Another MEP-802a post

[JR2980]

Well, I picked up my 2 802a's from Fort Meade yesterday - the G/L guys at Ft Meade were first class!

Got them both home and unloaded last night, but didn't have a chance to look at them until this afternoon, and I didn't spend too much time since it was pouring down rain.

I don't have any experience working on these gensets, but based on what I saw today, I think I lucked out.


A few quick notes on condition -
The exhaust flaps were both intact, and there was no water in the exhaust - they were both nice and sooty!
Enclosures were both fully intact with all screws, and no damaged panels.
Gen heads were both clean and didn't appear to have any burn marks.
Didn't find any sand in either of the units.
One had both battery trays, and the other didn't, but both had all battery cables - the one that had the battery trays had the battery ends taped up nice and neat.
I put a wrench on the pulley on both sets, and was able to spin the motor over without any problems - nice and smooth.
All control switches seem to work ok except for one of the "voltage" switches - it rotated without stopping so it may need to be replaced.
All caps were present - fuel, oil, radiator

A few minor issues that I noticed -
The overflow nipple for the radiator on one of the sets is broken off. The nipple is still in the hose, but broken off the radiator where it attaches by the cap. Anyone know if this can be soldered back on, or if there's any way to fix this.....or am I going to need a new radiator. If I need a new radiator, anyone have the part number and/or know where I can get one (and will I need to sacrifice my firstborn?).
The fuse holder behind the control panel on one of the machines is missing the cap - anyone know where I can get one of these?
One of the "Voltage switches (mentioned above) seems to be broke - anyone know where I can get one?

I haven't checked out the fuel tanks yet - I opened them yesterday, and they both had the strainers, but since it was raining today I didn't open them at all. I'll need to get the strainers out to check the condition of the fuel tanks, then probably flush and clean the tanks/lines. If anyone's done this and has any advice on the best way to do this, let me know.

Now, I dont have and filters yet, so I haven't tried to start it yet. I'm going to take my time before I even attempt to start. I want to flush the coolant out of the radiators and the block before I refill. I also want to flush out the fuel tanks, then get fuel/oil filters installed, get batteries installed, and try to start and see if we can get running and get power.

Its going to be a little while before I can get to it - baseball season just started and my son has games/practice just about every day, so its a hectic time of year. I'll update as I go along and I'll probably need help from the experts here. So far, its looking good, and I'm excited!



JR

 

[Scar59]

Radiator can be soldered/fixed. Do not forget to put oil in the crank case.Definitly flush the fuel tank w/ mineral spirits.
Check for sand/dirt in and around the oil filter adapter. The one's I saw needs a good spray down.
Get 'em runn'in
JC

 

[CDR]

Hopefully you have better luck then me

 

[CRV]

I picked up my mep802a on 03/26/2014 looks good missing filters , battery trays , battery hold downs, ground rod and aux. Fuel line . I hope to get filters and batteries first of week and hope for better weather , jr2980 see you live close to me if you need any help with yours give me a shout. On second thought i may need hlp with mine ooowell good luck.

 

[JR2980]

Good luck - I hope you get yours running. If there's anything that I can help with, let me know.

I've got all the filters ordered - should be here this week sometime. I'm gonna hold off buying batteries until I get them running - I have enough batteries sitting around that I can use to start and test.

I still need to get the radiator fixed on one of them - I don't know anyone that does brazing/soldering, so its proving difficult. I could probably take it in to a shop somewhere, but I don't really want to pull it. I'm worried about trying to do it myself as I don't want to get it too hot and melt the plastic, or melt solder somewhere else on the fill neck, and have the whole thing fall apart. I'm toying with the idea of using JB-Weld, but if I screw up with that, I'll definitely need a new radiator and so far, I haven't been able to source one. Not sure what I'm going to do yet.

If I'm able to get them running by the end of April I'll be thrilled!




