Overfilled smoke unit.

[Wrench567]

While I was taking my weekly trip to the dump, my grandson decided to get Papa's tank ready. He went into my workshop and took the oil bottle and squirted most of it on my bench but the two fill tubes were completely full. He also filled the bb hatch with as many BBs it would hold. For a five year old with an arm already in a cast he's very helpful around here. Thank you nana for keeping an eye on him.
The BBs is an easy fix. What about the smoke unit? I can hear the fan with the sound muted but no smoke. Can it be salvaged. Or should I just unplug it from the controller?
Thanks.

[Alpha]

Wrench567 Hello there, Wrench.

First and foremost, I would recommend that you not power on the smoke unit while it's flooded. Unplug it, at the very least.

If you want to try to salvage it, the operation is fairly straightforward:

1) Unscrew the hull sections to open up the tank
2) Unplug the smoke unit and unscrew it from its mounts
3) Carefully twist the silicone tubes off of the plastic mounts where it attaches to the hull. Don't try to remove the tubes from where they attach to the smoke unit... they'll most likely just break off since they're glued on.
4) With the smoke unit now free in your hand, unscrew the top half. This will reveal the inside of the heating element. You'll notice some wadding in there, likely flooded.
5) Completely drain the reservoir, remove the wadding, and try to get everything completely dry. Use IPA (isopropyl alcohol) on a Q-tip to get it all clean, but take extra care to avoid damaging the heating coil itself.
6) Depending on if you can get the wadding dry or not, you may want to replace the wadding. A torn up cotton ball is a suitable replacement. Just be sure to match the same amount as the original. Don't overstuff it.
7) Add a couple drops of smoke oil to the wadding. You want it damp but not soaked.
8) Reassemble the smoke unit and test it before completely reinstalling.

Good luck!

[Wrench567]

Thank you.
I will leave it turned off until I'm ready to do some maintenance on the beast. Maybe another 2 hours of operation. By then the steel gearboxes will need lubrication and the bearings and bushings will need some cleaning. I have not had the thing apart yet. But looks simple enough.
. Thanks again.
. Pete

[Wrench567]

I finally got inside the tank yesterday. Taking the cover off the smoke unit was the hardest. One screw had the Philips cross filled with something that was not easy to get out. Those little screws were really tight.
The cotton wading was completely dry and had a burn spot from the heating coil. I flipped the cotton over and dropped 4 drops of oil on it. Screwed the cover back down and tested it. All good.
Thanks a bunch.
Pete

[SoCalBobS]

I can second Rubicons advice, and Wrench's experience. Long story short, the wadding was soaked. In my defense, it's hard to gauge how much oil you've squirted in. Suffice to say, I did too much. I disassembled the unit following Alpha's instructions, encountering the same filled phillips screw Wrench did. I had to dremel out a cross slot in it to remove it. I wonder if it's a deliberate step by the factory? Anyway, I replaced the wadding with a cotton ball, cut to the same size as the wadding would have been when dry. A couple of drops of oil, back together and away it goes! Now I just have to do it on my other tanks.

I do model railroading, and a locomotive with a smoke unit can fill the house with diesel smell (yum) in a few minutes. Heng Long's aren't as prolific, but should put out a good amount of smoke. If there is puny or no smoke but no burning wad smell, it's probably soaked. Ask me how I know!