MEP-003A stalling under high load test?

[Mr4btTahoe]

Hey all,

Finally got around to hooking up my entire "load bank" to my stand-by mep-003a.

I run 3 240v water heater elements in a small drum. Before installing the unit, I ran the unit on 2 elements which pull 17.4a each. Ran perfect but never hooked up the 3rd.

Today, I hooked up the load bank to the test panel and hooked up all 3. I let the unit warm up... unit holding 61.5hz no load. Turned the breakers on one at a time. With 2 breakers on (~35a load)... the engine was noticeably loaded but frequency was holding at 59.5hz. No smoke or haze from the exhaust.

When I flip the last breaker (taking the load to 52.2a) the engine rpm just drags down to a low idle and won't recover unless I shut off 2 breakers. Then it comes right back up and I can re-energize the 2nd breaker.

No visible smoke from either exhaust port when it starts to stall which leads me to think its a fueling issue. If it was under enough load to stall and under full fueling, I'd think it would at least be hazing.

I was checking cylinder temperatures and the 2 closest to the fan were running 50° cooler but they are also closest to the cooling fan.

I would think if it was a weak cylinder or 2, that the other cylinders would be smoking trying to take up the slack which leads me to think fuel supply.

Thoughts?

I've attached a few pictures of the install and load test panel.

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[glcaines]

I am not an electrician, but I see it this way. When you put the 52.2 amp load on the generator at 240 VAC, you are putting a 12.53 KW load on a 10 KW generator that is rated with a 0.8 power factor, thereby overloading the rating of the generator. The fact that your frequency drops from 61.5 to 59.5 Hz with a 35 amp load is immaterial. This is normal and this slight difference in frequency won't have any adverse impact. I don't see that you have much of a problem. However, have you cleaned the filters on the facet pumps? I'm not sure what kind of main fuel filters you have. They aren't original. I don't see drain petcocks for eliminating water in the fuel.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

One of the filters is a water separator. I did clean the pumps originally when getting the unit running.

12.5k is the residential rating on these units so I'd assume it could handle it without issue based on what others have said. Its a load test, not what I'll actually run on the unit.

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[Ray70]

I think your issue is probably that your governor droop adjustment is a little off. The -34TM explains how to adjust it in section 7-3
In a nutshell you want to turn the star wheel located under the blower wheel housing, just to the right of the fuel shut off solenoid.
You will see a spring hooked around the threaded portion of the adjuster. You want to lower the spring down a little closer to the bottom.
Turning the adjustment wheel counterclockwise will lower the spring slightly. if the motor speed begins to get unstable and starts fluctuating or hunting up and down then you have adjusted it too far and need to raise it slightly.
Get it so you are at 61.5 hz at no load and about 58.5 at 14 Kw. or 100% on your load meter.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

I'll give that a look. Ive not messed with any of it since having the pump off so it could very well be out of spec.

I'll dig out my manuals and take a look.

Thanks.

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[nextalcupfan]

One of the filters is a water separator. I did clean the pumps originally when getting the unit running.

12.5k is the residential rating on these units so I'd assume it could handle it without issue based on what others have said. Its a load test, not what I'll actually run on the unit.

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While not an 003a my 803a can handle 15k watts no problem, even going from 0 load to 15k watts(62 Amps). (about 120% on the meter)

Also on my 803a 5k watts is about 1Hz of droop in frequency.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Did you swap out both inline fuel filters and clean the separator? Might be a dumb question.

 

[cuad4u]

I have two 003A generators and one 002A. Both 003A's will run 15+ KW and the 002A will run 8 KW. I do not recommend running them at these power levels for a long time, but they WILL do it.

 

[Ray70]

Looks like he already converted to spin-on filters, so that should all be good.
I think it's either a governor issue or possibly fuel injector issue.
Also check the linkage bar from governor arm to the IP. make sure it compresses correctly, if its gummed up with paint it can cause a problem.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Just to cover the obvious...you did ck or replace the air cleaner element when you last serviced it, correct?

I think Ray's suggestion of checking the droop adjustment is definitely a good suggestion.

