MEP-002 Cranks but won't Start

[DeucesWild11]

Good point rickf, the trailer is meant for a much larger unit and I think I have a little room to slide the unit back a little further and take the tool box off of it. That should make it OK but I'll have to take another look at it. Here's a pic..

 

[glcaines]

Good point rickf, the trailer is meant for a much larger unit and I think I have a little room to slide the unit back a little further and take the tool box off of it. That should make it OK but I'll have to take another look at it. Here's a pic..

Moving the unit back on the trailer and additionally placing a large fuel reserve on the trailer will drastically change your center of gravity. For instance, if you move the unit back and have a full drum of fuel on the front, you are probably OK, until the fuel in the drum drops enough to cause the trailer to want to flip over backwards. My MEP-003A is mounted on an M116A1 trailer and is so well balanced that one person can pick up the tongue and move it around like a wheelbarrow on concrete surfaces. I once picked the tongue up just a little too high and she was going over backwards and there was nothing I could do. Fortunately two other guys saw what was happening and came to my rescue before I damaged the genset.

 

[DeucesWild11]

Another good point, thanks Gary. I will have to figure out that happy medium. I found a 50 gallon tank at tractor supply that's 24x24x24 so it should fit well in front of the unit. I was only thinking of moving it back a few inches. It's hard to see in the pic but there are two stabilizer bars that fold out from the back to prevent tipping. I also plan on adding some kind of wheels in the front, perhaps a double set of generic landing gear so that I can move it around a little easier.

 

[rickf]

You have room front and back, why don't you think about two tanks but have them plumbed together so that they empty at the same rate and therefore keep the load balanced. All it would take is a 1/4 inch line between the two tanks and that would even out the level but not allow a rapid transfer while moving around. You would have to pay attention to keeping it fairly level. But like you said you have the stabilizer legs plus you could use two smaller tanks to equal the same amount of fuel so no matter what you could not end up with a massive amount of weight transfer. You could put a "Tee" in the transfer line to draw the fuel from to your aux. pump for the day tank. Again, you would be drawing from both tanks at the same time so load stays equal and any difference would be made up in the transfer tube.

 

[DeucesWild11]

That's a good thought as well, I'll take it into consideration. That darn trailer is so heavy already moving the unit back a little will help me out a bit as it's too heavy to lift the tongue as is. I don't think there was much in depth thought around the CoG when they slapped the unit on this trailer. I'll post up some pics when I get it all mounted and set up.

Thanks!

 

[rickf]

That's a good thought as well, I'll take it into consideration. That darn trailer is so heavy already moving the unit back a little will help me out a bit as it's too heavy to lift the tongue as is. I don't think there was much in depth thought around the CoG when they slapped the unit on this trailer. I'll post up some pics when I get it all mounted and set up.

Thanks!

Looking at that picture again I see that the generator head is towards the tongue and it also looks like the engine is ahead of the axle as well with only the control unit on the back side of the axle. If that is the case you probably could mount a fairly large tank on the back. Problem is that the controls are there. Another option you might want to think about is first setting the generator more towards COG and then use saddle tanks on either side above the axle. As long as the tanks are kept maybe three feet long and no longer then you would have neutral effect on COG. Too long on the tanks and fuel transfer to the low end would cause problems. Really though, how much fuel do you have to carry on board? An 003 uses 1 gallon per hour. One five gallon jerry can is five hours so five cans is a full days running non-stop. You have to tow it there with something so you could always bring more cans with the tow vehicle or if you have a deuce you can esue the deuce fuel tank and when you need more fuel you just drive the tank to the station.

 

[johnray13]

Nice job getting it running. I noticed on your video that the oil pressure gauge looks to be pegged high.
Probably a good idea to keep an eye on it and see if it drops back after warming up and while loaded.

John

 

[rickf]

Both of mine peg the gauge when it is first started and then drop down to about 30 lbs. as it warms up.

 

[DeucesWild11]

John/Rick, I ran the unit the other day and was looking at the oil pressure, it stayed pinned at 50 after running 10-15 min. What could be the reason for this? I am hoping I don't have another thing that I need to fix..

 

[Triple Jim]

What viscosity oil is in it?

 

[rickf]

Pull the gauge out and out a known good gauge there and verify it is actually high or the gauge is bad.

 

[johnray13]

I agree with both comments above. The manual states high oil pressure may be caused by the by-pass valve plunger sticking closed. Unfortunatly, you have to seperate the gen head from the motor to clean it. I would definitely want to check the oil viscosity and gauge first.

Good luck,
John

 

[Jimc]

My psi stays pinned for awhile too. Adter 15 min or so it drops down to maybe 45. It need to be under load though tobheat up enough to thin the oil down. Viscosity plays a big part too. If the oil is too heavy then psi will stay real high. Indoubt the bypass valve is stuck.

 

[rickf]

I run 15W-40 in mine. If you suspect the valve is stuck you can try running some Marvel Mystery oil in the crankcase. Add per directions and it may just free up the valve nd save you a lot of work. I am not a big fan of additives but I have seen MMO work enough times to know that it will work for some problems

 

[s011883]

I run 30w Shell Rotella and my oil pressure gauge pegs for about 10 to 15 min before it warms up. Then, it drops to 30-35 with 10 kw load. I don't know if you know this already, but there is an oil thermostat that bypasses the oil cooler until the oil warms up. You will need to put load on the unit.

 

[rickf]

I run 30w Shell Rotella and my oil pressure gauge pegs for about 10 to 15 min before it warms up. Then, it drops to 30-35 with 10 kw load. I don't know if you know this already, but there is an oil thermostat that bypasses the oil cooler until the oil warms up. You will need to put load on the unit.

Mine warms up without a load, takes about ten to fifteen minutes. At least enough for the oil pressure to drop. The shutters will never open unless there is a load on it.