9398 Faulty Parts

[750ACE]

Hi Everyone,

So I guess my first post on EuroBricks is going to be a complaint about my 9398. I decided to use the L-motors, battery box, servo, IR receiver in a MOC of mine. BTW - I was never happy with the performance of the 9398. I put both motors in another vehicle of mine, half the weight geared down. Both motors insisted on stalling. Apparently, the battery box was not putting out all of the power it should have been. I swapped out the battery box with another one, now the motors are working great. Now I am half tempted to see if my 9398 would run better.

The other item was a faulty spring (shock). After performing a compression test, I found one of the springs was weaker than the other three. I did a quick comparison with the springs from my 8110. 7 of the 8 put out the exact resistance. That would explain the 9398 leaning!

Did anyone else experience a quality control issue with their 9398?

[z3_2drive]

I think Sariel's 9398 had battery box problems as well, I had none, and as for shock absorbers, i've never heard of springs being too soft, but definitely possible! Did you buy a new set from lego or in a store, or from sites like ebay? the first batch of models might have had minor defects like these...

Edited December 5, 2012 by z3_2drive

[clarkdef]

Yes! The servo motor broke when I loaded one side of it in one of my own creations, I put an axle on the front face side of the servo for a front steering system. The orange plastic piece broke out when the motor felt too much resistance.

The tollerance should be higher, a motor should not be able to break it's output shaft holder on its own strength.

[750ACE]

The set was purchased from Toys R Us probably a month after it became available there, prior to Lego acknowledging it on their own website. I thought I did read somewhere that Sariel's 9398 had the same battery box issue. The shock absorber was a surprise as well but I did confirm after testing it. I ended up purchasing another set of 4 on ebay for spares. Talk about being disappointed then happy it was something so easy to fix.

[Philo]

Yes! The servo motor broke when I loaded one side of it in one of my own creations, I put an axle on the front face side of the servo for a front steering system. The orange plastic piece broke out when the motor felt too much resistance.

The tollerance should be higher, a motor should not be able to break it's output shaft holder on its own strength.

Agreed. You should contact LEGO service, hopefully you'll receive a new servo, and they will be aware of a potential problem. I submitted my servo to a lot of stress during testing without problem, but a manufacturing issue can always happen...

[kieran]

Lego service is your best bet, in the past when I have had parts break they always replace them, i would look up the number for the country you live in and give them a call

[davidmull]

Edit wrong tread

Edited December 5, 2012 by davidmull

[Splat]

I've had a 'dead' shock absorber in my 8081 Extreme Cruiser set. Then end of the spring wasn't formed properly, so it didn't go together properly, and it then deformed the end of the black shaft. The shock absorber wouldn't stay together, and the spring was putting sideways pressure on the shaft, so the suspension wasn't smooth at all.

I just took a photo of it, sent it to Lego Customer Service via their online form (including my Lego ID and postal address), and they sent out a replacement part fairly quickly.

Mine was an obvious physical problem, but convincing Lego that one spring is softer than the others might be a bit harder to explain, but I have found Lego Customer Service to always be helpful.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Splat