Advice needed - new guy with MEP004A

[Back-in-Black]

The 3 labels above this board read left to right: volts, star(t?) and U/R.

 

[Back-in-Black]

in other news, I called Oshkosh, sent them an email with NSN and ref numbers. hope to get a quote and availability reply in the next day or so.

 

[Guyfang]

You need to start simple. get it to turn over. Get it to start. THEN, you can go a step farther.

Since you do not need the S9, take it out and sell it. Should get you enough money to buy more then lunch and a beer.

Its 24.00 right now, so I will just take a quick look see at the pictures. In the morning will write if there is anything you need to know.

Remember. To solve a BIG problem, take the problem apart. Start with small things that are easy to do, and give you the confidence to keep working at it. Before you know it, the big problem is solved. Do the fuel system first. Get it right. Then, just for fun, try to get the set to turn over. NOT, start it. Just turn it over. Then when the cooling system is done, try to start it. Keep cleaning it up. One step at a time.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Yeah, was gonna take apart the panels under the control box but I need a break - it was a long weekend between loading and moving this, fence and taking all this stuff apart and then researching it - so I'm gonna take a break tonight.

Need a helper to get the radiator / front of the case off so that will just have to wait.

Once I get the fuel tank out, I'll break out the pressure washer and try to blow off some of the gradeaux. Things to keep the pressure washer away from (aside from the control box)?

What you laid out is pretty much my plan. Fuel, oil change, cooling, cleaning, start up.... Thought about putting a socket on the harmonic balancer to see if I can turn it over slowly. Still mulling that one over. Probably won't.


Thanks for the help!!

 

[Guyfang]

Yeah, was gonna take apart the panels under the control box but I need a break - it was a long weekend between loading and moving this, fence and taking all this stuff apart and then researching it - so I'm gonna take a break tonight.

Need a helper to get the radiator / front of the case off so that will just have to wait.

Once I get the fuel tank out, I'll break out the pressure washer and try to blow off some of the gradeaux. Things to keep the pressure washer away from (aside from the control box)? (Aft of the engine, I was always very careful of using a pressure washer. When I used it at all, I removed all the boxes and electrical components that I could. Sometimes we simply took the whole relay table out. Cleaned that stuff by hand.)

What you laid out is pretty much my plan. Fuel, oil change, (Change the oil after it runs.) cooling, cleaning, start up.... Thought about putting a socket on the harmonic balancer to see if I can turn it over slowly. Still mulling that one over. Probably won't. (I would. If it were to be locked up, all your work would be for nothing. Try turning it over a bit with the socket and breaker bar.)


Thanks for the help!!

Open to see comments.
There is a junk box on the left side of the set. Take it out. It just gets in the way. That's the first thing the soldiers did. I never found a use for it, myself.

 

[Back-in-Black]

you must have read my mind on that box LOL. 2 bolts holding it in there and I can already see it's just in the way.

I'll go ahead and try turning it over by hand. May wait till I get the radiator off though. Would make it much easier.

I read somewhere that this is a White brand diesel motor. I think I also saw the White model / designation number for it. Wonder if you can buy stuff like water pump, thermostat and such by looking that up at a regular parts store? Anyone know for sure the brand and model of the diesel motor?

 

[Guyfang]

Post #21
Picture #1. The ground stud is missing or relocated. A good ground is a must. Or if not, put me in your will.

Picture #2. The long stud to the right of the yellow battery. Unless you intend to drive around with the get set later on, take the stud out, and toss it. There should have been 3 studs and a hold down bar. Junk is you do not intend to drive the thing around.

Picture #3. Like I wrote before. Take out the speed switch and sell it. Lots of folks would like to have an extra. Its a show stopper normally. If it goes bad, set will not start or, sometimes not excite the main gen. I would also take out the drive assy. for it. Another hard to find item. Rarely goes bad, but if so, where do you find one?
Look for evidence of oil leaks from the Front and Rear main, on top of the fuel tank. OLD White engines love to leak from the mains. If there is no sign of oil leaking from the mains, or the oil pan gasket, then for heavens sake, do not remove the oil pan. They were always temperamental. If there are leaks, and you can not live with them, take the oil pan off and lay a straight edge on the oil pal edges. See if someone over tightened the bolts. That was the normal reason that they leaked. Over tight, and bent the oil pan edges.

You can see the brass bleeder bolt on the left fuel filter can. Be nice to it. It really helps when bleeding the fuel system. There should also be one on the right filter, if I remember right. They often strip the threads and become useless. Do remove the fuel strainer and clean it good. Do NOT drop the small copper washer that is under the domed nut.

