MEP-803A in storage 14+ years

[Light in the Dark]

Have a low hours 97 803A that was put in storage back in 02. In reading through the documents, they flushed the cooling system with oil as part of their procedure. It calls out that they sealed every opening (and warn to remove cover from air filter as part of getting it operational again), and that I can flush with 180* water and fill appropriately.

Any thoughts as to the best way to fill this? As that's about the operating temperature of the machine... would it make sense to just fill with distilled water and run long enough to get up to temp, and drain? Obviously I can rig up boiling water through a funnel and hope for the best. Just wanted to see how others have tackled.

Also they mark that all openings have been sealed, but should there be anything that I check prior to cranking? Thanks

 

[DieselAddict]

They flushed the cooling system with oil? Does it say what kind of oil?

 

[Hard Head]

Probably hydraulic oil. If have heard of kerosene, fuel oil, motor oil, etc being run in the coolant systems of cars for years. Some racing engines and tractor pull engines run oil as a coolant. At least that is what I have read. I would flush and flush before putting in any antifreeze. You can run water and royal purple coolant which does a great job of increasing heat transfer. But there is always a gotcha in generators. They run better loaded and hot! Wet stacking is a bad thing!

 

[87Nassaublue]

I've never heard of putting oil in the cooling system after the coolant has been drained. It seems unlikely the military would do that because it's an extra step that would cost money. If you find out this was indeed done and why, I'd certainly like to know the theory behind it.

 

[Light in the Dark]

They flushed the cooling system with oil? Does it say what kind of oil?

"Warning: Cooling System Drained and Flushed with Oil. Open drain cocks and flush/hot water (180* or more). Close Drain cocks. Fill system to proper level with coolant prior to operating engine". On the reverse of this DD1397 it says that the fuel tanks were processed with PE-10 (elsewhere on this form it shows original oil as being PE 15/40)... so maybe just 10 weight oil?

 

[87Nassaublue]

I would love to know why they would do that. Hmm Maybe Google is in order!

 

[Light in the Dark]

I've never heard of putting oil in the cooling system after the coolant has been drained. It seems unlikely the military would do that because it's an extra step that would cost money. If you find out this was indeed done and why, I'd certainly like to know the theory behind it.

This is an official form (DD1397) for 'Processing and Deprocessing Record for Shipment, Storage, and Issue of Vehicles and Spare Engines'. As part of this procedure call out, they also show releasing belt tensions, sealing engine openings, removing batteries, the callout for fuel tank processing, as well as spot paint touch up... all above the cooling system stuff.

I assume this was still a good military asset, which is why they went this route to stop down any potential corrosion. This unit came out of MCLB Albany GA

 

[87Nassaublue]

Well, Google didn't have any answers.

 

[Scrounger]

Whenever I have any oil in the cooling system, for instance a bad oil cooler, I flush the system with water and Cascade dish washing soap. Some like to use Dawn, however it produces a lot of bubbles, Cascade doesn’t. It doesn’t take much soap. Just add hot water, if you have it, with some soap and run the engine for fifteen minutes. Drain, refill with straight water to rinse at least once preferably twice, running about five minutes each time. Drain and fill with coolant.

 

[Terracoma]

I'll second the Cascade detergent recommendation.

As was noted above, very common in the OTR/trucking/equipment world to decontaminate a cooling system after an oil cooler failure.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Whenever I have any oil in the cooling system, for instance a bad oil cooler, I flush the system with water and Cascade dish washing soap. Some like to use Dawn, however it produces a lot of bubbles, Cascade doesn’t. It doesn’t take much soap. Just add hot water, if you have it, with some soap and run the engine for fifteen minutes. Drain, refill with straight water to rinse at least once preferably twice, running about five minutes each time. Drain and fill with coolant.

So if the system holds about two gallons, how much soap do you think? Tablespoon? Are you talking about just regular tap water, or distilled?

 

[Scrounger]

For flushing plain old tap water and a tablespoon would be fine. As for filling the system one can use ready-mix regular plain old green anti-freeze. Or concentrate and distilled water, 50/50 mix. Most bottled water in the gallon at the grocery store is distilled or de-ionized and works well. The idea is not to have minerals in the water.

 

[Hard Head]

When I get in a generator from GL or GovPlanet I put in a gallon of distilled water with the drain valve open before filling and running the engine to max temp around 5 minutes. I drain and do this a minimum of two times. Sometimes you do need a detergent to clean the system. If I get any oil in the water, I check the engine for issues before going forward with antifreeze. I always use a 50/50 mix of diesel red llc/elc antifreeze. I never have to change it again. Most of these coolants are rated for 600K miles.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Flushed twice yesterday, and the oil obviously didn't coat everything, as the water was rusty colored. Oh well, not too bad considering.

I will probably flush two more times, then do the coolant. This genset is still on my trailer (easier to move around this way), but its at a slight angle (radiator spout pointing down slightly)... unable to full fill the radiator.

Past this, shes a runner and sounds great. Everything seems to check out mechanically. Just have to load test it soon, but I have a good feeling all will be well.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Oh, and are there any special funnels you folks use to fill these things? I assume a flex neck is the best, but I thought there might be something rigid available for this.

 

[Hard Head]

I use a flex. If I were you I would replace the rubber fuel lines now. I put new hose on everyone I get that are over 2 years old or 2 year from rebuild! Got lucky once and got a 2011 that was rebuilt in 2015. There are many great posts on SS about this. Also run some injector cleaner in it before and during your load testing. Change your fuel filters! I would also change the radiator hoses out and thermostat. Things sitting around tend to have leaks from gaskets going bad. Don't throw 130% on first!

 

[Light in the Dark]

I use a flex. If I were you I would replace the rubber fuel lines now. I put new hose on everyone I get that are over 2 years old or 2 year from rebuild! Got lucky once and got a 2011 that was rebuilt in 2015. There are many great posts on SS about this. Also run some injector cleaner in it before and during your load testing. Change your fuel filters! I would also change the radiator hoses out and thermostat. Things sitting around tend to have leaks from gaskets going bad. Don't throw 130% on first!

I will check them out. The hoses looked to be in good shape, with no dry rot starting. On my other 803a (2010 w/ 9 hrs) I think the thermostat either has some debris in it, or its been fouled. Its stuck at 190* or so. I haven't flushed that one yet (came from a base with all fluids). Thats the next project.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I use a flex. If I were you I would replace the rubber fuel lines now. I put new hose on everyone I get that are over 2 years old or 2 year from rebuild! Got lucky once and got a 2011 that was rebuilt in 2015. There are many great posts on SS about this. Also run some injector cleaner in it before and during your load testing. Change your fuel filters! I would also change the radiator hoses out and thermostat. Things sitting around tend to have leaks from gaskets going bad. Don't throw 130% on first!

Oh, and no worries about the load. I think my needs are actually going to call for a 5kw unit (I turned everything on in my house, including double wall oven, hi flow hood over range, etc... and only got the 803a to like 65% load).

 

[dependable]

My 802 runs up to and settles out at 190*, I thought that was about right.

 

[Light in the Dark]

My 802 runs up to and settles out at 190*, I thought that was about right.

It is, by my gauge shows this when the unit is off. When I first got it in, the gauge was not stuck like that. I think there is probably just some crap in the lines. We'll see.