MEP 802A Fix-up Thread 2.0

[CallMeColt]

Everyone,

Starting another thread to document to fix-up of another MEP 802A I just won from GovPlanet.



Got it for a good price, considering what they have been going for. The pictures were terrible, but I live close by & was picking up another MEP 802A a few week before that I knew was going to be parts, and saw this one there so I gave it a look over.

It sat for a while. It is a 1994 manufacture. Doesn't have fuse modification done to it. A lot of the rubber stuff is pretty cracked, except for the fuel return lines... those look to have been replaced. Otherwise, it is complete & clean. No signs of anything major.

It has been used... 4,6xx hours on it. I was actually happy to see the higher hours, it means it was used and ran fin up until it was taken out of service.

Once I got it home, I found some paperwork in it. It was last ran in 2017. Funny, it was owned by the same unit I work for as a civilian on Joint Base San Antonio, so I very well may be able to locate who sent to to DRMO earlier this year & ask about it.

Anyways, I have a lot of extras for these on hand, so I put new filters on it, filled with oil, fuel, and just put water for the time being in the radiator. I also had a set of the proper Optima 51R batteries for it, so I put them in. Tapped the dead crank switch to move the oil around a bit. Moved the switch to prime/run and let it fill everything for a few minuets. Tightened the fan belt as it was really loose. It needs to be replaced. I have a spare, but have not done one. Looks annoying to do. Put in a few missing bolts/nuts around the body.

After that, I double checked to be sure nothing felt funny with the injection pump linkage or governor. Besides being a little stiff, it felt good.

Cranked it for 10 seconds and got a nice healthy start! Smoke cleared up just as quick as my other MEP 802A and it ran smoothly. Adjusted it to 60hz and 220v.



There is a fuel leak on the line going to injection pump #2. I have a spare from the parts machine I got a few weeks ago. Going to get that installed, along with the fuse mod I pulled off that machine as well. Fuel sender seems to not be working, so I will test that. I pulled the one off the parts machine. The fan belt definitely needs to be done, alone with a good coolant system flush.

Any tips on replacing the fan belt? Any easy way to work it around the fan, or you need to remove the entire shroud & stuff?

 

[Ray70]

On the fan belt a trick I have used 100x on other items is to work the belt between 1 fan blade and the shroud at a time until you get around all the blades. Find a convenient spot and work it through, reverse procedure to reinstall. You only need like a 5/16" gap somewhere to slip it through.
Also, on an 802 the shroud is 2 pieces, if you need to loosen or remove 1/2 to get it, but you should be able to do it without touching the shroud.

 

[CallMeColt]

On the fan belt a trick I have used 100x on other items is to work the belt between 1 fan blade and the shroud at a time until you get around all the blades. Find a convenient spot and work it through, reverse procedure to reinstall. You only need like a 5/16" gap somewhere to slip it through.
Also, on an 802 the shroud is 2 pieces, if you need to loosen or remove 1/2 to get it, but you should be able to do it without touching the shroud.

Cool, I may give it a try today or tomorrow. I figured as much but wanted to know if anyone did it on these units. Will report back.

 

[CallMeColt]

Got the fuel leak fixed today, along with a new air filter & the fuse mod installed.


Did some other stuff like lubricated all the handles and the locking nut things for the control box. Much smoother now.

Made a quick cable to hook some things up to it. Ran it for about an hour under some heavy load... 5,000 watts @240v at first, then added some things. pulled 6,625 watts @240v for almost an hour. Peaked it a few times at slightly over at 7,000 watts. Really cleaned it out good.



This unit runs much smoother than my other one. Seems to handle more load as well. I'm wondering if I have some sort of injection timing or imbalance issue on my other machine? Anyways, that is not for this thread!

Really happy with this one so far. Still need to chip away at it but this one is going to serve me well. My OCD doesn't let me stop unit it is perfect... only my wallet does.

 

[cbisson]

Got the fuel leak fixed today, along with a new air filter & the fuse mod installed.
View attachment 881278 View attachment 881279

Did some other stuff like lubricated all the handles and the locking nut things for the control box. Much smoother now.

Made a quick cable to hook some things up to it. Ran it for about an hour under some heavy load... 5,000 watts @240v at first, then added some things. pulled 6,625 watts @240v for almost an hour. Peaked it a few times at slightly over at 7,000 watts. Really cleaned it out good.

View attachment 881281

This unit runs much smoother than my other one. Seems to handle more load as well. I'm wondering if I have some sort of injection timing or imbalance issue on my other machine? Anyways, that is not for this thread!

Really happy with this one so far. Still need to chip away at it but this one is going to serve me well. My OCD doesn't let me stop unit it is perfect... only my wallet does.

I have a similar OCD. I bought a second 802a from LITD as a backup thinking it was cheaper than buying a bunch of spare parts. Although it was in very good condition, I had to make everything as perfect as possible. After all that, I have still been stocking up on spare parts.

