PU798 (MEP-803a & M116A3) Followed me Home!

[Haoleb]

Been looking for a good diesel generator for a while. Thought about maybe getting a nice little Honda gas portable...Then I saw some MEP's. Read more about them.. Decided that was what I wanted... And then a light came on and I remembered that about 6 months ago I looked at and drove an M923 not far from my house where a trucking company has some surplus equipment. And I remembered they had a generator I briefly looked at...

So I took a drive over there and sure enough the generator was still sitting there hooked to the back of a truck. Talked to the guy for a bit. It has not run so I do not know if it works but it is mostly complete. He wanted 4k for the whole shebang but at first I did not want the trailer. Finally settled on $2750 for the gen set and the trailer. Picked it up today and got it home. I went prepared for the worst.. flat tires (runflats? hard to tell without a gauge) or locked brakes etc.. One tire was at 50 psi the other at 5 lbs. Tires turned freely. Heck even the lights worked on the trailer which I just plugged right into my CUCV. Pumped the flat tire up and lowered the pressure in the other tire. Towed it home 9 miles no problem. Did not even know it was back there until I hit a hill then the old truck went up a little slower than usual.

Got it home no problems and started looking it over. One trailer hand brake is bent.. easy fix. and missing a lifting sling that is straight broken off. Looks like someone crashed this trailer into something because part of the nameplate is ripped off. No biggie still looks good elsewhere. Missing the little hand crank handle for the jack on the tongue.

Generator is mostly complete. So far I have spotted that the fuel filter/bowl is missing. I bought a new filter but now I need the bowl part as well and it looks like someone tried to bypass it becuase the hoses are not hooked up to the base anymore and appear to be connected together. Looking at the engine exploded diagrams it looks like someone cut the banjo fitting right off the rail and hose clamped directly to the hard line... Fantastic. It needs batteries. One of the neg batt cables is missing. Radiator has a spot in it I am hoping does not leak where some of the fins are corroded away in the middle. Some of the small cooling system hoses are all un-done not sure where some of them go. Still has some diesel in the tank and some oil in the engine I am wondering if someone tried to get it going and failed. No coolant in the cooling system. Missing the wrench for the output terminals

Hour meter shows 1009 hours I would assume after the reset. Looks like the main electrical box is complete no components missing or obviously fried looking. Looks like the gov planet sticker shows CC: F which I assume is condition code F- Repairable. Sure hope so!!

Next step will be to pull it into my garage and get to work taking all of the panels off so I can get in there and start putting it back together. I will also need to get a couple of batteries for it. Not a fan of optima's maybe I will just get a couple cheapie lead acids or I might try to price out some diehard platinum AGM's

I'll try to document as I go all of the stuff I find and fix to get it going...and then with some luck get it hooked up and running!

 

[Haoleb]

More Pics

 

[Light in the Dark]

Have fun!

 

[Haoleb]

Well as it turns out I may have the fuel filter bowl after-all. I found a red cap looking thing tossed in the bottom of the gen yesterday but did not cross my mind it was the bowl for the fuel filter until I started looking for a replacement online and saw the same part. DOH! Sure makes a difference to know what parts go where when you actually know what you are looking at! It looks like a replacement fuel manifold tube that was cut up P/N 186-6160 is on the order of several hundred from Onan. Cummins northeast quoted 293 dollars for the part but the parts guy said there were basically none available anywhere so still waiting to hear back on a possible lead time... yikes... I might have to fabricate something up for that one.

If someone could take a couple close up photos of that manifold tube it would be very helpful for me. The drawing in the parts list looks different than mine on the radiator side end. Not sure if that side was messed with also or not. And if anyone has one of these tubes on hand to sell you would be my hero!

 

[rhurey]

You can find photos from past GP auctions...



They get a picture of some part of the fuel lines under their "Fuel Leaks" inspection.

 

[zanther]

I'll try to grab a photo when I get mine home from work today, unless someone else beats me to it.

