158741 unusual noises and smell

[dieselbashdave]

Hello all,

Well I've started to take the train to Inverness after getting bored of sitting in traffic jams/the A9. Today my chariot was 158-741. It's an unrefurbished 158 in old Nat X Scotrail fitting, which is ironically more comfortable than the "new" First refurb. And it doesn't have the mutiliated headlights either that gives the SR 158's a rather glakit grin.

I did notice on pulling out of Dingwall on 2H60 (according to trains.im that's its headcode IDK how accurate it is; it arrived 10.35 approx) that the gearbox began to make a very strange sound. There was no lack of power but the transmission made a very strange sound not unlike the cross between a turbocharger and a chicken; a sort of droning hum that lowered in pitch (from a whistling whine and squeaking wail to a bass hum). It seemed to be at random rather than having a pattern and lasted about a second. On reaching the Clach bridge I could smell a hydraulic oil smell (raw and not burnt). That went after a few seconds; my seat was the fifth back from the first table seat.

Is this normal? It was very unlike the usual 158 groan/drone/hum that we've all grown to know and love. The usual transmission sound was there as well. It was the leading coach coming from WIK-->INV (exact unit I don't know, I didn't look as I was in a hurry when getting off as put it this way I had 4 cups of coffee before leaving the house ).

 

[PaxVobiscum]

.

... the transmission made a very strange sound not unlike the cross between a turbocharger and a chicken; a sort of droning hum that lowered in pitch (from a whistling whine and squeaking wail to a bass hum).

"The cross between a turbocharger and a chicken"

Was a chicken trying to cross the railway? (And if so, why?)
Which 'came' first, I wonder, the chicken or the turbocharger?
You can definitely rule out any bagpipes in the vicinity?

Brilliant post BTW!

 

[TDK]

Hello all,

Well I've started to take the train to Inverness after getting bored of sitting in traffic jams/the A9. Today my chariot was 158-741. It's an unrefurbished 158 in old Nat X Scotrail fitting, which is ironically more comfortable than the "new" First refurb. And it doesn't have the mutiliated headlights either that gives the SR 158's a rather glakit grin.

I did notice on pulling out of Dingwall on 2H60 (according to trains.im that's its headcode IDK how accurate it is; it arrived 10.35 approx) that the gearbox began to make a very strange sound. There was no lack of power but the transmission made a very strange sound not unlike the cross between a turbocharger and a chicken; a sort of droning hum that lowered in pitch (from a whistling whine and squeaking wail to a bass hum). It seemed to be at random rather than having a pattern and lasted about a second. On reaching the Clach bridge I could smell a hydraulic oil smell (raw and not burnt). That went after a few seconds; my seat was the fifth back from the first table seat.

Is this normal? It was very unlike the usual 158 groan/drone/hum that we've all grown to know and love. The usual transmission sound was there as well. It was the leading coach coming from WIK-->INV (exact unit I don't know, I didn't look as I was in a hurry when getting off as put it this way I had 4 cups of coffee before leaving the house ).

Class 158's have a 2 stage gearbox and the first stage is a torque coverter that revs in the region of 2300rpm (max) at about 55mph the torque converter gives up to a fluid coupling, when this occurs the high pitched whine will drop and so do the revs, this sound can be quite varied on different 158's, the hydraulic oil smell may just be a coincidence as I do not think the gearbox uses hydraulic oil. Hydrostatic oil is used to power the cooling fans and alternator this may be what you could smell if there was a minor leak.

The only other smell that comes from a 158 occasionally is the erbastacher heater that burns diesel oil but this has a burned diesel smell and some smoke if working incorrectly. All this may be the wrong answer to the state of you 158 but it gives you a short explanation of what it could have been

 

[JohnB57]

Class 158's have a 2 stage gearbox and the first stage is a torque coverter that revs in the region of 2300rpm (max) at about 55mph the torque converter gives up to a fluid coupling, when this occurs the high pitched whine will drop and so do the revs, this sound can be quite varied on different 158's, the hydraulic oil smell may just be a coincidence as I do not think the gearbox uses hydraulic oil. Hydrostatic oil is used to power the cooling fans and alternator this may be what you could smell if there was a minor leak.

The only other smell that comes from a 158 occasionally is the erbastacher heater that burns diesel oil but this has a burned diesel smell and some smoke if working incorrectly. All this may be the wrong answer to the state of you 158 but it gives you a short explanation of what it could have been

Both torque converters and fluid couplings would normally be filled with hydraulic oil - that's how they work. I think the highlighted word should be "Eberspächer".

 

[TDK]

Both torque converters and fluid couplings would normally be filled with hydraulic oil - that's how they work. I think the highlighted word should be "Eberspächer".

I beg to differ? I was always told the oil was not hydrualic in the voith gearbox? Any fitters correct me? And I am sorry I don't speak or can write in German

 

[michael769]

A list of reccomended fluids for the couplings can be found on page 2 of this document

A quick Google search will reveal that the reccommended fluids are all marketed as hydraulic oils.

 

[TDK]

A list of reccomended fluids for the couplings can be found on page 2 of this document

A quick Google search will reveal that the reccommended fluids are all marketed as hydraulic oils.

Fab document and I will apologise for my error. Learning every day

 

[scotraildriver]

I would suspect a dodgy final drive. I had 158738 final drive seize on me and the smell of hydraulic all was awful along with weird noises and smoke too.

 

[ryan125hst]

Is this normal? It was very unlike the usual 158 groan/drone/hum that we've all grown to know and love. The usual transmission sound was there as well. It was the leading coach coming from WIK-->INV (exact unit I don't know, I didn't look as I was in a hurry when getting off as put it this way I had 4 cups of coffee before leaving the house ).

Did you not realise that the 158's have toilets?

 

[fgwrich]

Well, pending the results of the Porterbrook / SWT Trials, enjoy the sound whilst it lasts. They'll certainly sound odd with the ZF eco drives underneath them.

 

[dieselbashdave]

Did you not realise that the 158's have toilets?

I only started to need to visit the whatsit just after crossing the swing bridge, and I decided that if I walked up the coach by the time I got there we'd be at Inverness. And going through the curves would cause a few problems

The chicken crossed the turbocharger so that a certain supermarket could put it in the vegitarien sausages

 

[Polarbear]

Having had the (dubious) privilege of 158741 on the erstwhile "internal overnight" from Glasgow to Inverness many moons ago, it still appears to be rubbish (it was back then).

No sleep 'till Inverness...:roll:

 

[scotraildriver]

741 is rubbish. As is 158871 158726. And Scotrail have ruined the smart SWT interior of 786 and 789 by replacing the seats with awful looking things with diagonal stripes straight out the 80's!