# Shorts and grounding



## Bl00mf!eld (12 mo ago)

Another newbie here. I have an older N gauge Kato Santa Fe E8/9A diesel engine. It has been running sporatically and now the motor only runs if I lift the rear truck of the track. Seems like there's a grounding issue or short. Any ideas?


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Is it possible that you turned one of the
trucks so that the power pickup wheels
are reversed? That would cause a
short that would 'go away' when you
lifted the truck. 

Don


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Is there any indication of a short from your power pack or DCC controller?


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## Bl00mf!eld (12 mo ago)

MichaelE said:


> Is there any indication of a short from your power pack or DCC controller?


Generally no, I do see some sparking on the rear truck when it was running better but very little, and it seemed to slow after a few minutes. Then it did pop the power pack once. When I place the engine on the track normally, I get nothing, no light, no motor. If I push it along a bit, the light flickers but no motor. As soon as I lift the reat truck the motor runs well at all speeds and the light responds normally. The wire from the front pickup truck broke off at the motor connection. I carefully resodered it. That didn't change the situation. Still runs when I lift the rear truck. The moment a rear axel (wheels) touch the track, nothing. I don't know why this would cause any problem and doubt there is a track short but, could one of my switchouts be shorting or something else track related?


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## Bl00mf!eld (12 mo ago)

DonR said:


> Is it possible that you turned one of the
> trucks so that the power pickup wheels
> are reversed? That would cause a
> short that would 'go away' when you
> ...


Humm. I don't think so but I'll definitely double check that. Thanks for the comment.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

Clean the wheels and track. One they are good and clean, if it's still giving you issues you'll need to open it up and see if there is a reversed connection or loose wire somewhere. You may also need to clean the electrical pickups on each truck. 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


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