Z-Car with DOA motor

[Mad Dog]

I just got an Atomic Z-Car Turbo to replace one my son had that died. After having a hell of a time getting it from a horrible online vendor (twice they said it was shipping that day and twice they didn't do it), it arrived DOA. It charges, the front wheels turn, but the motor doesn't do a thing. The red light on top of the car lights up when I push the forward or reverse buttons, but no wheels spin and no sound at all. Atomic's web site is down. Their phone has been busy all day. And the one troubleshooting thing in the instructions says to "Push motor in from gear side" and "Ensure that bracket is in place." Unfortunately there's no diagram to give me a clue.

HELP! My son was supposed to get this as a reward for doing his homework after school for a week and he's waited three weeks for it to get here and it doesn't work. Any hints?

THANKS
Mad Dog

When it says to push the motor on the gear side, I would just push on the gear on the motor. Try pushing it and hitting the forward button, you should be able to feel if it is trying to turn.

The reason for this is one of the connections is on the back of the motor and it makes a connection by a piece of metal similar to how a battery does. If the metal tab isn't making connection, that might be your problem.

As for the clip, just make sure both the hooks are on the metal bar and snapped in place. I think you have a connection problem somewhere.

[Mad Dog]

Thanks for the quick reply and suggestions. I did that as well as figured out to pull off the back wheels and remove the motor (what I thought was a battery). All seems fine as far as I can tell, I put it all back, still nothing from the motor (as I said, the front wheels turn and the light on top of the car lights when you press "forward" or "reverse").

Now if I could figure out how to get a hold of Atomic Toys.....their web site is down and their phone has been busy for two days now.

Any other suggestions would be great!

Thanks,
Mad Dog

If there is enough charge in the battery to move the front tires, I would think there would be enough to turn the motor.

You should test your motor to make sure if it works. Touch a wire from a battery to the contact on the bottom and the other to anywhere on the can of the motor. I'm thinking one of your wires that solders onto the metal pieces that make contact with the motor is broken.

There should be two wires going from the circuit board to metal pieces in the back of the car that make contact with the motor.

I could be wrong though, I'm not sure how different z-cars are from regular bits, but I'm assuming they're about the same.

[Mad Dog]

Thanks, but I still can't get it working. Without tearing the whole thing apart I can't get to the wires. I found out Atomic Toys that makes them is out of business. Luckily the people I bought it from just said they'll send another car and we can hope it works.

Thanks for your help!

MD