Surplus MEP-002A up and running but had/have some issues!

[BadBrad1]

OK my $349.00 GSA MEP-002A is up and running and making power but I had some issues (and still have a few).

Problem 1: Fuel system gunk and corrosion, took off all lines, filters, and tank, cleaned an new filters.

Problem 2: Fuel tank had 2 pinhole leaks, filled with water and MIG welded up the holes...yeah that was fun.

Problem 3: Motor would try to start but when switched over to prime/run position it would stop. Turns out the fuel pump cutoff solenoid was dropping cutting off the fuel, shutting down engine as soon as it was switched over to prime/run position. Pulled fuel cutoff solenoid and did a test run and it ran fine, I traced the problem to the oil pressure switch not closing, thus not allowing K1 holding circuit to complete when start switch was moved to run. Oil pressure on gauge was solid 25 lbs So I jumped out the oil pressure switch for test purposes, installed the cutoff solenoid and it fired up and ran and stopped when switch to STOP...all seemed good.

Problem 4: No 24VDC charging. So I checked the fuse on the 24VDC regulator, it was blown. Removed the blower cover looked at the wiring and it didn't make sense....somebody had been there before... and miss-wired the regulator. Instead of having the white wires going to T1 and T2 (connecting to the two stator leads on the terminal strip) the wire that should have been on T-1 was one slot to the left tied to GROUND. Rewired that and fired it up...meter in the green charging at 1.8 AMPS measured at the fuse with amp-meter all is well...well kind of.

NOW it gets interesting...went to start it next day...spins over but no start...not even a puff...WTF......Check out the injector pump linkage and it is binding....just a little.. the linkage (brass dog bone looking part with the ball joints) is dragging on the side of the Fuel cutoff solenoid not allowing the throttle to open all the way. Seems the lever coming over from the speed governor had been bent at some point messing up the linkage geometry and letting it bind up.

So I re-contour the Lever coming off the governor so the brass part was clear of the solenoid and free from contact with frame. Doing this necessitated readjusting the length of the aforementioned "dog bone" linkage so full throttle could be obtained.


Buckled it up and hit the start switch and away she went ...adjusted for 61.5 Hz using my meter in the convenience outlet (panel gauge is 2.5 HZ off). I adjust the voltage to 120v. voltage adjusts fine.


Check out all the RECONNECTION switch positions, 120 single phase, 240 single phase and 120/208 3 phase, all voltages measure good across all phases at output lugs.

LOAD TEST TIME: All I had handy was a 1200 watt heat gun (10 amp load) so I plug it in the convenience outlet and turned it on. It worked fine but there was about a 4 HZ droop instead of the expected 1.5 HZ droop .. I could see the governor linkage move adding throttle with load but it did not add enough. Using the fine tune knob I could adjust it up to spec. but then when load was removed it was running fast, the governor should be correcting better then it is IMHO.


So as it sits:

I need a new oil pressure switch--- Anybody know a source for these? Seems it is 24VDC rated, 14 PSI normally open pressure switch.


Looks like I need to go through the speed control governor setup, it looks like a brand new throttle cable was just put on the thing so between it and the bunged up linkage this should be fun.

Any advice/tips/tricks or shortcuts on doing the governor setup ??

It's been interesting....

 

[jamawieb]

It looks like you covered everything perfectly. I've brought about 50 units back to life so I can give a little help. The oil pressure switch can be found at Delks Surplus (google).
The adjustment for the governor is easier than you think. I use a large flat head screw driver and turn the governor adjustment, its easier than taking the fan shroud off and trying to adjust. Just put the screw driver on the governor adjustment and hit it with a hammer or usually your hand will work. I usually move the spring half way down the screw adjuster and everything works fine. Sometimes you will find the spring is sprung (no matter how far you move the spring down the adjuster your hertzs fall to far), then it's time to invest in a new spring. I've only had that happen on 2 units. Hope this helps.

 

[BadBrad1]

Well I looked mine over today and if the spring lower down = less droop I may have found the problem:




Seems somebody must have figured it worked opposite as that spring is over the top of the adjuster.


Here you can see the linkage and how close it is to the frame edge and solenoid...Is this how all of them are? I have vertical link (brass spring loaded dog bone) bolted to the bleeding edge of the control arm slot to clear...still seems things are askew to me.

