• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

MEP803A glow plug system questions - intake heaters

A

AOR

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
150
37
28
Location
Burtonsville, MD.
I have not had time to dig into the manual to start trouble shooting yet but I am hoping someone can answer a question for me. I own 3 of these units. I have one that starts up in the cold weather without any issues. I have another one that has had trouble starting for the past year or so and its acting like the glow plug system is not working. I noticed that on my known good working unit when I turn the switch to the preheat setting I often hear a higher pitched tone. I have not heard this tone on my other running unit which has trouble starting.
I do hear and see the relay clicking on both of my good units but I cannot seem to locate what is generating the tone on the issue free unit. Does anyone know what component makes that tone? I was thinking to try parts from my third unit which is my dead unit if I knew what to swap over.

thank you
 
Guyfang

Guyfang

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
17,204
25,435
113
Location
Burgkunstadt, Germany
First try putting the S1 in the preheat position, (get someone to hold it for you) on the set that is the problem child, while you hold a multi meter to the first glow plug, and ground. See if you are getting voltage. 24VDC. If there is no voltage present, then go to K18, and have someone place the S2 in the preheat position. Check from ground to wire #139B, for 24 VDC. Got it? If so, then check from K18-3, (wire #116A or 116A to see if you have 24VDC. Its always better to check to see if S1 and K18 is working first. So what you get?
 
R

Ray70

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,744
6,515
113
Location
West greenwich/RI
Out of curiosity, what do you consider "Cold"? The 803a will usually start down into the sub freezing temps without glow plugs.
Also, if you run the glow plugs for a few seconds you should feel the intake get warm it it's working.
The buzzing noise on the good unit has nothing to do with an indication something is "Working" or should I say the absence of that sound on the hard starting unit is not your issue. All you will probably hear is the loud click of the relay when you hit the S1 switch.
Assuming you know where the relay is, right? behind the bulkhead wall to the right of the K1 relay and left of the starter solenoid.
 
A

AOR

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
150
37
28
Location
Burtonsville, MD.
Thanks for your responses - I was not able to start it today at over 50 degrees outside. It has slowly been getting harder and harder to start even this past summer it was difficult it takes a bunch of cranking and smokes black and sputters until it eventually slowly clears up after maybe a minute or longer then runs just fine. I was planning to run my shop off of it to give it a workout and burn the 1 year old fuel out of it. I recently had triple hernia surgery so I am trying to not work on much until I heal up and when it warms up a bit more. I had several of these machines and I think they all made the tone or buzzing sound when putting the switch to preheat but this one does not do that so I did not know if there was another part such as a controller for the glow plugs like some vehicles have. I like to start my generators and run them up to operating temps every few months so they are ready when I need them. I should be clear in a few weeks to do light duty work and I plan to figure it out.
 
R

Ray70

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,744
6,515
113
Location
West greenwich/RI
Yea, you don't even need the glow plugs at 50F , you have something else going on. Go ahead and verify the glow plug system, but that's not causing your hard starting problem.
Which primary fuel pump do you have on it? a square pump or round E1074? While you're checking the fuel system you should verify fuel flow and pressure. These motors won't start well or at all without a little pressure upstream of the metering pumps. Might be a weak pump or clogging filter etc.
If it's in a damp environment you could be getting algae built up in the fuel and clogging the fuel system.
 
R

Ray70

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,744
6,515
113
Location
West greenwich/RI
I wouldn't say one is better than the other because they are both somewhat problematic.... Just that the square ones are older than the round at least....
Yours is obviously running but I have seen both styles run and move some fuel but not build any pressure.
Yes you can interchange between primary and Aux. but depending what style of aux. pump you have you may need an adapter or two... I don't remember off hand.
 