 

[CallMeColt]

I have a similar OCD. I bought a second 802a from LITD as a backup thinking it was cheaper than buying a bunch of spare parts. Although it was in very good condition, I had to make everything as perfect as possible. After all that, I have still been stocking up on spare parts.

The second one I got I knew it was going to be parts, but it was worth it. Gave me a lot of spare parts... some that are going on this machine. I got a good M116A3 w/title out of it as well. Been selling off some of the stuff from it on my eBay store to help fund other things too.

My goal it to have 4 good MEP 802A's. I have 2 houses on my property and my well/water system. One for each when when power goes out. Then, one for the off grid place. Figured if I get some turds along the way, I get parts to shelf or sell.

 

[cbisson]

The second one I got I knew it was going to be parts, but it was worth it. Gave me a lot of spare parts... some that are going on this machine. I got a good M116A3 w/title out of it as well. Been selling off some of the stuff from it on my eBay store to help fund other things too.

My goal it to have 4 good MEP 802A's. I have 2 houses on my property and my well/water system. One for each when when power goes out. Then, one for the off grid place. Figured if I get some turds along the way, I get parts to shelf or sell.

I guess I just enjoy working on them. They really are great machines.

 

[CallMeColt]

Used some more stuff from the parted out unit to make this one better over the weekend.

Replaced the fuel shut off solenoid. Adjusted the throttle limits a bit. Replaced the fuel sender. Nothing but the top was left. Sure the rest is in the tank! Tightened up the main 3/4 bolt for the alternator. Replaced a few stripped out body bolts. Ran it under 100% for another hour.


Still need to replace the belt and set it up for a 4 hour load test at least. Usually and issues pop up in 2 hours I have found. Will do the radiator flush during this time as well. Then fill with Caterpillar ELC that I use in everything else.

I'll probably need to do the well nut upgrade to it but nothing is leaking right now so I'll let it be.

 

[CallMeColt]

Got the radiator & coolant system flush today. Put it in and decided to do the 4 hour load test this evening.

For a while, had over 7,000 watts pulling from it. This unit really runs like a top & it was well taken care of.

Video for your enjoyment;

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p-ZMt8xYL6U

 

[CallMeColt]

When letting the unit cool down after the load test, I noticed that the temperature cot really cool. Thinking the thermostat is bad from sitting so long and opened up but is now stuck. It is cheap enough, so just going to replace it. Going to be draining the system again anyways before putting the Caterpillar ELC in.

 

[CallMeColt]

Got the fan belt on today, was pretty easy working it as as Ray70 recommended above. Old one was really shot. I think it was the original from 1994. I just cut it to take it off. Put my 4yr old to work.

https://amzn.to/3W9qQHd



I THINK I read it on this forum years ago, but I needed a coolant overflow bottle and none were on eBay. So, I searched generic ones & ones for the Suzuki Samuri popped up. It looked like it would fit & rang a bell that it would fit, so I grabbed one from Amazon. Fits pretty well. Hose barb fitting is a size smaller. I happen to have an elbow fitting with reducer in my stuff, so I cut the existing hose shorter and used that, then made a little length from some fuel hose I had in my stuff as well. Should work okay. Zip ties right in place.

https://amzn.to/3zmFocQ



Last think I did was replace the thermostat. Got a kit from eBay. Looked good but it was slightly different than the OEM Lister one. The bottom spring was missing. My guess was that it was a secondary type to thermostat that stayed close to assist in warm up. Also, help hold it a bit more securely in place as it's kind of loose in the housing. Because that spring is not there, this aftermarket ones is actually pretty loose in there. It can't go anywhere, but it can spin. I wanted to get everything together so I installed it, but I might have just found a OEM Lister one if I was to do it again. Simple job to change it so we'll see.



I also replaced the rubber cover that was going over the extra, unused port on the water pump as I noticed it was pretty dry rotted. Some units have an NPT plug here, others, this plug. I got a Dorman assortment and just used one from there to get the system closed up, but if I need to replace one again, I will used this one;

https://amzn.to/3FmL7Db

Just letting the RTV set up for the 24 hours now. It got dark anyways. Will fill with coolant and give it a run in the next day or so!

 

[DHDiesel73]

Thanks for the detailed progress on this unit. I’m in the beginner stages with these gen sets so I appreciate all the knowledge transfer.

You mentioned one of your units vibrated. I picked up one of these units a couple months ago with 24 hours on clock since reset. Runs great but vibrated like crazy and would walk across the shop floor. Adjusted injectors using infrared thermometer on exhaust manifold to try and even out both injectors till temp on both exhaust ports were close as possible.. Smoothed out a good bit but think I turned both injectors down too much. Won’t pull as much of a load or at least a starting load.

Also, I’m very new to this forum. Reading through your project, you mentioned a fuse mod and a well nut upgrade. Can you point me in the right direction to read up on these mods? No idea what they are.

