MEP-004A shuts down as soon as start switch released

[GIJoeCzar]

I've heard of this before, but can't find resolution in the manuals or searching this forum. My MEP-004A was running fine, but then just shut off and the low/no fuel warning light came on. I can start it and keep it running by (a) holding the the switch in the start position or by running it on battle override. Lot's of people talk about the "day tank"; what's the day tank and where is it? Anyway, the manual says to test relays K1, K6, and K8; I can get an ohm meter out and test them, but I can't even locate them. Can anyone tell me where those particular relays are located? I'd also be very interested in paying someone a reasonable amount of cash/hr for helping me through these generator issues via skype on my phone or just a good old phone call. I'm not afraid to dig into anything and am reasonably capable, just need someone who knows these things well to help through issues when I have them. Let me know if anyone out there can help. Thanks!

 

[Suprman]

The mep-006 has a day tank its a square box above the injection pump. Fuel is fed from the main tank or aux feed to the day tank and th ip feeds and returns to the day tank. There is a relay that controls fuel feed to the day tank. I think the 004 feeds and returns to the main tank so this would not apply to you. In the tactical relay box there should be a relay for low fuel. The battle short bypasses this. Does the fuel gauge work properly? I'm not sure if there is a separate sender somewhere for the low fuel alert function. Probably a bad sender bad relay in the tactical relay box or a loose wire/bad connection somewhere.

 

[GIJoeCzar]

That was REALLY helpful, thanks very, Very much. Turns out there IS a day tank; that plus the manuals and I'll give the generator another once over on Saturday to determine what's going on. Thanks again!

 

[GIJoeCzar]

Well, I bled each fuel filter and the strainer and had good flow with the pump engaged, so I pulled the fuel level sending unit and sure enough, the tank was empty, so I filled it with fuel, reinstalled the sending unit, and sure enough, it ran like a dream. I ran it for about 20 minutes, but probably not enough to run down the day tank; I'll run it more on Wednesday when I hook it to a load. Are there multiple fuel pumps on the MEP-004A? I'll run it under load until it runs, runs, runs, or runs out of fuel in the day tank again, and if it does run out again I'll start troubleshooting why it's not getting fuel to the day tank. Again, thanks for the help -- it was enough to get me going!

 

[Suprman]

I looked there is a small relay to the right of the day tank. Thats what activates to allow more fuel to flow into the day tank. Check that. I have had them go bad on the 60kw gens. I havent done much with the 30kws.