MEP-802/3 Radiators

[Light in the Dark]

A few folks have reached out to me over the last six months, looking for replacement radiators for their gensets. These items are very rare at the surplus/auction site level that I have seen and experienced, but are pretty important to these machines long term upkeep (and use when needed).... and its not that economical to chop up what's coming across the block these days.

Have any of you considered this item for 'parts backup' in your own garage for your machine? Often filters, fluids, gaskets, relays, etc are talked and thought about... but how about the radiator? I can't say that I have, but boy would that suck if it developed a pinhole leak (or rupture) at the wrong time.

I've been considering doing additional legwork to find a supplier with a better price than I have found so far (god bless covid... OEM supplier wants over $900 each with 16-20 week lead time IN VOLUME).

Just wanted to see what all of your thoughts are on this.

 

[Light in the Dark]

My hope is to find someone to produce them around the $600 mark, which is still high for what it is... but it is a custom build for the platform.

 

[WWRD99]

A few folks have reached out to me over the last six months, looking for replacement radiators for their gensets. These items are very rare at the surplus/auction site level that I have seen and experienced, but are pretty important to these machines long term upkeep (and use when needed).... and its not that economical to chop up what's coming across the block these days.

Have any of you considered this item for 'parts backup' in your own garage for your machine? Often filters, fluids, gaskets, relays, etc are talked and thought about... but how about the radiator? I can't say that I have, but boy would that suck if it developed a pinhole leak (or rupture) at the wrong time.

I've been considering doing additional legwork to find a supplier with a better price than I have found so far (god bless covid... OEM supplier wants over $900 each with 16-20 week lead time IN VOLUME).

Just wanted to see what all of your thoughts are on this.

Having a pop in that when you need it would be really bad. I do keep some pellets at the house for crazy emergencies like that. I have learned to melt them first and not just dump them in as they will clog the heck out of the rad bad. They work very good if you don't use to much of them. I can braze them shut too if need be if I get a bad crack. Brass isn't that tough to fix. As far as replacement I think the way to go is to find the actual dimensions of it and find one that is the same online.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I am sure dimensionally one could be found, but then it would come down to the fill neck being workable (the stock location and angle sucks, but its what works for the configuration), the upper and lower hose locations being the same, and the mounting (which is special on this, to work with the sheet metal enclosure).

 

[Light in the Dark]

To be honest with the way the world is headed, I am not just concerned with parts availability, but the larger geopolitical concerns of having to run machines like this for an extended duration, under significant societal stress events. Won't go too off the rails here, but I'm pretty sure folks know what I mean.

 

[WWRD99]

To be honest with the way the world is headed, I am not just concerned with parts availability, but the larger geopolitical concerns of having to run machines like this for an extended duration, under significant societal stress events. Won't go too off the rails here, but I'm pretty sure folks know what I mean.

I hear that completely, why I got several tanks of red die at the house. I don't think I could ever get all the parts needed to make me feel comfortable with the future so I am betting on being able to fix what I got with what I got...still trying to get one of those 813s for sale tomorrow for spare parts cheap....still not cheap though!! I have flushed mine out good with vinegar and water for several hours and didn't get much goop out of mine. I am not sure there is much else you can do to make sure it doesn't blow.

 

[Guyfang]

So buy a few 400 hertz jobs!

 

[WWRD99]

So buy a few 400 hertz jobs!

That's the plan...there's several been running through sale the last few weeks missing the gen head but the engine and the rest still there...from what I've found the engine and some other stuff is the same as the 803 which I have. Thing is they're still bringing 1500 or more...they start at 5 bucks!! So we'll see since having at least that side of the genset of spares on hand would be nice, plus they're barely an hour away to pick it up.

 

[Guyfang]

Anything that has to do with the engine is the same. Very few parts on the set are different between the models. Mostly electronic. Look in the -24P at the UOC. That tells the tale.

 

[Farmitall]

Having a spare radiator would be nice to have but if push really came to shove, I'd find an auto radiator of sufficient capacity, some long flex hoses (coupled for length if necessary and find an electric fan out of a car and mount it externally, leaving the mechanical fan to vent the housing.

Improvise, adapt and overcome.

 

[cbisson]

I too would like to have a spare radiator and have been keeping an eye out for one but as of yet nothing has turned up. $600-$900 is too much for me.

 

[DieselAddict]

Thankfully I have a couple parts units that have good radiators. I managed to pick up a couple of rough looking units for a decent price at the auction. I don't know if I'm going to sell parts off of them or not but I'm always willing to help a fellow forum member in a pinch.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I too would like to have a spare radiator and have been keeping an eye out for one but as of yet nothing has turned up. $600-$900 is too much for me.

I agree even at 600... thats an expensive part! Its custom, and low volume... two things working against good price.

 

[loosegravel]

Maybe I've been extremely lucky. After having close to 30 different units go through my hands now, I haven't seen one bad radiator yet. Replaced a couple of water pumps, but that's it in the cooling systems. Great idea though to find a place to build them up. Radiator shops are like machine shops in my area. They're going away and they're becoming very hard to find. I think EPA has something to do with it.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Maybe I've been extremely lucky. After having close to 30 different units go through my hands now, I haven't seen one bad radiator yet. Replaced a couple of water pumps, but that's it in the cooling systems. Great idea though to find a place to build them up. Radiator shops are like machine shops in my area. They're going away and they're becoming very hard to find. I think EPA has something to do with it.

Radiators are becoming pluck and chuck, like the rest of the world... easier to justify when less folks are willing to get into trades and learn hard skills.

 

[loosegravel]

Plastic is overtaking us!

 

[WWRD99]

Radiators are becoming pluck and chuck, like the rest of the world... easier to justify when less folks are willing to get into trades and learn hard skills.

This is not wrong at all!! The one rad shop we have in town used to rebuild every ounce of a radiator. I had my 1008 huge brass truck rad that I took to them thinking they'd pull the caps and rod it out and make it new again. I was wrong!! all they do is hit it with a pressure washer down the rad cap and run some fluid through it. I felt bad since the the dad passed the son said he can't charge the labor it takes to fix vs replace with a new one...plus he doesn't want to do it. I ended up finding a local surplus guy that had 4 NOS brass rads and 2 aluminum ones cheap.

What's a machine shop???