MEP-003a new to me... comments?

[Tem]

Hello. I've been looking around the site learning what I can. I have downloaded and read parts of the TM, but it is overwhelming for me. I'm totally new to these generators. I'd appreciate any comments...

I can't find any dates on this thing other than the CARC SEP 07. It has less than 160 hrs on the meter. The Hz needle doesn't consistently work, but even when the needle stays to the far left my meter shows it holding a consistent 60 hz +/- .1 hz. There is a fair amount of water drops on the face of the load meter. The wires and conduit attached to the lugs were there when I bought it.

My biggest concern is the oil leaking near the push rod tube on cylinder #3. Should I be worried? At what point should I fix it?

I have run it less than an hour, mostly just to see it run. I hooked it up to the house and it did good as far as I could tell.

I finally got a couple 5000W heaters ready to put a good load on it and run it a while to see how it does. I thought before I put a "big" load on it I should check with the experience here and make sure I'm not missing something or doing something I shouldn't.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Guyfang]

Unless the oil leak is real bad, I would say fix the little problems first.

There red should have been a data plate on the side of the control box, if not, no big deal. Won't stop you using it.

First problem. Hertz meter. The hertz is controlled by engine speed. As long as the gen set makes power, the frequency transducer reads AC power, and converts that to a DC signal that the meter can read. When you open the control panel, the transducer is it the top middle of the control panel. On the left side is two wires. Check for 120 volts there. Then check for output, on the other side, two wires, for DC volts. If you have no input, that's were to start looking. If you have input and no output, the transducer is bad. If you have output, the problem is the meter. Smack the meter a good one, don't break the glass!! And see if it dosnt start working. Let us know what you find.

 

[Chainbreaker]

How did you come by your unit? Auction, private sale, or ?

Overall, judging by photo's your unit looks to be in pretty good condition and since you said it runs and produces electricity your off to a great start! Its typical for the Hz meter to go wonky. The transducer is usually what fails. You can replace with a retrofit all-in-one digital meter or just use a ~$25 Kill-A-Watt meter plugged into convenience outlet to verify Hz. Also, looks like your missing a battery tray and hold downs.

Hobbs meter hours really don't mean a whole lot, meters get replaced as well as entire control boxes so meter hours may not correspond to actual engine hours. As far as not having a date stamped on the Mfg's placard it may be that someone replaced the placard. They sell blank placards on eBay. Does it have the Mfg's name on it like "Libby or Raytheon". If I recall correctly, MEP-003's were mfg''d from late 60's up to 92. So yours could be any vintage between those years. Although judging by its condition I would say mid 80's to early 90's is most likely.

Has it been serviced recently? If not, or unknown, I would change all filters (fuel & oil) change oil and check air filter. Also take off bottom of fuel pumps & clean sediment filters and wipe off magnets inside caps. What does inside of fuel tank look like? Take out fuel filler opening screen and use a flashlight to inspect bottom of tank for rust or sludge. Clean if necessary by removing tank and flushing with solvent, etc. Wouldn't hurt to put a qt. of Seafoam in tank & mix with fresh diesel before you run with your heater load. Also, check all fuel lines for any weeping before & after running.

As far as the push rod tube area oil leak. If its dripping or puddling, source needs to be confirmed and addressed. If just a dry baked on oil film keep a close eye on it.

 

[jamawieb]

Looks like a good unit. As stated above usually the transducer has failed for the hertz gauge. I would personally just use a hand held meter or kill-a-watt meter to watch the hertz. Carc Sept 07 just means it was painted in September 07 but from the looks, it looks like its been refurbished. Decals and wiring on the generator look new and has a newer style starter. It didn't go through a tier 1 or tier 2 reset but for sure has some updates.
For the oil leak, take that cover off which holds the door in place so you can get a better view. You may just have a valve cover leaking which is running down to that spot. If it is actually the push rod tube leaking, the only way to fix it is to pull the head to replace the seal.

 

[justacitizen]

Welcome Tem! there is a lot of good info here,especially on the MEP 002A and Mep 003A. that HZ meter takes a lot of abuse from vibration. i would always confirm the HZ with either a kil o watt meter or a good multi meter. it isn't uncommon for the vibration dampeners on the back of the control box to be shot also. what part of Ok are you from?

 

[Tem]

There red should have been a data plate on the side of the control box, if not, no big deal. Won't stop you using it.

