Double lane change trouble carrera D 132

[Heat]

Hi gents. This is the second time I've had a D 132 double lane changer track break the same way. These were brand new. The car seems to hit the lane changing "guide pin" and stops dead in its tracks. When that happens, the "pin" pops out and has to be reset in its hole. But once that happens, it just keeps happening again. The tracks now, seem useless. Has anyone had this problem before? A fix ? Thank's

[dw5555]

This used to happen to me a lot but my cause was because I had mine at the end of a long straight and with the speed of the cars the l/c didn't have enough time to react and it would hit it mid change. Eventually the l/c wire broke the plastic holding it in place. Once they start popping out it seems they are never the same. In your case it could be dirt or hair in the l/c causing it to slow down.
Dave

[Heat]

tHANK'S

Thank's man. I,ll check the speed of my cars...

[b.yingling]

Another cause can be the changer is not getting a good enough feed of power from the CU. So when the solenoid fires, the gate opens a tad slower. That's why it's always recommended to put a jumper at every lane changer, or better yet to run wires directly from the CU power leads to the leads on the lane changer circuit boards.

Can also happen by putting the LED sensor too far back from the guide if you chip a non-Carrera digital ready car.

[Heat]

Found what the lane changer problem was. When the car hits the lane changer because it didn't open it stops dead but it breaks or splits the piece of plastic that holds or guides the lane changer metal pin. You really have to look for this. This break or split prevents the pin to work properly so it happens again and again. By shaving or cutting off the now split piece of plastic, it never happens again. I'm sorry Carrera, but you should address this. At $100.00 CDN per track, this should not happen. And it must happen often because it happened on 3 of my brand new lane changers. And yes, they are laid down flat and not at the end of stretches. Hope I could help.

[b.yingling]

The real question is: why were your cars hitting the lane change flipper?

Strange that it would happen with three different pieces. As several of us said in this thread, there can be multiple reasons for the flipper to not open completely before the car's guide gets to the gate. Dirt, not enough power to the solenoid, a chipped car with the LED too far behind the guide, a mechanical defect in the linkage of the gate, track not laying flat- any or all of these and more can contribute.

Since you trimmed away the broken plastic, has the gate been opening quickly enough to prevent the guide hitting the flipper? If so, it makes me wonder if there was some flashing or something on all three of your units (were they purchased at the same time and in the same place?) that caused them to operate just a fraction slower.

[Heat]

Tracks work perfectly when trimmed. The plastic split only when the car hit it the first time. I would bet the farm that most people who have had this problem could fix it this way.

[Heat]

Tracks were purchased from 3 different stores at different times.