Thanks in advanced.
Drew

 

[CallMeColt]

Thanks for the detailed progress on this unit. I’m in the beginner stages with these gen sets so I appreciate all the knowledge transfer.

You mentioned one of your units vibrated. I picked up one of these units a couple months ago with 24 hours on clock since reset. Runs great but vibrated like crazy and would walk across the shop floor. Adjusted injectors using infrared thermometer on exhaust manifold to try and even out both injectors till temp on both exhaust ports were close as possible.. Smoothed out a good bit but think I turned both injectors down too much. Won’t pull as much of a load or at least a starting load.

Also, I’m very new to this forum. Reading through your project, you mentioned a fuse mod and a well nut upgrade. Can you point me in the right direction to read up on these mods? No idea what they are.

Thanks in advanced.
Drew

Yeah, I think I might need to do that with the one on my trailer.

As far as the modifications for the fuse, I made a video a while back for my YouTube channel. Has links in the description to the parts;

 

[CallMeColt]

Well, I always kick myself in the but for not going with my initial judgment. That thermostat seems to not be working because of it's fitment. Ran for 30 minuets under 100% load and it never went above 150 deg.

Got the Onan one on it's way and I get to do it again. Go ahead an laugh!

Funny thing is, I ended up finding the Onan parts cheaper than the "Cheap" ones.

 

[CallMeColt]

Replaced the thermostat again and it is good to go now. Warms up to around 180 deg with no load and then a bit more under 5,000 watt load.



Glad that is settled! Going to do a 6 hour load test today as a "final" test.

My son was admiring his work when he helped me change the belt.



All I need to do it make something for battery tie downs and it should be 100%. I'm sure over time something will pop up & my OCD will have me tinkering with it to neaten it up.

I put a little ATF in the fuel tank to help clean anything in the system while it was running hot.

I have another one coming Monday, so onto the next!

 

[CallMeColt]

So, I took some time to come back to this unit.

Checked the injection pumps, and they were not tightened down at the same position. Moved them so they were the same amount of notched on the hold down forks (two) from the rubber fuel line hitting. The seems like it made the machine a little less smoky under really heavy load. My guess is one of the cylinders was getting a little more fuel and not burning it.

Decided for simplicity of completing this unit, I took the battery hold downs from the other one I have in the works. That one will not be done for a while, so figured this made sense. I think I found a good solution that is close to the factory battery hold downs though. Will cover that in my other thread.


We're getting a bit of a cold snap here in south Texas, so I moved the generator over by my well house (if you can call it that) and decided to use it to run a big electric heater to keep things from freezing up. Clocked 18 hours run time non-stop at 100%. Worked great. One minor issue came up. The main fuel pump is seeping. Could just be a loose fitting, but I'm not messing with it as I want it to keep running.



I have a spare ready to go, so, I will just replace it. I need to replace all the return lines on this one anyways, so I'll do all that at once.

Noticed that even though the tank is full, the AUX pump will run when the switch is in the position. I'll need to test that as well.

It will be getting another ~12 hours tonight. I will go out in the morning with the tempurature gun and see how even the exhaust manifold is as a better indicator of the injection pump adjustment.

Happy that I'm getting to get a good test in on it and not just burn diesel. In case it went down, I have no other one ready to go.

I think this one will go to my off grid cabin full time once I work the few minor kinks out.

Want to do the fuel tank fitting upgrade on it as well. It isn't leaking now but I know it will.

 

[CallMeColt]

Turns out it wasn't the pump that was leaking, rather the fitting at the bottom. The hard fuel line had a new fitting put on the end. Seems like the wrong one was put on... wrong angle 4AN. So, I still replaced the pump as that one has a lot of hours on it more or less, and will keep it as a spare.

Ordered a kit to make a new fuel line going to to fuel/water separator;

https://amzn.to/3ieM1sc

Going to just make a new line. It's a huge PITA to get at the fittings, so I may just bite the bullet and remove both top covers, so I can more easily do the fuel return lines, as well as do a good inspection of the electrical controls and everything. Zip tie and tidy up all the wires, clean everything out, and seal up the top again.

Since I plan to leave this one at my off-grid cabin, makes sense to just do everything nice & neatly now so it will give me no issues down the road.

 

[Ray70]

Sounds like someone mistakenly threw in an SAE flare fitting ( 45* angle ) instead of a JIC / -AN 37* angle fitting.
Might seal when used on copper, but probably not when used with that stainless hard line.

 

[CallMeColt]

Sounds like someone mistakenly threw in an SAE flare fitting ( 45* angle ) instead of a JIC / -AN 37* angle fitting.
Might seal when used on copper, but probably not when used with that stainless hard line.

Exactly what happened. And they cranked it down good to try and make up for it but no luck!

 

[CallMeColt]

Started working on this again. Hopefully, over this long weekend, it will be 100% done! Will post an update with details & pictures when I am finished.

Took this little video while working on it;