First problem. Hertz meter. The hertz is controlled by engine speed. As long as the gen set makes power, the frequency transducer reads AC power, and converts that to a DC signal that the meter can read. When you open the control panel, the transducer is it the top middle of the control panel. On the left side is two wires. Check for 120 volts there. Then check for output, on the other side, two wires, for DC volts. If you have no input, that's were to start looking. If you have input and no output, the transducer is bad. If you have output, the problem is the meter. Smack the meter a good one, don't break the glass!! And see if it dosnt start working. Let us know what you find.

If this is the data plate you are talking about it must have been replaced at some point. I can't see any signs of the date ever being filled in, and the serial number seems odd to me too.

I'll check that transducer next time I have it running.

When I inspected it before I bought it he ran it at a low idle to warm it up. I've since read that is a big no no.... may have already caused some damage. I have set the throttle (probably the wrong term) so the engine produces 60 hz on my hand held meter and it has not moved since. Now I start it and shut it down at the 1800 rpm (60hz).

 

[Tem]

How did you come by your unit? Auction, private sale, or ?
Its typical for the Hz meter to go wonky. The transducer is usually what fails. You can replace with a retrofit all-in-one digital meter or just use a ~$25 Kill-A-Watt meter plugged into convenience outlet to verify Hz. Also, looks like your missing a battery tray and hold downs.
Hobbs meter hours really don't mean a whole lot, meters get replaced as well as entire control boxes so meter hours may not correspond to actual engine hours. As far as not having a date stamped on the Mfg's placard it may be that someone replaced the placard. They sell blank placards on eBay. Does it have the Mfg's name on it like "Libby or Raytheon". If I recall correctly, MEP-003's were mfg''d from late 60's up to 92.
Has it been serviced recently? If not, or unknown, I would change all filters (fuel & oil) change oil and check air filter. Also take off bottom of fuel pumps & clean sediment filters and wipe off magnets inside caps. What does inside of fuel tank look like? Take out fuel filler opening screen and use a flashlight to inspect bottom of tank for rust or sludge. Clean if necessary by removing tank and flushing with solvent, etc. Wouldn't hurt to put a qt. of Seafoam in tank & mix with fresh diesel before you run with your heater load. Also, check all fuel lines for any weeping before & after running.
As far as the push rod tube area oil leak. If its dripping or puddling, source needs to be confirmed and addressed. If just a dry baked on oil film keep a close eye on it.

I bought the unit from an individual that bought it from an auction. He bought two. This one was in better shape and he got it running first. Now that I bought it he is going to fix the other one.

I'm going to check the transducer next time it running. I do have a descent digital hand held meter as well as a kill-a-watt meter.

The battery tray and hold down is missing. I'm going to make a simple tray out of angle iron. It won't be anything fancy, but it should keep the batteries from bouncing around.

I'm guessing the data card was replaced at some point. You can see mine in the post above.

The two fuel filters and oil filter were changed just before I bought it. He also put in fresh Rotella 15W-40 (I believe that's what he said he put it). He didn't replace the air filter. I did pull the air filter and it looks good (but it is an unknown how old it is and I'm not expert on air filter condition). I don't know if the fuel pumps were cleaned, so I'll pull them apart and clean them. I have pulled the fuel filler screen and looked inside, but at this point I don't remember what I saw. I'll check again and I like the idea of the seafoam. I have checked the fuel lines and they don't show any signs of weeping.

I'll keep an eye on the oil leak. The generator has not run much recently, so probably too soon to know on that.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Tem]

Welcome Tem! there is a lot of good info here,especially on the MEP 002A and Mep 003A. that HZ meter takes a lot of abuse from vibration. i would always confirm the HZ with either a kil o watt meter or a good multi meter. it isn't uncommon for the vibration dampeners on the back of the control box to be shot also. what part of Ok are you from?

I'm in the Tulsa area... How about you?

 

[Chainbreaker]

I can't make out all the #'s on the serial #. Looks like it starts with RZ1.... With the complete serial # I bet others members with MEP-003a's here can compare to their units serial #'s and probably get you in the ball park of when it was mfg'd. That is assuming that serial # truly belongs to your unit...control box swap out by someone not caring about removing & transferring original Mfg placard could cause identity confusion. Really doesn't make a lot of difference on mfg date, "it is what it is" as far as age & runtime. The "nice to know" would be if it was ever reset or had an engine replacement but it doesn't have any tags that indicate that ever occurred. As long as its not smoking, consuming oil or has blow-by issues you'll probably run for MANY more hours just fine as-is, like in the thousands of hours if properly maintained!

