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803A engine help

spark500001

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novi michigan
can anybody help us identify the proper letter designation of this engine so when we have to order parts we get the correct stuff.
thanks
That is the data plate for the engine. How useful it is might be a different item. What parts are you ordering?

There's ordering MEP-803A parts, there are Onan specific parts, there are Lister Petter (LPW4) model parts, and of course generic parts. The most specific is always going to be MEP-803A parts, but more general parts may match, e.g., Lister made a variety of engine versions, but bear in mind that not all versions share the same components, so some care is warranted.

All the best,

2Pbfeet
thanks
 

spark500001

New member
13
7
3
Location
novi michigan
That is the data plate for the engine. How useful it is might be a different item. What parts are you ordering?

There's ordering MEP-803A parts, there are Onan specific parts, there are Lister Petter (LPW4) model parts, and of course generic parts. The most specific is always going to be MEP-803A parts, but more general parts may match, e.g., Lister made a variety of engine versions, but bear in mind that not all versions share the same components, so some care is warranted.

All the best,

2Pbfeet
thanks
 

Mark T

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Location
Mi. 48185
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP on this we are just making sure that we order the right parts when to time to ( like a gasket kits )
 

Ray70

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Not sure if everything comes up when searching the US Ebay site, but in the past I found a lot of OEM engine parts on the UK Ebay site.
You can also get some parts direct from Cummins' on-line site.
Also if you suspect a problem with the Cam shaft, I have a couple used ones with the gear attached in my parts stash.
As well as pushrods and rocker arms etc.
If you end up pulling the head off you could set the engine at TDC and see where the lifters are at ( both valves closed ) then you can better watch the cam location and lifter as you rotate the motor.
Looking at the Cam picture it looks like the gear is pressed on ( and may have slipped ?)
I was thinking it locked into that slot on the end, but that is the governor apparently. ( I haven't been that far into an LPW4 in several years )
 

Mark T

New member
7
6
3
Location
Mi. 48185
Not sure if everything comes up when searching the US Ebay site, but in the past I found a lot of OEM engine parts on the UK Ebay site.
You can also get some parts direct from Cummins' on-line site.
Also if you suspect a problem with the Cam shaft, I have a couple used ones with the gear attached in my parts stash.
As well as pushrods and rocker arms etc.
If you end up pulling the head off you could set the engine at TDC and see where the lifters are at ( both valves closed ) then you can better watch the cam location and lifter as you rotate the motor.
Looking at the Cam picture it looks like the gear is pressed on ( and may have slipped ?)
I was thinking it locked into that slot on the end, but that is the governor apparently. ( I haven't been that far into an LPW4 in several years )
Hi Ray
We are going to put the engine at TDC fist then pull the head . To confirm we are at TDC with number one piston up all the way. if it is the cam gear that slipped on the cam . We would be interested in your used camshaft and gear , could you send us pictures of this part ?
We thank you for all the help on this matter .
 

Ray70

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Mark, FYI your rational isn't going to tell you what you want to know. The pistons will always be at TDC based on the timing marks because it isn't the crank or the gears that may have slipped.
The only thing that would be off would be the position of the valves when the piston is at TDC if the cam has slipped in relation to the cam gear.
Perhaps we can also find a way to compare aa accurate picture of my cam/gear assy. to yours to confirm if the valve lobes are not correctly indexed to say the dot on the cam gear, or something like that??
 

Mark T

New member
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Location
Mi. 48185
Mark, FYI your rational isn't going to tell you what you want to know. The pistons will always be at TDC based on the timing marks because it isn't the crank or the gears that may have slipped.
The only thing that would be off would be the position of the valves when the piston is at TDC if the cam has slipped in relation to the cam gear.
Perhaps we can also find a way to compare aa accurate picture of my cam/gear assy. to yours to confirm if the valve lobes are not correctly indexed to say the dot on the cam gear, or something like that??
Hi Ray
We were thinking we need to start out at TDC , before we start on removing the head . Just so we know were we are at .
Thank you for the help this may take a week to do first time do MEP803A engine and need to document and take pictures of everything to put it back right . We have the TM on it .
 

2Pbfeet

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Mt. Hamilton, CA
Hi Ray
We are going to put the engine at TDC fist then pull the head . To confirm we are at TDC with number one piston up all the way. if it is the cam gear that slipped on the cam . We would be interested in your used camshaft and gear , could you send us pictures of this part ?
We thank you for all the help on this matter .
I don't know if this helps, but if you think about how a 4-cycle engine works, every piston is at its own TDC twice. Once at the peak of compression, and the second at the end of the exhaust stroke.

If you bring the #1 piston up to the top of head, and both the intake and the exhaust valves are closed all the way up, that's TDC for #1. If you watch the valves, while slowly rotating the engine, you should be able to carefully watch the valve motion to see if the valves match where the piston is in the cycle. As a check, since this is an inline 4, when cylinder #1 is at TDC, cylinder #4 will also be TDC, but only one of the two will be at the end of the compression, and the other will be at the end of the exhaust. If the camshaft is off, piston #1 will not be at the top, with both valves closed, at least once in two rotations.
Animation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_centre_(engineering)

I think that my concern here is that if your camshaft is off, you won't have a #1 at TDC with both intake and exhaust valves closed on the end of the compression stroke.

All the best,

2Pbfeet
 

Ray70

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Humm, I just thought of something. The slot for the governor is cut into the camshaft, the gear appears pressed on and the alignment dot is stamped into the gear. If I take a picture of my camshaft from the end, you should be able to judge the location of the timing dot relative to the slot cut in the cam.
Compare mine to yours and see if you can see an obvious difference between the two!

Also, from earlier in this thread, I assume you verified your starter is cranking the engine clockwise when looking at it from the radiator end??
I don't think you ever mentioned confirming the direction of rotation.
 

Mark T

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Location
Mi. 48185
Humm, I just thought of something. The slot for the governor is cut into the camshaft, the gear appears pressed on and the alignment dot is stamped into the gear. If I take a picture of my camshaft from the end, you should be able to judge the location of the timing dot relative to the slot cut in the cam.
Compare mine to yours and see if you can see an obvious difference between the two!

Also, from earlier in this thread, I assume you verified your starter is cranking the engine clockwise when looking at it from the radiator end??
I don't think you ever mentioned confirming the direction of rotation.
Hi Ray

Yes that is a great idea on the pictures , we will take a picture of the governor slot and the timing marks with a straight edge reference .
Thank you
 

Ray70

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Well Houston, we have a problem! I have cam/ gear assemblies for both an 802A and an 803A but neither have that slot in the cam face. They are both solid on the end. I assume this must be something related to LPW4 Vs DN4M ?? I don't recall which this cam was from, but assume both are interchangeable.
There doesn't seem to be a good way to verify alignment without removing the cam.
About all I can say is that with the timing dot held at the 6:00 position, the first lobe on the cam would be at approximately 1:00 ( looking down from the top as seen in this pic.
timing gear.jpg
 
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