 

[Haoleb]

So quick update. I tried to track down the fuel manifold down all day long. Then I found a guy on Ebay with a bunch of LPW4 engines and parts and I am getting a replacement manifold tube and filter housing assy off a used motor from him . Got the gen set pulled into my garage and set to work taking the top panel off, side doors off.. checking things over. I thought initially that both ends of the fuel return manifold were hacked but the radiator end of mine is still stock. It just does not match what is in the diagram of the TM. It definitely appears to me someone bought this set at auction and tried to get it going. It has a newer battery (only one) which I have on the battery tender at the moment.... it has a new oil filter, new fuel water separator and they bypassed the other fuel filter. I really think they might have tried to get it going with only one battery thinking maybe that two batteries were wired in parallel like some diesel pickups and then could not get it to work and gave up. Considering that one battery cable is missing and the positive cable that goes to the second battery had the terminal wrapped in electrical tape that tells me they did not have it wired up.

The engine spins freely. Doesn't appear to be wet stacked although I did not take off the muffler because I do not have a gasket for it. I already purchased new 3.5mm fuel hose that arrived today. I will replace all of that hose and change/fill the other fluids while waiting for the replacement parts to arrive. Going to get the inside cleaned up and get all the dirt off everything. May do some engine painting as well. I was a little worried the place I got it from tried to get it going and found some major issue then pawned it off on me but now I think they just did not have the correct experience and resources to know how to get it going. I am hopeful!

I am slightly concerned the radiator may need replacement but time will tell I suppose. SO far I am very happy with the build quality of this unit compared to what I would have got for the same money commercially. Even things like the type of wiring used. Nobody uses that wire commercially because it is expensive and a real PITA to work with. One thing I love about surplus gear is that it is just made to last and heavy duty.

 

[Chrispyny]

Awesome. Sounds like you are on the right path. Delks surplus is good for spare parts also. Google them. And check your well nut for fuel leaks. They get old, crack, and leak bad. I have some i can sell you if need be.

 

[Haoleb]

Quick update and a question. I got the old coolant drained, 2 gallons of old fuel drained and fuel tank cleaned as best as I can from the filler neck. Still some residual dirt in the bottom. ... oil drained and refilled. fuel return lines replaced. engine painted..

I removed the metal fuel manifold as pictured above in preparation to replace it. In order to get the small hose clamps off of the injector pumps I removed the hold down's for the injector pumps for more access..

Reading the TM it appears that these need to be rotated precisely for proper engine operation. I just want to double check what I think the TM says I should do when I go to put it all back together with the new (used) manifold.

My plan was to loosen the Hz adjust and turn it so the as to place the speed control in the stop position. Then make sure the injector pumps are turned as far counter clockwise as they will go and then torque down hold downs for each injector? Does this sound right? I have not loosened the hard lines going to the injectors so the pumps have not moved much at all from their original position but they may have moved slightly getting the old hoses off.

It doesn't appear that there are any leaks from the fuel tank but there are visible cracks in both the drain well nut and the filler neck rubber adapter I should probably replace both since I have the cooling system already drained and half of the panels off the enclosure but I really want to see if this thing works or not!

 

[Haoleb]

Been working on the set for the past week on and off. Replaced all of the fuel return line. Got my replacement fuel rail and fuel filter housing and installed them. Cut off the old hoses from the rail and installed new fuel hose (1/4" size) Filled I up with oil.. filled it up with some diesel coolant. purchased one new battery and was able to bring the existing battery back to life after 3 days on the battery tender. Replaced the water separator and fuel filter.. bled the system and put 5 gallons in the tank... Still waiting for my replacement well nuts to arrive tomorrow for the fuel tank. I could not wait though. Had to try to fire it off this evening. Pulled it out of the garage... Hit the start and she fired up instantly with a puff of smoke and ran great. There is some black flecks of stuff coming out of the exhaust. Generator has good oil pressure, makes good voltage. Everything seems to work great! I am going to pick up some water heater elements and build a load bank to be able to properly load this thing down in the next few days.

I painted the engine with stove bright moss green paint my local stove shop had on hand and the color seems to match very closely to the stock paint that was on it.. Engine looks like new with the new paint touch up job. I also picked up a replacement radiator cap ( Stant P/N 10228 7lb Cap), Replaced the missing coolant overflow cap, replaced the coolant drain hoses. And found a NOS wrench for the output terminals on ebay.

I also need to upgrade my generator hookup to handle 60A instead of the 30A setup I have now. My setup uses a 2 pole manual transfer switch that is between the meter and my panel, I am going to rewire the generator feed with larger wire to handle up to 60a and for a connection I am looking at some pin and sleeve connectors or I may use terminal blocks. Not going to hard wire this thing in at this point as I still need to have it mobile.

