need Slot Car help

[Lessen]

So I've been having some trouble with one of my sons SCX cars. It's being very finicky. Its seems like there is a bad contact but I can't figure out the problem. Sometimes when he stops and pulls the trigger again it just won't go. Sometimes it just loses power while the throttle is still open. Anybody familiar?

 

[slowngreen]

its bound to be a bad connection somewhere right? I'm not sure what car it is but when one of my esc's was going bad on my crawler it did similar things.

 

[Lessen]

I'm just having a hard time finding it (if that's the problem). I was also thinking possibly the brushes may be worn but we havn't really used it enough for that to be the issue I don't think. I suppose I could take a look at them but I really think it's a contact issue. Such a PITA. He really wants to play but it's just not cooperating today.

Now that I think about it the one thing that I have noticed is that the lights are NEVER an issue. Maybe it is the brushes?.?

 

[Rolex]

Slot cars. One of my first addictions to things with wheels.
I believe it's called "Com oil" or commutator oil. There's the possibility that there's a glaze forming on it, and the oil will give a better contact, less resistance, and as a result, higher speeds.
Depending on how much use it's had, it's also common for the brushes to 'resist' sliding all the way down as they wear, due to the dust that builds up next to them due to running down.
If that's the case, shoot it full of DA, blow it out with air, then re-lube the bushings and add the Com oil.
If you are not having a problem with the lights, then it's not a contact problem with the track.

 

[Lessen]

I found it. I took the car apart like 3 times but I finally got it.

I was able to rule out any issues with the motor when I took the motor out of the car and put the contacts on the track... worked fine.

So it had to be somewhere between the track brushes and the motor contact. Well that's what it was. There was a little dark spot where the motor prong makes contact with the copper part on the chassis. I cleaned that up and it works like new now.

is that the same type of glaze that one might find on the comm?

 

[Rolex]

Yup, caused by a zillion little arcs.

 

[Lessen]

that's what I figured. Thanks Ralph. Maybe I should give that little prong a slight bend so it doesn't lift..

 

[Greyryder]

Bending it for a more secure contact might be a good idea. I had a similar contact problem with an N scale locomotive. Once I finally managed to get the little sucker apart, I found that one of the motor contacts was bent away from the motor. I'm honestly surprised the thing had run at all.

Just don't bend it to the point of keeping any parts from seating properly.