Neil Scotland

Regarding the oil, do you just oil the main part of the engine. Do you think you could damage it?

Thanks for this. Its brilliant and i have successfully opened a red motorwhich i just felt wasnt working very well. 2 quick questions though. 1. You mention the carbon and the importance of having plenty left. Is this a small block piece on the section marked 3 and 4? If so, should this be cleaned and how do you tell if you have plenty or not? 2. Regarding general cleaning, when i opened up this motor it was quite oil(y) inside. Should i clean all this up? 3. Finally on lubrication, which bits should you lubricate and with what? I dont want to damage anything but I would like to get rid of the noisey nature of this motor? Thanks for all your help. Neil

So, I'm in the UK and now own about 30 odd of the EN. Any thoughts on what a sold out EN is worth now?

Hi, I've recently decided to move some of my Lego on, not fair to keep it in the loft and I have too much at the moment to even build - got a bit greedy last year. Im looking to sell the following sets. All are brand new and unopened: (All prices include P&P to mainland UK, but please check with me first to make sure your not somewhere remote) Lego 10185 Green Grocer (I have 4 of these) - £225each Lego 8674 - Ferrari Technic Racer - £175 Lego 8157 - Ferrari Technic Racer - £90 Lego 8297 - Power Functions Technic off-road Jeep. - £80 Lego 7744 - Police Station - £65 Lego 10184 - Collectors Addition- £190 Please get in touch. Photos can be provided if required and payment would be made securely via Paypal. I believe these are fairly priced given they are brand new. First come first served.

I tell you what, i would love it if Lego really went for the train theme again and started producing lots of different designs and ideas. You never know.....

Brilliant - would this work 12v though on 12v track? Maybe?

Further question to the 12v gurus. Track is cleaned, motor connections are cleaned, any ideas why some motors are a lot slower than others? Did Lego make different versions or something? One if them is pretty slow on full power. Neil

All, a further update! Good news, I decided to really work hard at cleaning a portion of track and my motors. I have spent the day cleaning an oval portion of track. Apart from 2 motors, a very old red one and another, they now run perfectly and there has been no need to open them up! This is brilliant news and a huge thanks goes out to all those who posted some help. I still cant see an easy way to open up the motors and so despite the obvious benefit to give them a thorough clean, im not going to do this. I think the problem with my track lies in the points which are particularly difficult to clean. However, having now had the opportunity to use my old 12v track, i find that my new Lego Cargo Train (PF controlled) this cant get traction and doesnt work on 12v track. Any solutions people???

Hi, I might be being really weak here, but I've had an initial look at breaking open one of my 12v motors and I can remove the middle wheels but it doesn't look as if the other 4 wheels can be removed? I just really don't want to damage the motor for food. I have tried a small screwdriver at the edges but this only puts marks on the motor. Did you open a different kind of motor? Do you have pictures of a motor you've opened? Thanks for all your help.

Once again, thanks to all. Ok, my update is as follows: I have cleaned the engines with White Spirit (I don't have any Meths but may well buy some.). This removed a lot of black dirty which is great. I do have a 4.5v train battery unit but no batteries at present songavent testing with this. What I've dine is used 2 single wires and tested the bottom pick-ups. This generally seems to be good so I'm back cleaning my track and will update shortly. However, 2 of the motors sound really rough (ie a lot louder than the others) and are clearly needing some lubrication and possible hair removal. But, how do you do this? Any ideas as it seems impossible from what others have said to open the motors up as they are glued. Thoughts?

Andy, Your clearly a great innovator. I love the cotton wool carriage. Do you not find though that you get cotton wool Stuck in your track. Also, just been down to my local hobbies shop and he again has recommended a rail rubber. Have you ever used one? Much success?

Hi, thanks for all your posts. I have used White spirits and a rail rubber. The rail rubber (bought from a local hobby store really took away the dark marks on the silver electric rails. However?l, the White spirit didn't seem to be so effective (White spirit is like an alcohol based paint thinner/brush cleaner). I will continue with this and inassume you all agree to using this on the actual motors and not the rail rubber? Really appreciate everyone's help as I really want to get my 12v running again!!! Just out of interest on breaking open the motor, are you able to replace any of the parts? Did Lego originally sell any spare motor parts for the proper 12v motors? Thanks for your help. Just on this, as you've been recommended as per below, are you still able to get your 12v running smoothly. I have been mucking around and buying essentially all the 12v I wanted and then, becuasebif my concerns that the motors might pack in or be jumping, I bought a stack of 9v track and a few motors. I've also dabbled with the PF motor becuase I wanted the Cargo train. Ultimately, I want to stick with 12v because of the remote points/signals etc, but, I need to make a decision and go with one. You can pick up 9v motors for about £15 used whereas 12v are more like £40 or often higher. It's just perfect when you get smooth running trains like with 9v but I'm torn with my old 12v. Thoughts?

Thanks for this and the quick response. I kind of feel like giving up but I will go and try a further cleaning again and see what happens. How do you know if your motors are just broken?

Hi all, first post here and i really need some help. Over recent years I've been collecting more of my childhood Lego 12v trains, mainly on eBay, and have just moved house, so finally can set it up properly. However, despite cleaning of the track and having circa 10 different 12v motors, they all seem to be getting stuck/jittering round the track. Some are better than others but basically the pickups seem really dirty. I've been searching forums etc but haven't found any specific help in relation to cleaning or fixing 12v motors. My specific questions are: 1. How do you open up the motor to clean them? 2. Can you change the pick-ups on the motors? 3. How do you check the track tinder if there are any faults? Is there a suggested electrical testing tool? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Neil