mistaken1
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I picked up a MEP002A from GL recently and finally had time to look it over. Looks to be in decent shape. The oil is new. Haven't checked all the filters yet but I will.
It has four year old batteries so I charged them this week. They are currently holding around 12.8 volts. Went to put them in the generator this morning and noticed that the ground lead to the starter looked like the lug was about ready to separate from the wire. Removed the wire from the starter and pulled the lug off the wire by hand. Cleaned out the wire stub from the lug and re-soldered the wire back in and taped it up as good as new (just a little shorter). Re-installed all the ground leads on the starter with a light coating of anti-oxidant compound.
Put the batteries in and cleaned up all the battery connections and coated everything liberally with the spray on corrosion inhibitor and tried to start the generator.
All I got was a loud clunk. First thought was the batteries are too old and spend too much time in a discharged state. Put some jumper cables on it and tried again. Another loud clunk.
I could easily turn the engine over by hand at the flywheel. The clunk did not sound like it was coming from what looks like a new starter but sound like it was coming from the opposite side of the engine (fuel solenoid?).
Cracked open the manual, it talked about testing the starter and the starter lockout switch. Considering the starter looks new and I remember reading something on here about the starter lockout switch I got on SS and started searching. I could not find anything and it was time to leave to go to a friends house for a holiday cookout.
Before I left I tried one last thing, I held a #10 wire on the starter solenoid lug that connects to the starter and touched the 24V positive. The starter engaged (and darn near welded the #10 wire to the solenoid nut).
When I got back home I broke out the trouble light and started to work on the starter lockout switch. I thought I would open the connector to read the switch with the DVM when I found IT. One of the wires that went from the connector into the starter lockout switch was broken at the connector. With a little help from the wife and daughter I de-soldered and removed the broken piece of wire from the terminal and re-soldered the wire from the starter lockout switch back in place on the connector.
Mated the connectors, ran the fuel pumps till they slowed, applied about 30 seconds of preheat and she fired right up. Adjusted the engine speed and we were making electricity.
Woohoo.
Right now the oil pressure looks to be somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds but the DC voltmeter settles on the line between yellow and green. I read about 27VDC at the batteries and and the lead to the meter. I will see what the manual says about low charging voltage (could be the old batteries).
I hope this epic tale helps someone in the future with their MEP starting issues.
Obligatory pic below:
It has four year old batteries so I charged them this week. They are currently holding around 12.8 volts. Went to put them in the generator this morning and noticed that the ground lead to the starter looked like the lug was about ready to separate from the wire. Removed the wire from the starter and pulled the lug off the wire by hand. Cleaned out the wire stub from the lug and re-soldered the wire back in and taped it up as good as new (just a little shorter). Re-installed all the ground leads on the starter with a light coating of anti-oxidant compound.
Put the batteries in and cleaned up all the battery connections and coated everything liberally with the spray on corrosion inhibitor and tried to start the generator.
All I got was a loud clunk. First thought was the batteries are too old and spend too much time in a discharged state. Put some jumper cables on it and tried again. Another loud clunk.
I could easily turn the engine over by hand at the flywheel. The clunk did not sound like it was coming from what looks like a new starter but sound like it was coming from the opposite side of the engine (fuel solenoid?).
Cracked open the manual, it talked about testing the starter and the starter lockout switch. Considering the starter looks new and I remember reading something on here about the starter lockout switch I got on SS and started searching. I could not find anything and it was time to leave to go to a friends house for a holiday cookout.
Before I left I tried one last thing, I held a #10 wire on the starter solenoid lug that connects to the starter and touched the 24V positive. The starter engaged (and darn near welded the #10 wire to the solenoid nut).
When I got back home I broke out the trouble light and started to work on the starter lockout switch. I thought I would open the connector to read the switch with the DVM when I found IT. One of the wires that went from the connector into the starter lockout switch was broken at the connector. With a little help from the wife and daughter I de-soldered and removed the broken piece of wire from the terminal and re-soldered the wire from the starter lockout switch back in place on the connector.
Mated the connectors, ran the fuel pumps till they slowed, applied about 30 seconds of preheat and she fired right up. Adjusted the engine speed and we were making electricity.
Woohoo.
Right now the oil pressure looks to be somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds but the DC voltmeter settles on the line between yellow and green. I read about 27VDC at the batteries and and the lead to the meter. I will see what the manual says about low charging voltage (could be the old batteries).
I hope this epic tale helps someone in the future with their MEP starting issues.
Obligatory pic below:
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