Yeah, no need to replace the air filter if it looks good, they last a long-long time.

As was mentioned by Jamawieb, your oil leak could be coming up higher from valve cover gasket. When you do your heater load test take a close look at the area after shutdown. BTW, you really should not run with cover open for any extended time due to airflow concerns. Also, if you run it for an hour or so under a good load you should see your air shutters start to open very s-l-o-w-l-y & ever so slightly in cold weather. If it's really-really cold they may not open as engine needs to maintain proper cylinder temperature for proper combustion to operate efficiently.

 

[Tem]

I can't make out all the #'s on the serial #. Looks like it starts with RZ1.... With the complete serial # I bet others members with MEP-003a's here can compare to their units serial #'s and probably get you in the ball park of when it was mfg'd.

Ser No RZ00013. (yes three zeros in a row).

I agree that it doesn't matter. Thanks for the help.

 

[Guyfang]

While that is a normal serial number, that low is hard to believe. And yes, its unimportant. There is a fella, Bikeman? in the forum, who has a bunch of "junk" he wants to get out of his pasture. There were lots of 5 and 10 KW gen sets sitting in piles of parts. That battery tray would be for sure in it.

 

[Tem]

While that is a normal serial number, that low is hard to believe. And yes, its unimportant. There is a fella, Bikeman? in the forum, who has a bunch of "junk" he wants to get out of his pasture. There were lots of 5 and 10 KW gen sets sitting in piles of parts. That battery tray would be for sure in it.

I'll try to find him when I get a chance.

I got some seafoam, filled the tank and fired it up. It's getting load test as I type.

I did check the transducer and it has 120 v AC coming to it, but it had less than 1 V DC coming out. Found that problem.

Thanks!

 

[Chainbreaker]

Ser No RZ00013. (yes three zeros in a row).

I agree that it doesn't matter. Thanks for the help.

Just a FYI - on my MEP-002a's the lower the serial number the newer the unit. I have an '86 Libby that has all 5 serial # digits starting with an RZ 8XXXX. My '91 Libby starts off with a RZ 0XXXX. Both have the inspection stamps & warranty end date so they appear to be original genuine OEM mfg placards.

So who knows, perhaps your unit may have been one of the newer units coming off the assembly line to fulfill that particular contract. Or perhaps it had a new crate engine installed somewhere along the line... However, if it doesn't have the inspection stamp and warranty expiration date any old Joe could have bought a blank Mfg's plate off eBay and punched their own serial #'s. Myself, if I was going to punch a random serial # I probably would have skipped #13 though.

Regardless, any well running Onan engine is a good engine!

 

[Tem]

Well I just finished running it under a 10,000 W load for over two hours. Seemed to run just fine. The Hz needle did not work this time at all, but after checking the transducer I found the problem.

With both 5,000 W heaters on full the load indicator was just under 75%. My clamp meter showed 40.6 amps on each leg.

 

[jamawieb]

That's perfect! How was the oil leak after the 10kw load? Did it increase or stay the same? Just buy a kill-a-watt meter and don't worry about the hertz meter on the generator. I start mine with an auto start and look at the kill-a- watt meter mounted in the house.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Nice job on mounting those Comfort Zone heaters for your load test!

What about the oil on the push rod tube after the two hr run? Did it increase or remain the same as before?

You know your panel does appear to be in fairly pristine condition, no sun fade or wear around knobs. Either a new control box or you do in fact have a low hours unit that was stored inside. With your successful load test and overall condition of your unit you definitely got a keeper there!

 

[Tem]

I did check the push rod tube after about an hour. I found out why it says to "close to run".... The fan on the end blows a fair amount of air and when open it comes towards you and not the cylinders. The oil leak seemed minor, but still present. I didn't see any oil pooling below it. I'll look closer tomorrow.

Thanks

 

[Triple Jim]

If I remember correctly, a 10 kW resistive load should in theory make the load meter read 80%, since it's calibrated for a power factor of 0.8, and the resistive load has a power factor of 1.0.

 

[Guyfang]

It says "Close to run", because the engine will over heat if its run with the door open. Clean the oil off. Then run it for a few hours. See if you get more oil. But start clean, to localize the area that might be leaking.

Indeed, that is a VERY nice looking set.