Advice needed - new guy with MEP004A

[Back-in-Black]

One of the things I wanted to see, and its there, is that the outboard throttle yoke, on the IP is wired to the front of the set. If its not, then the manual throttle control will not work right. The outboard yoke is supposed to be connected to an electric actuator, when the gen set is a precise power model. Your set was not a precise power model, so its hooked up right. The "T" fitting on top of the IP, has a small glass ball in it. Its a check valve. Sometimes old crappy fuel will freeze that ball up, and you get no fuel to the IP. Underneath that fitting is the L1, (engine fuel solenoid). Take out the three screws that hold the L1 in the IP. Then drain any fuel you can out of the IP. Close it back up and pour some carb cleaner, or something like it into the IP. Let it set a few days. Cant hurt, and may darn well save you a pump rebuild. Inviting Ray70 into this thread would be a good idea also. Very knowledgeable on this set, among other things! He has rebuilt a 15 KW IP.

awesome info! I will do all of this to the IP. Keep the tips coming. I might not get to them immediately, but will as soon as I can. Going to concentrate on getting the fuel tank out and cleaning the filter and separator housings. Going to try to flush the fuel lines out from the IP back towards the tank after I get the tank out. Also need to get the radiator off so I can get it cleaned out. Those will be my 2 areas of focus (fuel & cooling) for now so I can try to start it.

 

[Guyfang]

The hoses tend to crack, if they are stored bent. But if not bent, seem to hold out a very long time. Its a BIG PITA to change oil without them. And the extension.

 

[Back-in-Black]

The hoses tend to crack, if they are stored bent. But if not bent, seem to hold out a very long time. Its a BIG PITA to change oil without them. And the extension.

Ok, will put replacing that hose on my list if it runs ok.

I should just be able to remove that plug on the skid, at the end of the oil drain tube and screw in a pipe nipple for oil changing? Just an extension so it can drain into a pan.

Anyone ever try using a 24V lithium ion battery for a starting battery for one of these? Lots of advantages but cranking amps is a concern and question. Got a buddy who's using 2 x 12V in his diesel truck and a 36V in his boat for trolling motor. He speaks very highly of them. In the meantime, I have 2, 12V batteries in my boat that should start this thing... I hope.

 

[Guyfang]

Ok, will put replacing that hose on my list if it runs ok.

I should just be able to remove that plug on the skid, at the end of the oil drain tube and screw in a pipe nipple for oil changing? Just an extension so it can drain into a pan. Of course

Anyone ever try using a 24V lithium ion battery for a starting battery for one of these? Lots of advantages but cranking amps is a concern and question. Got a buddy who's using 2 x 12V in his diesel truck and a 36V in his boat for trolling motor. He speaks very highly of them. In the meantime, I have 2, 12V batteries in my boat that should start this thing... I hope. Just charge them up before trying.

Open to see comments

 

[Scoobyshep]

all hoses eventually rot. I had to replace mine and the drain valve, had it leaking

 

[robertsears1]

On my MEP 804b, I installed a 24v NiCad battery I had ruined for the airplane (About $9k) Had to buy an ElCon connector made for airplanes. It works fine as long as I don’t run it out of fuel and not get to it inside of 12 hours and switch it off with the fuel low light on—it drains the battery.

Robert

 

[Back-in-Black]

Progress:

Got the rear of the case and the control panel / box off. The fuel tank is ready to come out when I get a hose and fitting to drain it. The fitting on the drain petcock is what? 3/8" or 1/2" flare?

Looks like I have about 10 gallons of weed killer in there. That should work great on the gravel drive going back to my shop.

Got a lot of those damn "spring" hose clamps to throw away! I HATE those things. Also a bit of rubber fuel line to replace.

The back of the fuel supply selector valve is a nightmare! Waaaay too much crap crammed in that space!

