First GovPlanet purchase and questions (MEP-803A)

[Guyfang]

So, why dont you tell us what happened? What did the set do? Shut off? Just dump the load?

 

[Icesythe7]

So, why dont you tell us what happened? What did the set do? Shut off? Just dump the load?

Oh, I was confused I meant like I'm upset that I don't have anything else to put on it to get it past 60ish percent load...I guess I will need to go purchase some space heaters or something.

Was basically just giving an update that all the parts came in and I can only load it up to 60ish% since I have nothing else to turn on to load it more.

 

[Guyfang]

Oh. OK.

 

[WWRD99]

Oh, I was confused I meant like I'm upset that I don't have anything else to put on it to get it past 60ish percent load...I guess I will need to go purchase some space heaters or something.

Was basically just giving an update that all the parts came in and I can only load it up to 60ish% since I have nothing else to turn on to load it more.

60% is fine though. It will be loaded enough to not wetstack and not eat tons of fuel.

 

[Light in the Dark]

If you can only hit 60% of rated load with everything you have in your home and garage powered up... You might actually be better suited with an 802. 803s are nicer, and more desirable (and very well may last longer as the 4 cylinder is a smoother runner than the angry twin) but its too big unless you have additional load.

Thing is going to be doing a lot of work making unburned fuel deposits in low draw overnight runs.

Nice buy though.

 

[Icesythe7]

If you can only hit 60% of rated load with everything you have in your home and garage powered up... You might actually be better suited with an 802. 803s are nicer, and more desirable (and very well may last longer as the 4 cylinder is a smoother runner than the angry twin) but its too big unless you have additional load.

Thing is going to be doing a lot of work making unburned fuel deposits in low draw overnight runs.

Nice buy though.

I was thinking the same thing, but I will be adding a larger air compressor and a furnace/a/c unit and hot water heater to the garage in the future so hopefully I can justify it a bit better then. (furnace and hot water heater will be natural gas aswell but will still need power for blower fan at least)

I have a 20kW natural gas generac standby generator aswell but it needs some work haven't had a chance too look into it much just pulled it and put it in the garage for a winter project at the moment (small short testing I did seems its fine if I manually inject voltage to the brushes but will only self induce like 1v to the brushes so maybe a voltage regulator or capacitor somewhere is my guess)

If I can get the generac back up to working properly I was tossing around the idea of selling the mep-803a and the generac and using that money to purchase an mep-1040 (my dream generator)

 

[jamawieb]

I was thinking the same thing, but I will be adding a larger air compressor and a furnace/a/c unit and hot water heater to the garage in the future so hopefully I can justify it a bit better then. (furnace and hot water heater will be natural gas aswell but will still need power for blower fan at least)

I have a 20kW natural gas generac standby generator aswell but it needs some work haven't had a chance too look into it much just pulled it and put it in the garage for a winter project at the moment (small short testing I did seems its fine if I manually inject voltage to the brushes but will only self induce like 1v to the brushes so maybe a voltage regulator or capacitor somewhere is my guess)

If I can get the generac back up to working properly I was tossing around the idea of selling the mep-803a and the generac and using that money to purchase an mep-1040 (my dream generator)

Dont get all hyped up on the 1040. You need to really look at one before you make the jump. They mounted the radiator directly behind the LCD brain and put an electric fan to cool the unit in the same area. I dont see these lasting as long as the 80x series. They also put the oil filter behind the batteries which is a pain. The Kubota engine you will have to adjust valves at 1500 hours. I'm not a fan yet but I will say that I had fears when the 80xa series came out. Time will tell on how well they do.

 

[Icesythe7]

New issue on generator, was letting it run the house today for about an hour and noticed it never (at least on the gauge) got above 135 degrees (previous time I ran it it ran steady at about 190, it was also 20 degrees warmer but still), so I tested the gauge by giving it voltages of 10 - 0v and the gauges has a proper full range of movement so I tested the coolant sender with multimeter and it seems to be proper (was reading 68 ohms and according to ohms law with 68 ohms and 33 ohm gauge I should be seeing ~8v on signal wire of the gauge and im seeing exactly that so sender and gauge seem to be working properly.) So I guess my question is, is this normal or does this lead one to believe the thermostat is maybe stuck open?