JR

 

[kloppk]

My 802 had the petcock drain ripped off the radiator. Nothing left but a hole the size of a dime in the brass side tank.
I closed up the hole by soldering a clean penny over the hole.
I just wire brushed the brass so it was bright as well as the penny.
Used a big Weller soldering gun to tin the radiator opening and the penny and then solder them together.
The soldering gun worked very well. Might be worth trying on your overflow neck.

 

[Jimc]

haha a penny. thats good!

 

[m-35tom]

with a 500 watt iron, the filler should be an easy fix, just tin it good first and use heat sparingly

 

[JR2980]

Success!!!

I got one of them running - its actually the one with the messed up radiator overflow. I haven't fixed that yet, but I figured it would run ok for a while without it.

So here's all the work I did to it....

New oil filter, new spin on fuel filter, new canister fuel filter - 3.5 quarts of oil, a little over a gallon of coolant, and 3 gallons of diesel.
I have a new air filter but didn't install it yet - seemed that the top cover needs to come off to do that, and I didn't have the time to do that today.
I used 2 car batteries that I had sitting around till I can get the right size ones.

I pulled the radiator hoses and ran water through the rad and water pump till it came out clear. No oil came out, just old green coolant. Re-installed the hoses, and filled with new coolant.

Hooked the batts up, turned the master switch to "prime" and let it run for about 45 seconds or so - I could actually hear it prime the fuel; pump tone changed as it filled the new filters and moved through the lines. Turned the switch to "start" turned the engine over for about 20 seconds....no fire, no smoke. Tried again, still nothing. Third time it started to chugg after about 10 seconds of spinning, then fired up with just a little black smoke....almost immediately evened out and ran like a dream. No smoke, no weird vibrations, nothing.

Oil pressure came up to about 50-55 and stabilized there, made a slight change to the adjuster to get 60Hz, and set the voltage right on 120. I let it run for about 15 minutes to let it get up to temp - I let it run till the upper rad hose started to get warm to make sure that the thermostat had opened. At that point, temp was right around 200.

While it was running, I wanted to test the convenience outlet to see if it was making power, so I grabbed the toaster (dont tell my wife) and it ran without any problems.

I do still need to fix the rad overflow, and at least check the air filter to see if it needs the new one, and will need to get batteries, but it does make power!


My son is at the age (13) where he wants to play with big boy toys, so I told him that the other genset can he his project - I'll direct him and help as needed, but he's going to do the work.......he had a late ball game tonight, and wasn't around, so I didn't mess with the other one. We're going to try to get out in the morning and see if we cant get the other one running.


Cant believe how quiet it is - I have a small 1850 watt gas genset that screams.....this thing is way quieter than that!


Thanks for all the help and advise from everyone here - it was a big help going through one of these for the first time!



JR

 

[bookpile]

Congrats! Just wanted to add that you can change the air filter without removing the top. Just loosen up that clamp and pop the end of the canister off. It would be much easier with the top off, but take a lot more time in the first place. I pulled mine out to clean it but I didn't have a new one to replace it with. Where did you get yours?

 

[Ratch]

Just make sure your son clearly understands electric shock!

 

[JR2980]

Congrats! Just wanted to add that you can change the air filter without removing the top. Just loosen up that clamp and pop the end of the canister off. It would be much easier with the top off, but take a lot more time in the first place. I pulled mine out to clean it but I didn't have a new one to replace it with. Where did you get yours?

Thanks for the info on being able to change it without taking the top off - that will be helpful.

I ordered online - cheapest I could find was $14.55 from discountfleetsupply.com. I ordered 4 so that I would have spares, and shipping was $12.

 

[JR2980]

Just make sure your son clearly understands electric shock!

Yep -I'm definitely drilling that into him.

He's not doing anything without supervision - if he thinks he knows what needs to be done and how to do it, I have him explain to me what he's going to do and why, otherwise, we go over it and I explain what/why then watch to make sure he does it right. He's enjoying it and learning about the engines/electrical, and I'm learning lots of patience - I'm not one that likes to sit around and watch other people work - its hard not to just jump in and "git er done"!

