Gunny65
Member
- 173
- 7
- 18
- Location
- Bonners Ferry, idaho
It took some time to get things going but I finally got the genset running. Not that it had any problems. I had problems getting the fuel/water filter off. What a tremendous pain in the butt. I don't think anything has ever got me so angry. I read on here the problems some of you have had getting that filter out. I figured this one would be easy since it was just rebuilt. Noooooooo, it wasn't. I tried the rubber filter wrench, the metal one, the screw driver through the body method, strap and screw driver together method and could not get it to budge. I finally took the side cover off and removed the whole unit, head and all. I had to put the head unit in a vice and used several other ways and nothing worked. Then I pulled out the 18" pipe wrench, put it on the rigid lip of the filter and it still took several slips and cuss words to get it to come off. Finally though, it came off and I threw the mangled filter out the door. Made me feel good. I am just glad nobody was around to see my tantrum.
Anyway, I finally got all the filters replaced (oil, fuel/water, air, and fuel filter). I also replaced the oil since it was still the breakin oil they used after the rebuild. There was a tag on the inside stating that the oil in the genset was the original breakin oil and needed replaced at 100 hours...there were 250 hours on the meter. The oil was quite black and the tag was still hung next to the oil fill hole so I figure it was still the breakin oil. Checked the radiator fluid and charged up the two Ultima redtop batteries that were in it. I was worried because there was also a condition code "H" tag on the outside of the generator. However, there was also a condition code "A" tag inside the documents box. So, anyway, I primed it, bled the air out of the secondary fuel bowl/filter (the two screws at the top of the bowl) and it started up on the third attempt. It didnt belch black smoke, just some initial white smoke and it ran very smoothly. I was soooooo happy after the fuel water filter fiasco. I ran it about 45 seconds, turned it off, checked the oil level and all was good. I then turned it back on, first try, and let it run for 50ish minutes watching the gauges throughout the process.
Everything went smooth, all gauges were where they should be. EXCEPT the amps gauge. It never moved at any point. It just sat in the red prior to starting, during starting and throughout the initial test run. I am assuming the gauge is bad? I will check it out at some point. I am not sure how to test it though. Suggestions on how to determine if it is bad or not?
I am very happy at this point. I now have a fully functional generator for my house. Now I just need to get the plugs and get everything connected. I am using the cable that came with the M934A2 I got this summer. It was still on the reel under the van. I think it is 50' of really heavy duty cable. I am not sure what the wire gauge is but it has to be in the 2 or 0 range. The cable is rated at 100amps, I think. Big enough to run the 50 amps I need into the house from the generator anyway. It is also VERY quiet. I am accustomed to wearing hearing protection around the generators we used while I was active. They were stupid loud. This thing you can talk normally right next to it. My chainsaw is much louder. Here are a few pics.
The fourth pic of the head unit shows rust. It is running fine but that worried me. You could not see that in the GL inspection pictures. It is doing its job though so I am assuming it is just surface/orifice rust.
The fifth picture is the unit sitting next to the generator on the trailer. It is for switching the load from the semi-permenant generator on the ground (just as an example) to the trailer mounted generator so maintenance could be performed on the ground generator and whatever the generator was providing power to could keep on doing whatever it was doing during the maintenance downtime. I think this is what it was used for anyway. It is definitely for switching loads from one genset to this one and back.
The last picture is of what I won on GL right before Christmas. My wife said I could bid on it for a Christmas present. It is the Eyecon 360 Light System for the MRAP vehicles. I am going to put it on my M934A2 (Sasquatch). I don't have a picture of it but she bought me a lighted toggle switch that has a pic of Sasquatch on it that lights up when powered. So Cool!. I love it. I won't be putting the kit on the truck until spring though. Sorry, this doesn't have anything to do with the generator but I had to share since it was in the same batch of pics I had loaded.
Okay, enough typing. This happy camper is going to sit, rest and relax.
Anyway, I finally got all the filters replaced (oil, fuel/water, air, and fuel filter). I also replaced the oil since it was still the breakin oil they used after the rebuild. There was a tag on the inside stating that the oil in the genset was the original breakin oil and needed replaced at 100 hours...there were 250 hours on the meter. The oil was quite black and the tag was still hung next to the oil fill hole so I figure it was still the breakin oil. Checked the radiator fluid and charged up the two Ultima redtop batteries that were in it. I was worried because there was also a condition code "H" tag on the outside of the generator. However, there was also a condition code "A" tag inside the documents box. So, anyway, I primed it, bled the air out of the secondary fuel bowl/filter (the two screws at the top of the bowl) and it started up on the third attempt. It didnt belch black smoke, just some initial white smoke and it ran very smoothly. I was soooooo happy after the fuel water filter fiasco. I ran it about 45 seconds, turned it off, checked the oil level and all was good. I then turned it back on, first try, and let it run for 50ish minutes watching the gauges throughout the process.
Everything went smooth, all gauges were where they should be. EXCEPT the amps gauge. It never moved at any point. It just sat in the red prior to starting, during starting and throughout the initial test run. I am assuming the gauge is bad? I will check it out at some point. I am not sure how to test it though. Suggestions on how to determine if it is bad or not?
I am very happy at this point. I now have a fully functional generator for my house. Now I just need to get the plugs and get everything connected. I am using the cable that came with the M934A2 I got this summer. It was still on the reel under the van. I think it is 50' of really heavy duty cable. I am not sure what the wire gauge is but it has to be in the 2 or 0 range. The cable is rated at 100amps, I think. Big enough to run the 50 amps I need into the house from the generator anyway. It is also VERY quiet. I am accustomed to wearing hearing protection around the generators we used while I was active. They were stupid loud. This thing you can talk normally right next to it. My chainsaw is much louder. Here are a few pics.
The fourth pic of the head unit shows rust. It is running fine but that worried me. You could not see that in the GL inspection pictures. It is doing its job though so I am assuming it is just surface/orifice rust.
The fifth picture is the unit sitting next to the generator on the trailer. It is for switching the load from the semi-permenant generator on the ground (just as an example) to the trailer mounted generator so maintenance could be performed on the ground generator and whatever the generator was providing power to could keep on doing whatever it was doing during the maintenance downtime. I think this is what it was used for anyway. It is definitely for switching loads from one genset to this one and back.
The last picture is of what I won on GL right before Christmas. My wife said I could bid on it for a Christmas present. It is the Eyecon 360 Light System for the MRAP vehicles. I am going to put it on my M934A2 (Sasquatch). I don't have a picture of it but she bought me a lighted toggle switch that has a pic of Sasquatch on it that lights up when powered. So Cool!. I love it. I won't be putting the kit on the truck until spring though. Sorry, this doesn't have anything to do with the generator but I had to share since it was in the same batch of pics I had loaded.
Okay, enough typing. This happy camper is going to sit, rest and relax.