The storage box has been removed - for good.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Fuel tank is out and drained. That was a lot harder than it needed to be. Can't slide the fuel tank out till you get all the hose barbs and such removed from the tank. They won't clear the piece of channel that's welded to the skids as a mount for the generator itself. Anyway, some really tight spots to get a couple of them out. I couldn't break the flare fittings loose without backing up the elbow side for fear I'd crack the tank putting too much pressure on the hole where the T's screw in. Ended up clamping on to the T with a pair of vise grips and then clamping on to those vise grips with another pair of vice grips to hold the T while I broke the fitting loose.

LOTS of crud in the fuel tank. I actually tried to drain the tank through the petcock but when I opened the petcock, not a drop. Found out after I slid the tank to the edge of the skid and removed the petcock that it was completely clogged with gradeaux. The fuel looked pretty bad at first and it only got worse as the tank drained.

Couple of notes here for guys with these gensets that haven't ever had to take all this stuff apart:

1. All except 2 of the hose barbs in the tank are nylon. I'm guessing these things are close to 40 years old at this point? I WILL be replacing all the nylon ones with brass.

2. The 2 elbows in the middle of the tank that are for flare fittings are brass or whatever type metal.... BUT, when you pull them out of the tank you'll find that they have short pieces of rubber hose on them going down into the tank for suction. You can see one in the first pic below. The rubber doesn't look to be in very good shape and I will be replacing that also. I didn't bother to trace all this out but I'm guessing these are the suction side for the motor and the suction for the aux tank fittings? Will look it up in the TM a little later.

I put a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer bolt and turned the motor over a little. It wasn't stuck at all and was quite easy to turn over. So that's good news. I probably only turned it 3-4 degrees. Pretty sure at this point that it will run unless there's something wrong with the injection pump.

Time to get the radiator and batteries out so I can clean the radiator up.



first part of the fuel to drain looked so-so.



But it had a lot of crud in it.





The last of the diesel that came out looked more like used motor oil!



VERY glad I went thru the trouble of pulling the tank!!

 

[Back-in-Black]

Well, I got rid of those battery hold down studs LOL.



The clear stuff came out of the secondary filter. The rusty stuff was at the very bottom of the primary filter. What was in the water separator was a bit worse.

 

[Mullaney]

Well, I got rid of those battery hold down studs LOL.

View attachment 846806

The clear stuff came out of the secondary filter. The rusty stuff was at the very bottom of the primary filter. What was in the water separator was a bit worse.

View attachment 846807

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Now that battery box hold-down gizmo only needs a little sanding and painting and sheetmetal and maybe a couple of bolts...
Maybe a little bondo or fiberglass and it will look like new again

 

[Back-in-Black]

Not much to report in the last few days. The insides of the fuel filter and water separator canisters had some rust. Tried parts washer to see if it was just residue, not. Blasted them with coal slag. Now I need to paint them.

Pulled off this project to put some light on it. I have this thing sitting under the lean-to outside my shop. Never got around to putting lights out there and I couldn't see after dark working on this thing. (Always had trailers parked in this space before so was never really motivated to install lights out there.) Well, I got rid of the 5th wheel camper about 6 months ago and it freed up space for this type thing (messy projects). Anyway, got some light now.

 

[Mullaney]

Not much to report in the last few days. The insides of the fuel filter and water separator canisters had some rust. Tried parts washer to see if it was just residue, not. Blasted them with coal slag. Now I need to paint them.

Pulled off this project to put some light on it. I have this thing sitting under the lean-to outside my shop. Never got around to putting lights out there and I couldn't see after dark working on this thing. (Always had trailers parked in this space before so was never really motivated to install lights out there.) Well, I got rid of the 5th wheel camper about 6 months ago and it freed up space for this type thing (messy projects). Anyway, got some light now.