 

[cuad4u]

First squirt a little PB Blaster (etc) on the governor adjuster. That makes it much easier to turn the adjust nut with a large screw driver and a hammer. I agree the adjustment in your first picture seems to be WAY too high. As far as the linkage binding on the sheet metal as shown in your two last pictures,that will definitely make the governor response be screwy at best. I had a 002A that the linkage bound against the sheet metal. Since these generators have been through a lot of use and possible abuse "somewhere" on the sheet metal may have been bent over time.............I fixed the linkage binding problem on my 002A by using a large round file and enlarging the oblong hole where the linkage passes through the sheet metal until the linkage moved freely. That completely solved my problem.

 

[Wildchild467]

My MEP-002A had the same issue with the link going from the governor arm to the hydraulic head. It was sticking in the off position when I got it and it did not want to start. After inspection, I saw it was not moving. That is when I cranked it and then pushed the arm a little, it snapped down and then fired up. I filed the housing and even tweaked the governor arm a little bit to make it all work better and it seems to be ok.

Adjusting the governor seems to be a difficult thing for me. There are two things you can do here and one of them is adjust the position where the link connects to the governor arm and the other is adjust the droop. Obviously you can adjust the throttle knob below the control panel but that is pretty easy. It is also helpful to have a good load bank to test the generator on. I believe the TM says that under no load, the Hz gauge should be at 62.5 then under full load, it should be 59.5 HZ. I had issues where my Hz would wander slowly after I set it. I think... I THINK it might have something to do with my PMing my generator too much where i oiled the control knob shaft below the control panel. Maybe it is slipping a little bit. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that adjusting these governors is not that easy... at least to me it seems very finnicky and hard to get to behave in specification. This is a great thread and I would like to see what other experiences people have had adjusting their governor.

 

[Wildchild467]

My governor link would rub on my shut off solenoid in addition to the metal shroud. I was fighting two battles with mine. The only position that worked for me was when the governor link was positioned far out on the end of the governor arm. Is this the same position everybody else uses (as shown at the bottom of post #3)?

 

[Keith_J]

You know you have the governor adjusted to the limit when you have minimal droop upon loading and a slight amount of hunting when a large load is disconnected. It takes time, do it with the engine at operating temperature and shutters open. I too use the screwdriver method to adjust the star wheel. I forget which way...

On the oil pressure cutoff switch, I found the exact replacement online at an industrial supplier, using the parts manual(-24P) part number M-1423-14. It was under $25 with shipping.

 

[jamawieb]

It is not even on the adjuster properly, the spring has to be below the notches. Sometimes I have sets that will work fine a little below the notches and most go right in the middle (below the notches and the bottom).

Well I looked mine over today and if the spring lower down = less droop I may have found the problem:


View attachment 507477

Seems somebody must have figured it worked opposite as that spring is over the top of the adjuster.


Here you can see the linkage and how close it is to the frame edge and solenoid...Is this how all of them are? I have vertical link (brass spring loaded dog bone) bolted to the bleeding edge of the control arm slot to clear...still seems things are askew to me.


View attachment 507478View attachment 507479View attachment 507480

 

[BadBrad1]

Well got some time to work on the generator today. Moved the spring to the bottom threaded area where it is supposed to be and have been playing around with the adjustments. The way I have it figured is that with the spring lower on the arm the governor action has more effect on the linkage position as it is working against less spring tension from the throttle cable. The higher the springs position on the threaded area on the governor arm, the less influence the governor has as it is then working against a higher spring tension.
Kind of a touchy balancing act, I will need a good dummy load to get it fine tuned.

On closer examination of the linkage I determined that the spring loaded brass colored piece is internally binding. On shutdown the fuel shut off solenoid drops, extending the spring loaded shaft closing the fuel supply. Upon re-start, when the solenoid lifts the extended shaft portion does not then retract reliably returning to the preset throttle position. A light finger tap on it or a fast in and out on the throttle cable and it pops up and engine starts runs as normal. ( I at first thought a sticky injection pump collar but it flops around with no perceptible drag). I will have to further investigate this and see if there is some lateral side pressure issue causing this to bind.

I ran into another issue with oil pressure that I will post into another thread.