A

AOR

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
150
37
28
Location
Burtonsville, MD.
I have been cleared for light duty work and it was nice outside today. I used my thermal imager and I was able to see that all 4 glow plugs are working. I drained the water separator filter and some dirt did come out and the fuel smells old and weak. After thinking about it some of it is possibly 2-3 years old. It started up and I let it run my shop today for 4-5 hours. I plan to run it until is shuts off then put fresh fuel in it. I did not see any algae when I removed the strainer filler assembly and looked inside of the tank.
 
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
Guyfang said:
First try putting the S1 in the preheat position, (get someone to hold it for you) on the set that is the problem child, while you hold a multi meter to the first glow plug, and ground. See if you are getting voltage. 24VDC. If there is no voltage present, then go to K18, and have someone place the S2 in the preheat position. Check from ground to wire #139B, for 24 VDC. Got it? If so, then check from K18-3, (wire #116A or 116A to see if you have 24VDC. Its always better to check to see if S1 and K18 is working first. So what you get?
Click to expand...
Hello I am working on my new to me 803a it does not start well when temps drop below freezing when it starts it runs rough for about 30 seconds then smooths out and runs perfectly.
I put a fluke on the intake heater and ground
and there is no voltage when S1 is in preheat position. There is no audible relay clicking. I have been a searching for a schematic detailing the location of the relay and have not had success. Can you help?
 
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
Guyfang said:
First try putting the S1 in the preheat position, (get someone to hold it for you) on the set that is the problem child, while you hold a multi meter to the first glow plug, and ground. See if you are getting voltage. 24VDC. If there is no voltage present, then go to K18, and have someone place the S2 in the preheat position. Check from ground to wire #139B, for 24 VDC. Got it? If so, then check from K18-3, (wire #116A or 116A to see if you have 24VDC. Its always better to check to see if S1 and K18 is working first. So what you get?
Click to expand...
I found it rodent chewed through a wire on the relay I will fix that and see if there are any other issues
 
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
Preheat working as it should now I’m going to leave it outside tonight it’s getting down to 12 degrees here in southern Michigan tonight. I hope it fires up normally tomorrow! The unit puts out good power. I used it to charge the house batteries yesterday and pulled 12KW for 5 hrs ran flawlessly, no smoke I’m going to use it to recharge every day we don’t have sun here until I get about 25 hrs of run time to see if it uses any oil. What would be normal oil consumption on one of these?
 
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
I certainly will. I have an 802 that I have had for about 6 months. I covered all the air vents with 1/4 hardware cloth to help prevent them from getting in it. Maybe I will get some additional tips.
 
2

2Pbfeet

Well-known member
563
1,082
93
Location
Mt. Hamilton, CA
Last edited:
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
Clark6x20 said:
Preheat working as it should now I’m going to leave it outside tonight it’s getting down to 12 degrees here in southern Michigan tonight. I hope it fires up normally tomorrow! The unit puts out good power. I used it to charge the house batteries yesterday and pulled 12KW for 5 hrs ran flawlessly, no smoke I’m going to use it to recharge every day we don’t have sun here until I get about 25 hrs of run time to see if it uses any oil. What would be normal oil consumption on one of these?
Click to expand...
So it was 18 degrees by the time I went out and tried to start the 803 this morning. I held the preheat for 30 seconds and it fired up and ran perfectly smooth like a champ!
I then decided to try my 802 that we use to power our seasonal wedding venue she struggled a little for about 15 seconds then it started running nicely. I think I will bring it into the shop and check the preheat system on it. I can hear the relay functioning but it did struggle the first 15 seconds.
I also have an 803 that I have used as a back up for my house. It has been modified with spin on oil and fuel filter kits and a two wire start system. It’s controlled by the Sol Ark 12k’s to come on when the batteries are below 20% and recharge at 10KW rate until the desired SOC is reached. I did a generator force at the inverter and watched it fire up perfectly and go to work. These things are impressive and fun to tinker with.
 
C

Clark6x20

New member
10
23
3
Location
Homer MI
You must log in or register to reply here.
112,129members
165,973threads
2,336,339posts
2,671online users
Top
✖
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks