MEP-803A smoking under load.

[TheAlfredo]

I have an 803A that I bought several month back and it ran fine. I can't remember if I load tested it or not. It starts right up and sounds great. But when I put a load on it...it started to smoke a lot more than usual. Steady smoke....bluish white.

take the load off....smoke goes away. Put load on...smoke stayed away for a bit....then came back. I checked the dip stick for blowby and didn't see anything. Unscrewed the oil fill...and there was some blowby.

Thoughts?

 

[cbisson]

I have an 803A that I bought several month back and it ran fine. I can't remember if I load tested it or not. It starts right up and sounds great. But when I put a load on it...it started to smoke a lot more than usual. Steady smoke....bluish white.

take the load off....smoke goes away. Put load on...smoke stayed away for a bit....then came back. I checked the dip stick for blowby and didn't see anything. Unscrewed the oil fill...and there was some blowby.

Thoughts?

I'd run it under a good load (at least 75%) for a while and see if that clears it up. How many hours on it?

 

[TheAlfredo]

I'd run it under a good load (at least 75%) for a while and see if that clears it up. How many hours on it?

222hrs.

I don't think it wetstacking.....because i don't see the usual black specs flying out.

But I was going to top off the coolant and do just that....to see if by chance its burning coolant. to get it to 75% I'll have to run over 10kw load...probably close to 15kw

 

[Zed254]

12.5 kw is what a MEP803 is good for with a resistive load. 80% derating gets you to the military rating of 10kw. You can run at 70% - 80% for 2 or 3 hours on the percent load meter to clean it up. I would not put a 15kw load on an 803 for very long.... 9kw should be sufficient.

 

[TheAlfredo]

12.5 kw is what a MEP803 is good for with a resistive load. 80% derating gets you to the military rating of 10kw. You can run at 70% - 80% for 2 or 3 hours on the percent load meter to clean it up. I would not put a 15kw load on an 803 for very long.... 9kw should be sufficient.

Wouldn’t the overload trip and shut down the generator?
Putting 10kw on it takes the percent meter south of 80% on every 803 I have.

 

[Zed254]

Check the data plate.....I think it says 52 amps at 240 volts. This means 12,480 watts....call it 12.5 kw. Now the military needs to be able to push HVAC and other motorized systems so they derate the unit and call a 12.5kw generator a 10kw generator. The red mark on the percent load meter is at 80%....or 10kw to remind you not to go over that. Motor start ups will pull a lot of current. Too many motors starting up at the same time might overload the generator.

You suggested running 15kw to get 75%. 15kw is closer to 120% on an MEP803A. We are suggesting you get your machine running for 2 or 3 hours with enough load to warm it up and get it working. Any wet stacking will be burned out at 75%.....or 9.4kw. My overload trips out when I'm above 100%. Say I'm running at 120% for ...... awhile. It will trip out because I'm pulling 15 amps from a 12.5 amp generator. I usually run my quarterly tests at 80% on the percent power (or load) meter: 10kw.

 

[America]

anything over 10KW for long periods isn’t good. The minute you saw the unit begin to smoke consistently (a bit after 10KW and surly by 13KW was when you have started to overload it. Just because it’s made to run at up 15 KW in cold weather doesn’t mean you should do it. Lol I’m still using and working around these units currently. Those last 5 KW are meant for emergency use only in my opinion.

I have an 803A that I bought several month back and it ran fine. I can't remember if I load tested it or not. It starts right up and sounds great. But when I put a load on it...it started to smoke a lot more than usual. Steady smoke....bluish white.

take the load off....smoke goes away. Put load on...smoke stayed away for a bit....then came back. I checked the dip stick for blowby and didn't see anything. Unscrewed the oil fill...and there was some blowby.

Thoughts?

How big of load? They will start to smoke consistently around or not much after 10KW.

 

[Ray70]

Any chance you could post a picture of he smoke? Sometimes people's perception of color can somewhat differ.
In a heavy / near overload condition you should be seeing more of what I consider a blackish smoke not blueish white.
Blueish white without black specks can often mean slightly wet stacked or possibly even air restriction, depending on how white, but wet stacking should have cleared up fairly quick when running under a good load.
Just for the hell of it, I'd try running it with the air intake removed. Just to rule out an air intake problem.... dirty filter, critter nest etc.
If that doesn't pan out I'd remove the exhaust manifold and watch each cylinder independently. This will also take the muffler and carbon buildup out of the equation and help identify if you have a single bad acting cylinder.

 

[TheAlfredo]

Any chance you could post a picture of he smoke? Sometimes people's perception of color can somewhat differ.
In a heavy / near overload condition you should be seeing more of what I consider a blackish smoke not blueish white.
Blueish white without black specks can often mean slightly wet stacked or possibly even air restriction, depending on how white, but wet stacking should have cleared up fairly quick when running under a good load.
Just for the hell of it, I'd try running it with the air intake removed. Just to rule out an air intake problem.... dirty filter, critter nest etc.
If that doesn't pan out I'd remove the exhaust manifold and watch each cylinder independently. This will also take the muffler and carbon buildup out of the equation and help identify if you have a single bad acting cylinder.

Thanks Ray
We just. I’ll run her tomorrow and post some pictures.
I also have blow by coming out of the oil filler

 

[Guyfang]

Most folks seriously underestimate what a dirty air filter, (Technically called Air Restriction failure) will do to an engine. In mild cases, it will look like what Ray described. I serious cases, it can take on a GRAY and BLACK look. One of the most frustrating problems I ever found with a MEP-116A, (400 hertz) 60 KW, was just that way. It would not run at anywhere near rated speed. Jet black smoke. As this was a precise Power gen set, the Elect Gov and Hyd Actuator were about ready to burst into flames, trying to reach rated speed. We troubleshot for a week. The entire section. I had someone pull the air filter, early on. The filter housing holds two air filters, in a box. The filters were in front and back, The air hose ran from the filter housing to the turbo. Hose looked good. That ruled out air restriction. Well about the time I was going to burst into tears, and take a sledge hammer to the set, We went for lunch and a beer. We came back to the missile site and started again. It just had to be an air problem. I kept thinking that it had to be that, and only that. Feeling like a fool, I took off my glasses, I stuck my head into the set, into the filter housing, and turned my head to the right. Plugged up! How? The inside of the air hose had collapsed and been sucked into the opening of the turbo. The outside of the hose, and the wire spring in between the two layers of the hose, had not collapsed. Did I ever feel stupid.

 

[America]

Thanks Ray
We just. I’ll run her tomorrow and post some pictures.
I also have blow by coming out of the oil filler

A little is normal under heavy load. Let’s see a video of the blow by? That’s why the manual for the motor says to change the oil every 125 hours when used at anything over 10KW. Soot builds up very fast In the oil when overloaded From blow by, even new LPW4’s do this. Are you sure your not overloading the unit?

 

[TheAlfredo]

A little is normal under heavy load. Let’s see a video of the blow by? That’s why the manual for the motor says to change the oil every 125 hours when used at anything over 10KW. Soot builds up very fast In the oil when overloaded From blow by, even new LPW4’s do this. Are you sure your not overloading the unit?

Ran it under load...bluish white smoke burned off. But noticed injector 1 might be sticking. Going to run some cleaner with the fuel next time

 

[Ray70]

Keep working it out with cleaner in the fuel. If not successful at getting the injector cleaned up, go ahead and pull it out to have a better look. They can be disassembled and cleaned or replacements can be found for about $50 each.

 

[America]

222hrs.

I don't think it wetstacking.....because i don't see the usual black specs flying out.

But I was going to top off the coolant and do just that....to see if by chance its burning coolant. to get it to 75% I'll have to run over 10kw load...probably close to 15kw

wet-staking looks like black goo. don’t go over 10k for long. I use these sets all the time they do not like to go over 10KW.

 

[TheAlfredo]

wet-staking looks like black goo. don’t go over 10k for long. I use these sets all the time they do not like to go over 10KW.

Turns out my load bank has too set of references for the Kw switches....one for single phase and another for 3 phase. When I thought I was running 15kw I was actually runing 12

 

[Light in the Dark]

wet-staking looks like black goo. don’t go over 10k for long. I use these sets all the time they do not like to go over 10KW.

An 803A? It will chew up 10kw and not even know it was there if its running right. These machines ideal run setting is full output.

 

[America]

An 803A? It will chew up 10kw and not even know it was there if its running right. These machines ideal run setting is full output.

I was under the impression that these were made for 10KW. It wouldn’t even know it was there? Dang brother those are some hard core chewing sets you been working around. How many KW do you suggest running continuously?

 

[jmenende]

She was a smoker.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Ive got an 802 here thats blowing a ton of air into the crank case. Haven't dug into it yet... but I suspect I am going to find something amiss.

 

[jmenende]

Ive got an 802 here thats blowing a ton of air into the crank case. Haven't dug into it yet... but I suspect I am going to find something amiss.

Mine had the intake valve stuck open. Noticed it after removing the intake manifold and watched white smoke come out of cyl 2 of the manifold while running. She would still give you 13kw on 3 cyl, a testament on how underrated these units are.