Also if you haven't already, its worthwhile to put in a fuel cleaner like Seafoam or equivalent on your next loaded run. If there are any gunk or deposits anywhere in the fuel delivery out to injectors it could only show up under heavy load due to fuel depravation.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

Just to cover the obvious...you did ck or replace the air cleaner element when you last serviced it, correct?

I think Ray's suggestion of checking the droop adjustment is definitely a good suggestion.

Also if you haven't already, its worthwhile to put in a fuel cleaner like Seafoam or equivalent on your next loaded run. If there are any gunk or deposits anywhere in the fuel delivery out to injectors it could only show up under heavy load due to fuel depravation.

New air filter (and no haze or smoke from over fueling or lack of air).

The fuel in the tank is treated and its had a good bit of dieselklean ran through it.

I'll look at adjusting droop this weekend and if that doesn't fix it, pick up a few cans of diesel purge to clean the injectors with.

I think its lack of fuel whether it be from the throttle not being applied via the governor or lack of supply pressure.. injectors.. etc.

I'll know more saturday.

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[justacitizen]

in my opinion... i would check that little control linke age that runs from the governor arm to the fuel control arm on the fuel pump. then adjust the valves

 

[cuad4u]

Over the years I repaired and sold around 30 002A and 003A generators. I kept three for my own use. You have a lot of good info here. If nothing mentioned here helps, I had similar issues on a few generators that I repaired. One or more of the injectors may be "squirting" instead of "spraying". This problem will show up sooner on load on the 002A because if one cylinder is "miss firing" on a two cylinder engine it will be noticed sooner. If so the affected cylinders will not make full power and the engine will bog under a large load. Also I had two 003A generators that had injection pump issues that kept the engine from making full power. On these generators I had to replace the IP. Good luck.

 

[justacitizen]

i have used one of those laser thermometer to look at each cyl at startup and again afer load. a cool cyl usually means a problem in that area.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

i have used one of those laser thermometer to look at each cyl at startup and again afer load. a cool cyl usually means a problem in that area.

That's what I'm concerned with at the moment. The exhaust port closest to the cooling fan smokes pretty heavily on startup. It has since getting it running. Its a white smoke but it clears after a few seconds of running at speed and no misfiring or anything... but makes me think there is an injector issue or slightly low compression on one or both of those cylinders. The 2 cylinders closest to the cooling fan were running slightly cooler under load.. 50-100F cooler... but they are also right next to the cooling fan. The cylinder closest to the control panel was running ~400F at the cooling fins using a cheap laser thermometer. The one closest to the cooling fan was ~320-350F.

I'm going to do some adjusting and see where things are at this weekend.

 

[justacitizen]

sounds like you found it. take that injector and swap with another to see if the problem persists in that cyl. adjust the valves first though.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

sounds like you found it. take that injector and swap with another to see if the problem persists in that cyl. adjust the valves first though.

I'm gonna go on and order a few cans of liquimoly diesel purge and see if I can get them cleaned out without pulling the machine apart and sending them off for rebuild. I've had great luck with this stuff on other small mechanical diesels so we'll see.

Stuff works by disconnecting the fuel lines and running directly off the contents of the can.

 

[cuad4u]

I hope that stuff works. If not it is rather easy to remove the injectors. I sent mine to a person on this site. I do not remember who. I guess he is still on the site. He did a great job and was not pricey.

 

[Ray70]

Interesting, I'll be waiting to hear how that stuff works! If possible, post up a few pictures of how you do it.
Last resort, I rebuild the injectors and pumps if you need anything done.
Shoot me a PM if you end up needing anything.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

Interesting, I'll be waiting to hear how that stuff works! If possible, post up a few pictures of how you do it.
Last resort, I rebuild the injectors and pumps if you need anything done.
Shoot me a PM if you end up needing anything.

If it doesn't cure it, I'll certainly hit you up on rebuilding the injectors. The pump has already been gone through but I have no way of balancing the injectors myself and for one set, it isn't worth building a pop tester.

I'll take a video of how the process works. I use it in my IDI and my mercedes diesels after running long term on alternative fuels and it cleans up the injector coking and such in 15-20 minutes of idle time.