 

[JR2980]

Quick update -

So we worked on the 2nd set on Sat, and were unable to get it to fire. I believe its a fuel delivery problem. At first the fuel pump didn't come on when we flipped the switch to prime/run, then it did, but didn't sound right. The engine turns over just fine, but wont fire at all - no smoke (of any color).

I know that there is a fuel pump right inside the access door, and another one that's next to the fuel tank behind the exterior panel (and about 25 bolts).......can someone let me know which one is the primary, and which one is the aux? When in aux prime/run, the pump sounds strong, so I was planning to swap the aux and primary to see if that works - I don't plan to use an aux fuel source anyways, so wouldn't be a big deal to not have the aux pump until I can locate a new one. On that note, has anyone had to replace their fuel pump and have a part number? I tried looking up the one from the TM, but no luck, and 24v fuel pumps seem to kinda hard to find. Can I use any 24v fuel pump that has the correct size fittings? I think I remember seeing one that was 24v with a range of 5-9 psi, but it was round and not square like the stock ones. Maybe I should start another post on this question to get more visibility.

I also found the grounding rod set hidden under the skid of the 2nd genset - anyone have the slide hammer kit that goes with the rods that they want to get rid of?

 

[hcso2332]

Quick update -

So we worked on the 2nd set on Sat, and were unable to get it to fire. I believe its a fuel delivery problem. At first the fuel pump didn't come on when we flipped the switch to prime/run, then it did, but didn't sound right. The engine turns over just fine, but wont fire at all - no smoke (of any color).

I know that there is a fuel pump right inside the access door, and another one that's next to the fuel tank behind the exterior panel (and about 25 bolts).......can someone let me know which one is the primary, and which one is the aux? When in aux prime/run, the pump sounds strong, so I was planning to swap the aux and primary to see if that works - I don't plan to use an aux fuel source anyways, so wouldn't be a big deal to not have the aux pump until I can locate a new one. On that note, has anyone had to replace their fuel pump and have a part number? I tried looking up the one from the TM, but no luck, and 24v fuel pumps seem to kinda hard to find. Can I use any 24v fuel pump that has the correct size fittings? I think I remember seeing one that was 24v with a range of 5-9 psi, but it was round and not square like the stock ones. Maybe I should start another post on this question to get more visibility.

I also found the grounding rod set hidden under the skid of the 2nd genset - anyone have the slide hammer kit that goes with the rods that they want to get rid of?

You can swap the main and aux as they are the same pump. For a replacement: Airtex E1074 Electric Fuel Pump

 

[dependable]

Just so you know, the main fuel pump will not come on if tank is too low, but the aux one will. Does low fuel fault light come on when switch is in run position?

 

[JR2980]

You can swap the main and aux as they are the same pump. For a replacement: Airtex E1074 Electric Fuel Pump

I was unable to locate the E1074 - even on the airtex site directly. Do you know if the E8131 will work? Thats the "universal" 24v diesel fuel pump listed on the airtex site.

 

[JR2980]

Just so you know, the main fuel pump will not come on if tank is too low, but the aux one will. Does low fuel fault light come on when switch is in run position?

Thats good info to have! The "low fuel" light was not on, and I put about 3 gallons in the tank, so it shouldn't have been low, but if the sensor was bad, that could cause a problem - I'll take a look at that. I plan to test the pump and may swap it with the one from my other set that is working. Do you know if the primary is the one next to the radiator just inside the access door on the side, or is that the aux? I'd like to avoid taking the end panel off where the fuel tank is to get to the other pump if I can avoid it.




Thanks
JR

 

[Ratch]

The one next to the radiator is the primary, the aux is mounted above the tank, behind the panel.

 

[JR2980]

The one next to the radiator is the primary, the aux is mounted above the tank, behind the panel.

Thats what I was hoping - now, hopefully, I can just swap from the one that works, and get this one fired up.

Then I'll just have to find a replacement.



Thanks!
JR