Bring her back to life: MEP003A

[Lollydude]

I just acquired a MEP003A which had not been used in many years. I did crank it briefly and it did run and produced good correct current. I am now pulling filters and getting new ones and as expected it was horrible; fuel filters and bowls were full of gunk and fungus the oil was black as coal and the fuel tank is coated with crap and gunk. The fuel was off color and smelled of turpentine. What would you recommend cleaning out the tank with? As far as the oil would you run new cheep oil through it for a little bit then drain it and put in good oil; and if so, would you put in the first oil some type of oil flush.?
When I was blowing out passage ways with my compressor I started to blow out the small hole where the oil filter goes that is just above the large threaded hole. At first the air would not go trough and nasty water and oil junk came spitting back out then I kept blowing trying to get it all out and then the air started going through. Does this passage way go to the oil cooler?

 

[storeman]

Not to be snide, but the time to do all the fuel and oil and filter maintenance was BEFORE you cranked the unit. Numerous posts here on how to deal with a newly acquired surplus generator.

I hope you did no damage. Am not sure what good a compressor will do you except spread crap to harder points to clear.
Jerry

 

[Lollydude]

Well that is a tad snide. I was not told that it had not run in several years until after it was cranked, and while I was measuring the current I asked about when it had last been run. As for the the crap the compressor would spread the oil and oil pump would do that anyway. I am no novice to rebuilding old engines or bring them back to life, I just have not done it on this particular one and I thought you guys might have some constructive comments.

 

[Isaac-1]

Welcome there is a lot of good information here, and I think everyone will suggest reading the TM's and the MEP-002a / MEP-003a wiki, it contains lots of good information on filters, etc.

Ike

 

[steelandcanvas]

I'm occaisionally snide, but not tonight. Here's a link to the TM's you'll need to get familiar with. Welcome to the MADNESS!

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/generator-electrical-tms/77624-tms-generators.html

 

[storeman]

I try to be helpful Lolydude. Guess I just had an attack of the snides last night. Sorry.
Jerry

 

[jbk]

i have used a preasure washer to clean the fuel tanks out, remove the tank and hardware first. run the cheap oil first until your confident you have somthing. like others have said get the tms from the resourse section above. good luck

 

[Lollydude]

Thanks for the replies. I just got finished with the flushing and cleaning and new filters and new oil pressure gauge. I put an adapter on the oil filter threaded hole and filled the oil passages up with diesel fuel with some motor oil flush and then let it drain good and I flushed all the fuel lines and yes I did pressure wash the tank out and after doing so I found some holes in the bottom of the tank and had to solder them up. It seems to be working for now. I just cranked her up and oil pressure of 59 then after warming up dropped to 45-50. Volts and hertz are all good. The engine runs smooth for a old very mechanical diesel. I've only had Onan gas engines which I have come to love and I think that they are the best built engines every made as far a durability goes. That may change now this Onan diesel is a beast, and very impressive. I decided to go with straight 30 wt. oil for now. I may do a oil change soon after running it for a little while just to make sure it is good and flushed and clean. The oil filters that I got form NAPA seem to be just a tad shorter than what came out of it. What is yall's recommendation for fuel filters and yes I have read the TM's and I will go back through the old post but a simple reply would be easy and nice.

 

[Lollydude]

Sorry In the last post at the end I ment to say fuel filters not oil filters. My brain is a little full of diesel fumes at this point.

 

[Isaac-1]

Take a look here:

MEP 002A and 003A - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

I have been buying my filters (oil,air,fuel, air filters last a LONG TIME) from amazon, they qualify for free shipping and the price is competitive. OH don't forget to check the strainer filters in the bottom of the electric fuel pumps (older style ones are plastic mesh, newer are some porous white ceramic looking stuff) , there is a place out of Dallas that has a very good price on them (mark in part of the name, 1st mark, or something like that, if you need to replace them or the rubber gasket on the bottom of the pumps)


Ike

 

[jbk]

i use the napa fuel filters also. the filters are spring loaded in the can. i dont think a 1/4 inch shorter makes any differnce .

 

[Lollydude]

Thanks for the info.

 

[coyote62ny]

napa filters for the 003 are junk they are to short to seal in the cans. if you dont feel spring tension when you put the can on it wont seal against the top. there for no seal no filtering process. you will just pump all the junk and water in the fuel into the ip real bad thing.get the correct filters oil filter fram ch6pl fuel filter fram c1125pl. you can get these at racemart oil filter is 4.90 fuel filters are 6.09 .bet the napa filters cost you more than that and they are not the right filters as they dont fit correctly. the fram numbers are what the military used in these sets.

 

[helomedic1171]

Coyote, do the fram filters come with the correct gaskets? if so, I'll start ordering those. They've gone up in price, the fuel filters are 7.22 and the oil filters are 6.92, but still not unreasonable if the gaskets are correct, especially for the oil filter. the napa equivalent gives you a flat gasket, not a square-edged O-ring.

 

[storeman]

the fram gaskets are correct and are included with the filters
Jerry

 

[mattburgey]

anybody know how long it should take to build oil pressure? i think ive got a bad oil pump...

 

[storeman]

The build is almost immediate and can usually be seen building while cranking the starter.
Jerry

 

[helomedic1171]

then I have a problem, as neither of my generators do that. though, it could be that the gauge is bad or the hose is clogged for all i know.

 

[helomedic1171]

scratch that, once i got it to run once, it doesn't have any problem building pressure.

 

[JEK9595]

Sorry In the last post at the end I ment to say fuel filters not oil filters. My brain is a little full of diesel fumes at this point.

Hi there! Do you have part numbers for the fuel,oil and air filters at amazon? Your post is the only one I've seen that mentions it. I bought 2 MEP 003A's a while back and am just getting going on prepping these up to crank 'em up. Any help would be appreciated as I am a newbie here. Thanks!