I made a video of the set running and the first start for those interested...

https://youtu.be/ngxCWFCWMlM

 

[Haoleb]

Some photos. Had to cut off the old hose clamps on the fuel manifold with a cutting wheel and install new hose and hose clamps on both ends.

Color of engine painted with moss green stove bright. Good to 1200 degrees.

 

[Haoleb]

I also forgot to add that I installed some 1/2" copper pipe to the oil drain to facilitate easy oil changes. The pipe sticks down through the trailer deck and drains into a container with ease. I installed a union fitting into the pipe for future needs if I need to unscrew the pipe or if I end up mounting the generator to a cement pad.

 

[Chrispyny]

Lookin good! Feels good doesn't it!?!

 

[Another Ahab]

That engine sure looks real nice, all painted up and all.

 

[Haoleb]

Lookin good! Feels good doesn't it!?!

Sure does! What a relief to know I do not have a $3,000 dollar boat anchor!

Does anyone run any additives to the diesel in their generators? I use 2cycle oil in my CUCV. Wondering if I should be adding some to the generator as well. I plan on at the least adding in something like PRI-D since the fuel will sit in the tank longer than in my truck.

 

[JRM]

I use cheap 2 stroke oil mixed at 100:1 with power service bio cide

 

[Haoleb]

Well I had a chance today to do some actual load testing with the generator. A few issues popped up. First, the water temp gauge that worked fine the first time I ran it now does not work anymore. Its getting 24v going to one side of the gauge and 4.xx volts on the wire that goes to the sender on both the gauge and the sender itself so I am going to have to do some digging to figure out why it stopped working all the sudden.

The fuel gauge also works for about 1 second when you first fire it up then it stops working. I am wondering if maybe these two gauges go to the protection circuitry first and it has issues?

Ran the generator with 4500 watts no problem. Then switched it to 9kw and it ran no problem although it did shut the power off due to overload after about 10 minutes even though the % rated current gauge was only at about 70% so there are definitely a few bugs to work out.

One thing I have noticed which I could really use some advice on is the way the engine sounds. To ME, it sounds like something is amiss in the engine when it is running. I have watched a bunch of you tube videos of other folks generators running and they seem to sound the same so I am just not sure if it is normal or not? The best way I could describe it is that it sounds similar to the bad lifter in my jeep. Like not a constant drone of a smooth engine but distinct knock or tap sound? It can clearly be heard in the video I took today and like I said I hear the same thing in other videos. If anyone could confirm if it sounds normal like this engine should sound or if I need to start investigating it would be great! I know my CUCV makes all kinds of sounds that if it were a gas engine I would be really worried but seems normal for that old diesel.

https://youtu.be/0H3OIb5D6sM

https://youtu.be/TkWPQY9A9pc

 

[Chrispyny]

I can't really say if it sounds right, as i only have an mep-802a, and videos of diesel gensets running are difficult to tell if so anything is wrong unless it's REALLY wrong. The audio just isn't clear enough for me.

I wonder, can the valve lash be adjusted on these gensets like the older mep-002a and mep-003a gensets? Maybe you need a valve adjustment. I'm sure someone will chime in with better results.

Unless you are very worried about the engine, i may suggest you continue to run it at 4500 watts, and maybe even more. So,ewhere between the 4500 and 9k watts. Just let it keep running for a few hours. It may be wet stacked and may require things to be burnt out of the engine and exhaust.
That seems to be Daybreaks first 'go to' for situations like yours. Is there a black tar like substance between the muffler and exhaust manifold? If so, it's prolly wet stacked.

Lets hope someone else chimes in.

 

[Guyfang]

Yep, let it run under load a few hours. Cant hurt, and if you step it up later and its still holds a load, that was your problem. A bit of wet stacking. Start with 5 KW, and step it up after an hour, 500 watts, or 1 KW

. The gages. Look at the troubleshooting diagram. Test the gages IAW the guide.

Maybe if I was standing next to it, I could hear what you think you hear, but audio, its not always going to give the same noise up as real life. Plus my hearing aids are crap, for this kinda thing. Oh, that's the reason I have to wear them, I always wanted to hear the "real" engine noise, not through my hearing protection.

 

[Korgoth1]

Sounds like air in the lines. Hard to tell from video.