz28 (Jan 6, 2013)

BikerDS said:


> Thank you, Mesentaria. The roaring occurred with sound on or muted - made no difference. As for the squeal - which is better described as a whine - I'm waiting to see some video reviews of the new pacifics to see if they also display it. I hesitate to take the loco apart myself, since that could void the warranty. I got a message from a person who had problems with Paragon 3 decoders when they first came out; the decoders didn't like older Digitrax DCS. BLI came up with a revision, replaced the decoder, and the problem went away. I'm going to try running the loco on DC and see if that changes anything.
> 
> D&J, my experience with BLI has always been their locos were great out of the box and continue to run well after years. That's why I'm so surprised that my last three all were defective or had problems right out of the box.
> 
> I have now run the locomotive around a figure 8 loop for 4 hours (2 forward and two reverse) to see if these need more extended break-in than their earlier ones.


*my big boy 4014 stopped running & bli gave me an RMA and said the same 11 week turn around time & i live 3 hours from them.
so i asked if i pulled the motherboard out & sent it in they said only 1 week turn around time  so thats what i did but yea paragon 3 electronics suck. i have replaced the motherboard, smoke unit so far in the 4014*


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

Thank you, Blackz. I'm not trying to bash BLI. The earlier models I have run fine, but they are all Paragon 2 (and one Blueline with a TCS decoder). The three recent ones are Paragon 3, and they have all had problems. Maybe it is China QC, or maybe it is the P3 decoders, but I will want to see any new BLI loco run at a retailer before I'll buy one.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I have had multiple qsi locomotives and have had issues with 2 of them. One was the Norfolk western j that the drive rods fell off twice and I have the 3762 Santa Fe northern that had gearing issues. Santa Fe northern I bought a junket off eBay and re geared the bad motor worm gear. That locomotive runs like a striped ape now though. Have yet to play with p3 but sounds like a gearing issue to me. Or a bushing failure


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

I had two people contact me off line with the same issues (or slight variations). I called my dealer's customer service, and was told most of these new pacifics they have sold have been returned. In their opinion BLI just got a bad batch of decoders.

I decided to return this second one for a refund, and wait until I can see a new BLI run before buying one.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

Over the three years I've been in the hobby I've bought 4 bli engines (all diesel). A Paragon 2 which ran great for a while but then not at all. After multiple attempts BLI could not fix it and agreed to refund my purchase price.

Another Paragon 2 and a Paragon 3 I own have worked perfectly (so far...). However, another Paragon 2 is on it's way for it's 3rd warranty repair!

In summary, 2 of my 4 BLI locos have had serious issues. I don't think I'll buy another BLI.


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

I have 6 BLI diesels, and I've had issues with 2 of them (both replaced).
Also, I have 3 Genesis diesels, and two of those were bad... also replaced.
On the other hand, I have three Athearn RTR, and three Mainline diesels, and have never had a problem with those.
We probably shouldn't equate quality so much with price.


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## steamloco (Jul 18, 2017)

I have made a couple of BLI purchases that have been somewhat disappointing (Model Train Stuff). Even though the description of the 2-8-2 has indicated that a "crew" was included, it was not. The apron between the cab and the tender no longer is included. These dropped details is disappointing. As far as I am concerned, they could skip the Thunder and supply the details. Just one guys opinion.


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## spikedrivingblues (Dec 11, 2018)

steamloco said:


> I have made a couple of BLI purchases that have been somewhat disappointing (Model Train Stuff). Even though the description of the 2-8-2 has indicated that a "crew" was included, it was not. The apron between the cab and the tender no longer is included. These dropped details is disappointing. As far as I am concerned, they could skip the Thunder and supply the details. Just one guys opinion.


I agree. I have one Paragon 3. I couldn't care less about Rolling Thunder. In fact I mute the volume on it all together and use the sound of the engine consisted to it (that would be the Paragon 2 which on it's way for it's third repair in less than a year!)


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## Kieta (Nov 6, 2018)

Did you get your BLI locomotive back yet? I had to send my BLI Paragon 3 loco in today because it stopped moving fwd/rev. For a while it would still produce sound and all functions would work but then sound cut out as well and only the lights functioned. When it did have sound but no movement you could hear the engine ramping up/down with throttle but no movement. They gave me the 10-12 week turn around time and was wondering if thats an acurate time frame.


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

That is accurate. I returned two locos to Modeltrainstuff - they were quite good about taking them back. BLI did return the one I had sent in (took about 11 weeks). It does run much better, but the rolling thunder doesn't work right - it only works while the loco is within 2 feet of the receiver. I have just put the rolling thunder stuff away - not going to go through another 11 weeks.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I wish these manufacturers would come up with something better for steam. It seems like every single manufacturer has all kinds of diesel variants but not much for steam. I hate to say it but I’m liking my Bachman spectrum locos better than my couple of bli locos. My one that did run good quit on me. It was a 2-8-2 that used to run fantastically and now it has decoder issues. I’m at the point of getting rid of bli sound in general and going standard dcc with them and being done with it


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

I just watched a YouTube video review of the latest BLI HO Pacifics (light and Heavy) by jlwii2000. It seems that BLI is incrementally fixing to problems of the previous run. Both light and heavy Pacifics now have cab crews, and the light Pacific has a cab step to the tender - but it is still missing on the heavy Pacific. And the light Pacific seemed to run without the problems mine experienced. Good for them for their improvements, but too bad they still have problems with the heavy.


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