Bought an MEP-805B, started messing with it

[MrShawn305]

I still don't find it bad. But take the "belt" off the gen set. The belt is the metal band that keeps fingers, toys, tools and tree rats out of the main gen/engine bell housing. Its only 2 bolts/nuts. Pull it out of the way, and start looking with your GOOD flashlight, into the area, for loose crap or maybe a million miles of wire from a MPU that got ground down. Then, and this is to make you feel better about it, take the main NEG battery terminal off. Get an offset wrench, I think its 3/4?, (been about 15-16 years since I did this, and am too lazy to look it up, its 23:56) and loosen up the coupler bolts and re-tighten them. There is a torque value in the TM, but I just made them TIGHT!! as hel* and felt good about it. Turn the engine over with a bar and get them all. Mark them with a whit paint pen, so you can see them That way you KNOW they are tight.

Where you live in El Paso? I spent a year there in 85-86, over on the east side.

Thank you for the advice, I will definitely give that a shot! Hopefully that's all it is.

I live up near Chaparral. There is a new newish neighborhood they built here in 2011 that I live in. I basically live right outside of McGregor range about 4 miles south of the state line off hwy 54. Sometimes I take my trail truck out there cruising around checking out the mock Villiages they have out there and watching the convoys go by. Ft. Bliss has grown tremendously, as has El Paso. I doubt you'd recognize it anymore. Check it out on Google Earth sometime.

 

[MrShawn305]

I still don't find it bad. But take the "belt" off the gen set. The belt is the metal band that keeps fingers, toys, tools and tree rats out of the main gen/engine bell housing. Its only 2 bolts/nuts. Pull it out of the way, and start looking with your GOOD flashlight, into the area, for loose crap or maybe a million miles of wire from a MPU that got ground down. Then, and this is to make you feel better about it, take the main NEG battery terminal off. Get an offset wrench, I think its 3/4?, (been about 15-16 years since I did this, and am too lazy to look it up, its 23:56) and loosen up the coupler bolts and re-tighten them. There is a torque value in the TM, but I just made them TIGHT!! as hel* and felt good about it. Turn the engine over with a bar and get them all. Mark them with a whit paint pen, so you can see them That way you KNOW they are tight.

Where you live in El Paso? I spent a year there in 85-86, over on the east side.

Well, I took the right hand side panel off (passenger side) and took off the metal screen for the generator head fan assembly. Low and behold, there were only 3 or 4 bolts in the flywheel and I took them out with my fingers, not even a socket needed to spin them out. I fished the rest out of the bellhousing with a magnet. I found a total of 7 bolts. Went down to Wagner Cat and got 10x grade 8 bolts, lock washers and flat washers. I got some that were a little longer to account for the lock washer. I verified they thread in all the way to the head with no washers, so plenty of depth for the bolts. I installed 8x bolt assemblies and torqued them down to German spec (gudentoit). I put everything back together and dead cranked it. No noise. I fired it up, shut it down. No noise. I fired it up again and ran it for a couple of hours, runs like a top. Shut it down after a couple of hours, no noise. I think we got her!

The bad thing is that I broke off the plastic ether start line where it come off the solenoid. D'oh! But that's ok, all I need to get that working is another ferrule, which I will get tomorrow morning, and then she will be at almost 100%! The unit is missing a ton of bolts and nuts on the outer housing, at some point in the future I will get a nutsert setup and just go through and install nutsers all around.

Here is the video of it running now

 

[Guyfang]

The only bad part about nutcert is that when putting the gen set outer panels back on, is you lose the ability to move things a few hairs this way or the other. And often, putting the skin back on is a PITA.

Glad you fixed it. I have played the first film of starting and stopping again a few times tonight. Still cant hear anything, but glad you could!

 

[MrShawn305]

The only bad part about nutcert is that when putting the gen set outer panels back on, is you lose the ability to move things a few hairs this way or the other. And often, putting the skin back on is a PITA.

Glad you fixed it. I have played the first film of starting and stopping again a few times tonight. Still cant hear anything, but glad you could!

I don't think it came out in video the same as it does in person. Digital media, am I right? But it definitely is a HUGE noticeable difference. I even got a second opinion to make sure I was not crazy and he heard it too in person. I'm excited to get the power panel built and put this thing into service

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Good ear and great fix.

 

[MrShawn305]

Ugh I swear, it's like I can't catch a break with this thing. All I want is for it to be reliable for the field....

Listen for yourself

 

[MrShawn305]

Sounds to me like a wrecked fuel pump. Maybe a plugged injector caused a plunger to break or something? I'm thinking 4 injectors and a pump unless someone has a better idea. It doesn't sound quite like rod knock to me... Oil pressure was in the 40psi range

 

[Guyfang]

Sorry, I just dont hear anything wrong. You need to put it under load. If you have an IP and injector problem, it will show.

 

[MrShawn305]

Sorry, I just dont hear anything wrong. You need to put it under load. If you have an IP and injector problem, it will show.

Seems like these things are just hard to tell in video. My friend and I were sitting about 100' away behind a connex when it started making the noise. We both heard it loud and clear as soon as it started. We looked at each other and he said "That doesn't sound good" lol. I must have gotten something in it when I changed the fuel filter. That's the only thing I can think of. It was misfiring on at least one cylinder and blowing big puffs of black smoke when it did. Then the injector pump started making this terrible noise. I'm half scared it's rod knock but I didn't notice and glitter in the oil when I checked the dipstick.

 

[MrShawn305]

So in case this helps anyone, I got the quote from my John Deere dealer. NOTE: there are two part numbers for pumps. This part number is the updated part number. I'm still awaiting quotes from others, and may just have a local shop rebuild it, but if JD gives me a good warranty then that would be worth the extra cash IMO. Another thing to note is that this includes the part number for the exhaust manifold. It looks to me that if I pull the exhaust, that makes it easy to get to the injectors. Much better than taking the top and plenum off.

 

[Guyfang]

You seem real sure that's the problem. I might try pouring SEAFOAM or something like it into the IP, a bottle full in the fuel tank, and letting it set for a day. Then starting the set, letting it run for a few minuets, and shutting it down. Let it stand a day, and see if the SEAFOAM has loosened up an injectors or something in the IP. I might also try loosing the IP output lines, and turning the set over to pump out dirty fuel. Then loosening up the injector lines at the injectors. Turn it over and pump out the fuel.

 

[MrShawn305]

You seem real sure that's the problem. I might try pouring SEAFOAM or something like it into the IP, a bottle full in the fuel tank, and letting it set for a day. Then starting the set, letting it run for a few minuets, and shutting it down. Let it stand a day, and see if the SEAFOAM has loosened up an injectors or something in the IP. I might also try loosing the IP output lines, and turning the set over to pump out dirty fuel. Then loosening up the injector lines at the injectors. Turn it over and pump out the fuel.

I'll give that a shot, definitely couldn't hurt anything.

 

[MrShawn305]

So I started messing with the injectors, trying to narrow down what cylinder it was missing on. And I decided to check the oil just because of the knock I heard. Well, it's glittery. So I don't know if the top end has a tight valve or if something is coming apart inside, but it's definitely knocking hard. I was seeing an occasional pop and black smoke consistent with a sticky or tight valve the other day, but I don't know if that would cause a knock. I'm not keen on putting a motor in it, so this may be the end of this project.

 

[155mm]

Check the Half moon key that goes from injection pump to timing gear

 

[MrShawn305]

Check the Half moon key that goes from injection pump to timing gear

I hadn't considered the key. I'll check it out and see what I find