MEP803 help for a Noob...

[Caminofeld]

Hello, I purchased an MEP803 last year with 320 hrs on it that ran fine and tested normal (power at posts). Lst time it ran well was 2 weeks ago (I run it for 15 minutes every 2 weeks to keep it fresh). So yesterday my electrician showed up to help attach it to my house and it wouldn't start. We found it to be that the fuel solenoid went up. No worries, wedged a piece of wood in there to keep it running so we could test the connections and now have no power at the posts. The convenience receptacle has power to it, the voltmeter reads 240, and we tried the interruptor switch. I'm by no means electrically inclined, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me where to start troubleshooting (in the simplest terms). Thank you in advance.

-Eric

 

[Guyfang]

Eric,

15 minutes doesn't give a gen set enough time get warm. An hour, yes. Your hurting the set, by such short run times.

We need a bit more info. Are there any idiot lights on? Low fuel, over voltage?

Do you have the TM's for this gen set? If not, please download them from the TM portion of the SS forum.

Now to the reason it wont start. It could be that you do not have 24 volts to the L1 fuel cut off solenoid. Wedging a chunk of wood under the L1 simply moves the fuel rack into a run position. But when you have no 24 volts to L1, you probably don't have and 24 volts to energise the K1, output contactor, so no juice at the load terminals.

The first thing I would do is look at the trouble shooting in the -24 manual. Fix the "Cranks, but will not start" problem, and you should fix the no output problem. The meter will of course tell you the main gen is making voltage, (240 volts) but K1 is not closing.

 

[Caminofeld]

Thank you very much Guyfang. I didn't even think beyond the solenoid. I won't have time to get into it for another week, but I downloaded the TM and have been reading other threads on here (slow day at work). There's a guy that advertises genset repairs in my area that I have been talking to as well. I figure I'll check the simple things first as it worked fine 2 weeks ago. I will repost when I get into it; as I'm sure this will be a project.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

If this traveling generator repair man dosnt have much military gen repair experience i would pass on him. These are quite complex machines and knowing how to read an electrical diagram is a must.
I would mess with it your self first, at least this way you will know your way around the machine and not be out anything but your time.
Do you have a digital volt meter?

 

[Caminofeld]

Well the guy was actually advertising a few mep803's for sale on Craigslist and mentions he does repairs too. Talking to him on the phone he seems to know a good bit about them but, on your advice, I will make sure he's the right man for the job if I need him...which I very well might. One of the greatest frustrations in my life is lack of time. I have 3 kids 3 and under and a wife with traumatic brain injury and we both work full-time and have little to no help...so basically I'm stuck often paying people to do work that I'd much rather be doing myself...and if it's not something simple I really don't see having the time to get it fixed. Ironic because I bought it to keep my family safe in the event of power outage. I guess that's just life...

 

[Guyfang]

I think we can get this problem squared away. Give us a chance.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

There is a huge wealth of info on that generator on this site and many people willing to help you. It may only take 5min a day for a few days and your unit could be up and running. Simple voltage checks behind the control pannel can tell you alot.

 

[DiverDarrell]

There is a resettable fuse behind the guage panel, make sure it's not tripped. Will cause what you discribe. Only takes 30 seconds to check

 

[Caminofeld]

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and I'm excited to own such a versatile and hardy piece of equipment. I spent a few hours the day of my first post attempting to troubleshoot it to no avail. This is going to sound crazy, but I fully charged the batteries over the last 2 days and today she fired right up with power to the posts. Scratching my head, but thankful nonetheless. I've also been doing quite a bit of reading and feel I'm gaining a better understanding of this unit. I will repost if any more problems occur. Thanks again to everyone!

 

[Caminofeld]

Still glad I didn't go with the Generac

 

[jamawieb]

If the batteries continue to drain after short periods of time, i.e. 30 days or less. The 1st thing I would look at is the alternator. The alternator has a ground and a direct connection to the batteries and there are rectifiers that can break and short. I've had a couple of units that would drain the batteries in a few weeks.

 

[Guyfang]

Remember, no short runs. An hour will get it up to normal running temp and make sure the battery's get a good charge. That way you can feel good about the reliability, and keep an eye out for problems like jamawieb mentioned.

 

[jimbo913]

I would put a battery maintainer on it first chance you get, so it is always charged and ready to go. If I didn't have one on mine, I am sure I would have been down the same road already.

 

[Haoleb]

Remember, no short runs. An hour will get it up to normal running temp and make sure the battery's get a good charge. That way you can feel good about the reliability, and keep an eye out for problems like jamawieb mentioned.

Guyfang, I do not run my set that often since I have to get it out of my garage and hook up the load bank to really get a good run on it (hassle). I try to run it every few months but other than that it mostly just sits in my garage.

One thing I do- do though is maybe once a month I will go and hit the dead crank for maybe 8 seconds to try and coat everything up top in oil and move the engine parts. Since I don't need to hook any wiring up or move the set out of the garage I figure its a good way to crank over the engine without much hassle. Thoughts on doing that?

 

[DieselAddict]

The film of oil runs off the internal parts in "hours" after it was stirred up. Spinning it over is not really doing you a lot of good.

In the grand scheme of things the equipment will be better served by giving it a GOOD run even if that means you do it quarterly and don't touch it in between. It is more important to get the oil fully hot and remove any moisture inside the engine. That doesn't happen in 15 minutes and doesn't happen under light load. You need to get it up to 50% load.

Fuel rotation will be your next challenge. A tank of fuel could stay in there for quite some time. You will want to make sure you have it conditioned properly to minimize injection system problems.

 

[Guyfang]

Haoleb,

i concure 1000 percent with Chris. Better 4 times a year, for an hour or two, ( or more) at full load. Maybe once a year, longer, to address the fuel rotation. When you do it, don't connect Aux fuel system. Simply let it run till the set shuts it off by itself. An added benefit is testing your low fuel level shut off switch.

There are threads in the forum detailing how to make a home built load bank. It doesn't make sense to use your home as a load bank. I would perhaps rig up a cable, that I could simply uncouple, to switch from load bank to house. Sure, you can occasionally hook up the house to load your set, but only when you want to.

 

[Haoleb]

Fuel rotation is not a problem for me. The fuel in my aux and the day tank are treated and my CUCV gets about 9 MPG so I have a handy place to burn what the gen does not use... In-fact, I haven't got any diesel at the gas station since last Sept. or so. Just been using my fuel stores so I can have fresh fuel every 6 months. I put the last 10 gallons of diesel I had in the truck today and am going to go fill up again this weekend.

I do agree it is best to run it with a good load. It is easy to see how much the engine is heating up.. or not with an IR thermometer. With no load it really is just cruising along. Last weekend when I ran the set I had the time to run it for several hours. A few of them at 100% load and using an IR thermometer I monitored temps in various places. I think I burned out some wet stacking from the exhaust that remained from previous load tests. Smoke cleared out more with time and the exhaust temp measured on my short exhaust stack went from around 600 degrees F after getting up to 100% load down to just about 500 Degrees F after running 100% for a few hours.