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Car has stopped working


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Hi everyone.

 

My son received a Scalextric Continental Sports pack for Christmas. He is obsessed with it. However, I have set it up for the third time this past weekend and after a low speed spin off, one of the cars no longer works.

I have checked the track and it works just fine with the other car in both slots. Both controllers are working fine also. I have tried the broken car on both sides of the track and at different points around the track and it still has no power. I have lifted the rear wheels to see if they spin and they do not, no matter what I do. I have changed the braids but this has not solved the problem either. The issue would appear to be with the car itself. Unfortunately, I have no experience with Scalextric so don't know what to do next and I'm concerned that he has only had this a few weeks and played it on 4 occasions for around 1hr each time. Surely it should not have stopped working already.

 

Any advice on what I should do next would be greatly appreciated as he is very disappointed that only one of the cars is working as the purple one (broken) was his favourite.

 

Many thanks in advance.

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When you changed the braids were both contacts in place?

Scalextric cars are pretty simple technology. Basically 2 wires from pick-ups to motor.

Take the body off and first check for broken wires.

Next remove rear axle and see if motor now works. It may be something has caught in the gears. Running even for a few hours on the floor can attract all sorts of rubbish.

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Depening on where you got it maybe try to get a replacement. Otherwise chris_shiers has good advice on how to check if there is a disconnect between the rails and the motors.

Which of the two cars doesn't work? GT LIghtning or the LMP (Le Mans style) car?

I have both and I can take a look too.

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Hi, thank you for you replies.

 

My believe it was bought from Argos. Might try returning it and see what they say. Not sure if he has kept the receipt though. If not, I will try the above.

It is the GT Lightning car that has stopped working. The LMP is fine.

When I changed the braids both contacts were in place.

 

Thanks again

 

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Scarykarl, I have almost the exact same story but my son crashed a car pretty hard. I opened the car up and found that one of the wires that connect to the pickups/guide blade had popped off. I don't know if this is what happened to your car, but it seems a likely point for the problem

 

If you look in shop/spares/ you will find a picture of the whole setup, including small metal pieces where eachwire connects - the part is C8312 for the picture. I used a pair of tweezers to insert the wire back into the small metal connector.

This spot seems like a weak link in the cars, and something the company should consider upgrading as I have seen much better ways of connecting the wires to the buide blade on youtube (how I learned to fix the problem). Good luck!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought the same set for my grandson (Continental Sports Car). First one car stopped working.  I returned to Hornby and they sorted it.  Then the other car stopped working, so rather than return to Hornby I bought a cheap one from Argos - proper Scalextric - now that one doesn't work, neither does the repaired one.  So I have three cars and nothing works.  The set is 6 months old, and has hardly been used.  Is there a manufacturing problem with these sets?  Any suggestions about what to test and how?   Thanks

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Try most of the tips above, i.e. unscrewing the body, checking for loose wires, make sure braids are in good condition, nothing broken etc.

If that does not help then please do contact customer support. They are the only ones who can find out if there is a bad batch out there or not.

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I don't have any of the cars you mention above but I do have 2 cars that did stop working and upon checking the motor it was still good what it was was the capacitor or resistor that is connected to the wires that go to the pick ups, thats my experience I have had,  the issue with 2 cars both cars came with my original set others I have bought seperatley and used more are still good maybe the cars they put with the sets are not as good as the ones you buy seperatley, I cut the resistor/capacitor out reconected the wires by soldering them and all good a bit fiddley but it works.

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Ferrit man is actually reference to the complete suppression set on the pickups and as a matter of course includes the ferrit choke in addition to the capacitor. While cars will run without both those items you do so at risk of increased interference. I would recommend wiring back replacements where possible.

 

The image below shows ferrite man, note the position of the wires to the motor or chip between the choke and the capacitor.

/media/tinymce_upload/dd5ad6d8241eefdbc45180e1b528b5f3.jpg

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  • 4 years later...

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