View attachment 846973

View attachment 846974

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First Class mobile ladder arrangements too!
Those lifts are really NICE for projects.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Yeah, here's the story on the manlift. When I built my shop, I had been dreaming and planning it for decades - literally. Anyway, when I did the final design and ordering, I had gone with an 18' eve height. I wanted to be able to back anything I could tow down the road into the shop and I also wanted to build a 2nd floor deck in the back for junk storage. Max height for towing here is 13'6" so between 14' roll up doors and the desire for a second level, I ended up at 18' on the eves. That put the peak of my very low pitched roof at ~24'. Once it was built I was standing in there looking at the ceiling wondering how the heck I was gonna get up there to run conduit and hang lights and such. Dug into renting scaffolding, buying scaffolding, a big-ass step ladder, renting a manlift, etc. Ended up just buying a used manlift. Made the right decision on that for sure!! Anyway, after I got most of the initial stuff like lights, compressor, vehicle lift and power on the walls, I either needed to sell the manlift or take up lots of my shop storing it. So I asked the owner of the business I work for if he wanted to borrow it. That was 3 +years ago. They've been using it for various projects up there. A few weeks ago I had said I wanted to "borrow" it back for a bit when I saw they had wrapped up that last project. They said, sure, we're done with it. So I loaded it up on a trailer and brought it home Friday before last. While I had the trailer, I went and picked up the generator on that Saturday. I really hadn't done anything with it in that week that it was here. (Spent all my time on the generator.) Figured I'd have it till I decided I didn't need it any more. Went up to the office this past Friday to pick up some stuff (I work from home for the most part) and the warehouse manager was asking when I was gonna bring the lift back LOL. They had another project to do in the warehouse.

So that was why I pulled off the generator project to do lights all weekend. I added the lights outside and also added some more lights inside the shop. Finished up what I needed to do last night. So now I'm bringing the lift back to the office. Loaded it up on the trailer this morning - what an adventure! The only trailer that works for this thing is the company's tilt bed. It rained all night and the wooden deck of the trailer was soaking wet and slick as heck. After numerous tries, I couldn't get the dang lift to climb the deck - kept spinning the tires on the wet wood. It's a close thing even when everything is dry! Well, ended up having to use the tractor to push the lift up the trailer bed till I got it far enough for the bed to rotate down. Had to chock the trailer wheels because at one point, I was pushing, manlift, trailer AND my truck down the driveway! What a royal PITA!! Now I'm headed to the office to drop the lift and the trailer. I'll get the lift back later and do a couple more projects on the list.

Left "skid marks" on the trailer!

 

[Guyfang]

I have spent tens of hundreds of hours on a manlift. BIG ones, and small ones. Ones that you can roll out the sides to increase the space on top. What a great Invention. And a cherry picker is even better!

 

[Back-in-Black]

Yes, great invention. Without that lift, I'd have never got the lights and conduits installed. Other than the tractor and the shop itself, probably about the best money I've spent in the past 10 or so years. Lifesaver!!

 

[Mullaney]

Yes, great invention. Without that lift, I'd have never got the lights and conduits installed. Other than the tractor and the shop itself, probably about the best money I've spent in the past 10 or so years. Lifesaver!!

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Dang Right! They are just about as neat as any tool in the toolbox...
Happy to hear that you have a nice place to store it too

 

[Back-in-Black]

Ever tried to find O.D. Green spray paint? Close as I could get.

 

[Chainbreaker]

I've had good luck with "Rapco" paint using my HVLP sprayer & their rattle cans. In fact, I just ordered a few spray cans of the "383 Green" that is a CARC match. Here's a link to Rapco and here is a SS thread on using Rapco paint.

 

[Back-in-Black]

Thank you!

 

[Back-in-Black]

Got some stuff done tonight.

Pressure washed the fuel tank, inside and out.

Opened up fuel lines and blew fuel system cleaner thru them with my A/C flush tank / hose.

Pulled that T off the top of the IP and soaked it in cleaner for several hours. Blew it out with air, The check valve ball is un-stuck and moving freely now.

Pulled the top of the IP off (fuel solenoid). Looked pretty good in there but I mixed up cleaner and diesel and sprayed some in there with a pump bottle. I didn't want to use straight cleaner for fear of what it might do to any O-rings and such.

Got the radiator and front casing off. Pulled the radiator and louvers from the casing. The louvers move but still seem a little stiff. Oiled the up and let them sit. The "plunger / stopper" thing in the bottom of the radiator moves but I think the part (stopper?) inside is supposed to move also - it's not as of right now. will look closer tomorrow.