Picture #5. The fan guard is missing on this side. You took it off? or someone tossed it away. This set has a bad rep for eating things like rags and fingers, when the guard is missing.

Is the oil drain hose still there, from the oil drain petcock, to the side of the gen set? If not, it sure makes it a lot easier to drain the oil with it. And we always had a hose from the oil drain hose plug, to a bucket.

Picture #6. Will the loover control handle still work? Its the only way to control the loovers if the normal control assy is dead. And yours could be. I would not have taken the cooling stuff apart before making the engine run. That way you could have tested the loover control assy.

Picture #9. Take the no longer needed capacitor off the side of the gen set, and clean up that ground. That's the ground point for your E- fuel pump.

 

[Guyfang]

you must have read my mind on that box LOL. 2 bolts holding it in there and I can already see it's just in the way.

I'll go ahead and try turning it over by hand. May wait till I get the radiator off though. Would make it much easier.

I read somewhere that this is a White brand diesel motor. I think I also saw the White model / designation number for it. Wonder if you can buy stuff like water pump, thermostat and such by looking that up at a regular parts store? Anyone know for sure the brand and model of the diesel motor?

White motor. There is a thread in the forum, with a part number for the thermostat. And I think the water pump is to be had also. But make it run before you spend money.

 

[Guyfang]

I walked out there a few minutes ago to check on stuff you guys asked about:

The fuel tank is plastic.

I found 3 tags / schematics on some of the panels I removed. Some of them are unreadable around the edges as somewhere along the line, the insides of the panels were spray painted and they didn't tape anything off before spraying. I think I can get the paint off so I can read everything - trick is - getting the paint off without damaging the writing on the tags. (this info is in the books, if you need it and the plates will not clean up. Also know, that if a page in the 004A books is unreadable, go to the 005A books. There sets are 95% compatible, and I always had both sets of books on hand when working on them.)

One of the tags looks like a schematic of the DC system. One is a battery / cabling schematic and the other is for the fuel system. I will try to clean them up tomorrow and get pics.

Open to read comments.

 

[Guyfang]

Last request for the time being. Take a good couple close up pictures of the IP. I want to see if the throttle assy is still hooked up.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Post #21
Picture #1. The ground stud is missing or relocated. A good ground is a must. Or if not, put me in your will.

Picture #2. The long stud to the right of the yellow battery. Unless you intend to drive around with the get set later on, take the stud out, and toss it. There should have been 3 studs and a hold down bar. Junk is you do not intend to drive the thing around.

Picture #3. Like I wrote before. Take out the speed switch and sell it. Lots of folks would like to have an extra. Its a show stopper normally. If it goes bad, set will not start or, sometimes not excite the main gen. I would also take out the drive assy. for it. Another hard to find item. Rarely goes bad, but if so, where do you find one?
Look for evidence of oil leaks from the Front and Rear main, on top of the fuel tank. OLD White engines love to leak from the mains. If there is no sign of oil leaking from the mains, or the oil pan gasket, then for heavens sake, do not remove the oil pan. They were always temperamental. If there are leaks, and you can not live with them, take the oil pan off and lay a straight edge on the oil pal edges. See if someone over tightened the bolts. That was the normal reason that they leaked. Over tight, and bent the oil pan edges.

You can see the brass bleeder bolt on the left fuel filter can. Be nice to it. It really helps when bleeding the fuel system. There should also be one on the right filter, if I remember right. They often strip the threads and become useless. Do remove the fuel strainer and clean it good. Do NOT drop the small copper washer that is under the domed nut.

Picture #5. The fan guard is missing on this side. You took it off? or someone tossed it away. This set has a bad rep for eating things like rags and fingers, when the guard is missing.

Is the oil drain hose still there, from the oil drain petcock, to the side of the gen set? If not, it sure makes it a lot easier to drain the oil with it. And we always had a hose from the oil drain hose plug, to a bucket.

Picture #6. Will the loover control handle still work? Its the only way to control the loovers if the normal control assy is dead. And yours could be. I would not have taken the cooling stuff apart before making the engine run. That way you could have tested the loover control assy.

Picture #9. Take the no longer needed capacitor off the side of the gen set, and clean up that ground. That's the ground point for your E- fuel pump.

I'll have to look closely at this stuff a little later. Possibly tomorrow. Buried today.

I took off the fan guard to get the lower radiator hose off. It's also got a bit of rust at the bottom. Will be blasted and painted before I re-install.

I've briefly looked at the manual louver control at the lower radiator hose? No conclusions yet.

If I remove the speed switch, what to use to cover the hole in the side of the block?