Ohms at sender

Voltage on signal wire of gauge

Ohms law calc says this is correct


So that only leaves a stuck thermostat or the sending unit is just giving the wrong resistance for the temperature? Does anyone happen to have the ohm reading of the sender at a known good temperature? (I have no temp gun sadly to test myself and the TM's just simply say the ohms should decrease but never actually give any values of proper ohms at running temp which they say is 170-200)

 

[Light in the Dark]

Did you dump/flush the cooling system as part of bringing this online? Very well might just be a stuck thermostat... you have no idea how long the machine was sitting before you acquired it.

 

[Farmitall]

Change out the thermostat just as a matter of course. They are cheap and will save a lot of future headaches.

The only thing that will keep an MEP803a from coming up to operating temp in any reasonable time is a thermostat that is stuck open, not allowing the coolant to stay in the block long enough to heat up. Diesel engines don't like to run cold.

I had this same issue on one of mine. It turned out to be a stuck thermostat. Also discovered that the spring in the lower hose was disintegrating so I changed that out also. Flushed out the whole system, added fresh antifreeze/water mix and never had a problem after that.

 

[Icesythe7]

Change out the thermostat just as a matter of course. They are cheap and will save a lot of future headaches.

The only thing that will keep an MEP803a from coming up to operating temp in any reasonable time is a thermostat that is stuck open, not allowing the coolant to stay in the block long enough to heat up. Diesel engines don't like to run cold.

I had this same issue on one of mine. It turned out to be a stuck thermostat. Also discovered that the spring in the lower hose was disintegrating so I changed that out also. Flushed out the whole system, added fresh antifreeze/water mix and never had a problem after that.

What thermostat did you use...looking at a few other threads they seem to suggest a 15358 is this correct? The original seems to be $50 lol
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/mep803a-thermostat.166108/post-1992811

Edit: Just got back from the auto zone picked up a 15358 thermostat, fit fine flushed the entire coolant system 3 times and washed the inside and outside of the overflow bottle because it had some kinda slime in it so it is spotless, put it all back together and filled with 50/50 antifreeze and got all the air out and now it won't get past 110 with no load and at full load after 30 mins it will not go past 130...starting to think it is the sender

Edit 2: Ended up just firing up the parts cannon, ordered this

yesterday it read 310 ohms with engine cool (per the tm testing procedure), but today after retesting at cool it fluctuates between 120-140 ohms cold and 70ish ohms at what I assume to be 180F-190F, so it does seem to "work" but way out of spec since operating temp ohms at sender should be around 23 - 16 ish, if this doesnt fix it guess I'll buy a gauge (even tho it tests fine)

 

[Farmitall]

What thermostat did you use...looking at a few other threads they seem to suggest a 15358 is this correct? The original seems to be $50 lol
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/mep803a-thermostat.166108/post-1992811

Edit: Just got back from the auto zone picked up a 15358 thermostat, fit fine flushed the entire coolant system 3 times and washed the inside and outside of the overflow bottle because it had some kinda slime in it so it is spotless, put it all back together and filled with 50/50 antifreeze and got all the air out and now it won't get past 110 with no load and at full load after 30 mins it will not go past 130...starting to think it is the sender

Edit 2: Ended up just firing up the parts cannon, ordered this
View attachment 903031
yesterday it read 310 ohms with engine cool (per the tm testing procedure), but today after retesting at cool it fluctuates between 120-140 ohms cold and 70ish ohms at what I assume to be 180F-190F, so it does seem to "work" but way out of spec since operating temp ohms at sender should be around 23 - 16 ish, if this doesnt fix it guess I'll buy a gauge (even tho it tests fine)

The one I used was a MU55358 and I think they were about 6 or 7 dollars when I purchased them.......now about double that as with everything else in the world.