The bottom of the motor and the "plate" under it seem pretty clean. Lots of gradeaux but don't see any obvious signs of oil leaks..... yet.

The battery compartment / tray looks like a large job in itself. Will blast, prime and epoxy paint all that stuff. It'll be "parked" on a slab behind my house so I'll get rid of the hold downs. But as you suggested, I'd like to make it run and make power before I start worrying about cosmetics. I'd hate to invest a bunch of time and money in this thing making it pretty just to find out it's a pile of junk!

I'll try to look at the pics you referenced in a bit to see what you're talking about.

Some great tips and info!!

 

[Back-in-Black]

pics of the inject pump. The only thing I see connected to the throttle is the adjustment knob under the control panel. Screw knob.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Picture #9. Take the no longer needed capacitor off the side of the gen set, and clean up that ground. That's the ground point for your E- fuel pump.

I will look closer at the set next time I walk out there but not seeing a capacitor yet.

Ahh, I think I see the capacitor you mean - at the fuel pump ground with the wires cut. Will do.

 

[Guyfang]

pics of the inject pump. The only thing I see connected to the throttle is the adjustment knob under the control panel. Screw knob.

View attachment 846581View attachment 846582View attachment 846583

One of the things I wanted to see, and its there, is that the outboard throttle yoke, on the IP is wired to the front of the set. If its not, then the manual throttle control will not work right. The outboard yoke is supposed to be connected to an electric actuator, when the gen set is a precise power model. Your set was not a precise power model, so its hooked up right. The "T" fitting on top of the IP, has a small glass ball in it. Its a check valve. Sometimes old crappy fuel will freeze that ball up, and you get no fuel to the IP. Underneath that fitting is the L1, (engine fuel solenoid). Take out the three screws that hold the L1 in the IP. Then drain any fuel you can out of the IP. Close it back up and pour some carb cleaner, or something like it into the IP. Let it set a few days. Cant hurt, and may darn well save you a pump rebuild. Inviting Ray70 into this thread would be a good idea also. Very knowledgeable on this set, among other things! He has rebuilt a 15 KW IP.

 

[Ray70]

I'm here... just reading along in the background! I agree with everything the other guys... and Guy have said. First get it running THEN worry about fixing the electrical issues and making it pretty.
For that $500 radiator hose, you can use a $20 universal courrogated hose available at any parts store, all you need to know is the diameter of the ends and approximate length.
For the thermostat you can either get a standard automotive 180* or you can get the high flow 4365. ( 4363 if you prefer a 160* ) the same PN crosses to NAPA, Robertshaw, Summit Racing and a bunch of others.
Get her all put back together with the new filters etc. and then we can start working on making it run!

 

[Back-in-Black]

I'm here... just reading along in the background! I agree with everything the other guys... and Guy have said. First get it running THEN worry about fixing the electrical issues and making it pretty.
For that $500 radiator hose, you can use a $20 universal courrogated hose available at any parts store, all you need to know is the diameter of the ends and approximate length.
For the thermostat you can either get a standard automotive 180* or you can get the high flow 4365. ( 4363 if you prefer a 160* ) the same PN crosses to NAPA, Robertshaw, Summit Racing and a bunch of others.
Get her all put back together with the new filters etc. and then we can start working on making it run!

Great info.

I actually found the radiator hoses and bypass hose for reasonable prices but won't order them until I know this thing is gonna run and such.

Found a rebuild kit for the water pump if I need it. Same with that.... if I end up needing it, I'll knw where to get it.

Oil filter arrived today. Fuel filters should be here shortly.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Is this where the ground stud is supposed to be?



Oil drain: No hose present. Just a pipe with a ball valve and a plug in it. I'm thinking I can rig something up easy enough. As long as the ball valve is there, I can remove the plug, attach some type of extender and then open the valve to drain.

 

[Guyfang]

Indeed. That's where the ground stud is supposed to go. The data plate should say Ground on it.

Oil drain: No hose present. Just a pipe with a ball valve and a plug in it. I'm thinking I can rig something up easy enough. As long as the ball valve is there, I can remove the plug, attach some type of extender and then open the valve to drain.

That's the way it came new. there is supposed to be a rubber hose that comes over to the fitting.

 

[Back-in-Black]

there might actually be a rubber hose in that stretch from the pan to the skid and I'm just looking at it assuming it's pipe. I'll look closer today.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Just went back to unload some stuff out of my truck. The rubber hose is still there. It dark in there and if you don't know what you're looking at, you can't tell. Same color as the pipe, just thicker. Had to touch it just to verify. Seeing the drawing Guyfang posted out of the TM let me know what to look for.

Is this something that rots over the years and needs to be replaced at some point?