30 kw gensets

[pistonring]

I recently got a MEP005A 30 kw genset from Ft Meade and have gotten quite the education on these units. I didn't preview the one I bought in October and found the engine locked tight. Further investigation tells that loads of gensets are sent from Letterkenny to other GL sites to be sold. Many of the units including mine were from Kuwait, probably Iraq. These were run in sand and heat and were probably run with the battle overide switch on till they seized. The oil looks like black burnt yogurt. Not wanting to overhaul such a big batch of trouble I am setting this one aside for a good engine or to swap with a 400 cycle unit to make that usable. Apparently about a third of the 20 or so MEP005's in the October sale were not picked up by buyers. They probably saw the rough condition and walked away from them. When they went up again in December to be sold again I bought two hoping to get 1 or two good engines to fix mine. Hauled both Friday, one in the back and dragged one. Since it is a 2 hour drive one way I tried to get somebody from SS to swing by and see if they were locked up, and nobody could seem to get in to inspect. Now I am buying them blind with only GL photos to go by. So When I get them home the towed unit is missing the regulator, tin work and some wiring which was shown by the GL pix. Then I check the crankshaft. Oil was drained and it is locked up stuck. Oh well, another junk engine. I got burned on this one too. Now the AAS unit in the back of the truck had two 9:00-20 tires stolen off the tongue before i could get to it, but the engine turns over nicely. See the two tires in the last picture. I hope they are both flat. @#$%^&*.... I am hoping that when I get it unloaded it will be a runner. One out of 3. And I still don't know why the fender was taken off. Maybe a stuck brake??? I need an intake turn box, the exhaust turn box is in the truck body. I am going to have a 60 cycle unit to help out somebody with 400 cycle or do some swapping. I will at least have a few spare parts to keep something running. The deuce had to fight to make 45 mph on the little Maryland hills with this load. I think I need to change the fuel filters. It ran weak on the hills. Having the trailer brakes made stopping happen better than I thought it would. I was glad to have the convoy lights as I had to use I-95 on Friday afternoon for about 10 miles. The 4 ways were used at 40 mph and below. I did some measuring and a m-200 trailer won't fit in a deuce bed unless you remove at least one tire. Now I have to unload the AAS unit and see what it needs. All 3 units showed 800 to 1200 hours on the meter, and at least two are toasted. Iraq is hard on generators. Letterkenny probably figured that these were too far gone to fix. Maybe I can make one or 1 1/2 out of 3 of them.

 

[pistonring]

Will try the pix again.

 

[djimmy31]

It would seem like GL would get some type of paper work stating the engine is locked up. It's such a crapshoot with things like generators especially when you cant even preview.

 

[croftonaviation]

I wouldn't buy anything again that runs from GL without seeing it first. I just don't trust there listings.

 

[moleary]

I don't understand why GL has such difficulty maintaining the integrity of the items they auction after the pictures are taken. It's not like soldiers are gonna walk in and steal the stuff (if their are told clearly that it isn't ok to scrounge there). It seems to me that GL has a responsibility to protect your goods after the sale, given their restrictions on pick-up. By the way - when I say responsibility I am talking about the actual legal responsibility based on the "reasonable man" level of care expectations established by the UCC.

Not-withstanding the language in their buyer agreements, I think that when you purchase something from government auction you do so expecting that the product will be in the general condition indicated by the photos that you might have relied on, or by the actual inspection you did prior to sale. Access to, and care of, your purchases should be controlled to the extend reasonably expected. To me that would mean no unescorted people in the pick-up or storage areas, period. It sounds like a lot of the "damage" or parts subject to mysterious disappearance would be still around if less scrupulous individuals didn't have easy access.

Are the SS buyers unique in expecting their purchases to be in the condition represented by the photos? Is this group of buyers setting forth an uncommon standard compared to other clients?

 

[Isaac-1]

It seems to me that these problems are more common at some locations than at others. Having said that based on my limited experience with only 2 GL sites, I am not sure how much control of the site is in the hands of the GL people, and how much is in the hands of the DRMO people, etc. The local site seems to have a somewhat random yard segregation between those items that are being sold by GL, and those items being reutilized through other parts of DRMO. The other site where I have picked up from only twice is much larger and seems to have much different and perhaps more inconsistant yard access control. One time it was go to gate, honk horn present paperwork, be escorted, etc. The next time it was go to gate, read hand written sign that says let yourself in close gate behind you and procede to 3rd door on left, ring bell, be left unattended multiple times while they tried to locate the item, being directed to multiple locations, while they tried to locate the item, etc.... (note this site has GL office in a building outside the yard, with no good place to park if you have a trailer). As to the photos, I agree that there needs to be more responsibilty on this, however we should probably cut them some slack when a photo of a completely unrelated item that is not mentioned in the description gets mixed in (such as an auction for a trailer with 5 photos of a trailer, and 1 photo of a lawn mower, we should not assume the lawn mower is included).


Ike

p.s. Has anyone else noticed inconsistant access requirments to GL./DRMO sites, vistor badges needed one time, but not the next, sign in sheets require DL#/address one time and not the next, etc. Personally I think the vistor badge bit was a bit excessive for someone that will only be on site for 3-5 minutes.

 

[jdupont]

MEP005a keeps shutting down
If anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated . The gen ran fine for about 50 hrs then it shout down, I would start back up and it would run 10 15 mins shut back down, eventually would only run for 15 seconds and shut down. I changed the fuel filters,( for the first time) and found some black gunk at bottom of cup but not to bad, bled lines and I think fuel is getting to the fuel pump. The day tank has fuel and the floats look like they work.It keeps a prime so I don't think air is in the system.If I set the idle high it shuts down faster than if the idal is set low.

 

[Isaac-1]

My gut feeling is your injection pump needs to be rebuilt, perhaps some of the gunk got past the filters.

Ike

 

[pistonring]

I had the same problem. You need the injector pump fixed. I just did this on one of my gensets. There is a plastic piece that holds the governor weights that goes bad and plastic bits get stuck in the glass check ball in the top of the pump. This is a big money maker for pump shops. You need to replace the plastic part and install a fresh gasket / seal kit. It will cost between $100 and $500 depending on how honest the pump shop is. The parts cost should be under $40. Many times the pump shops replace the plastic piece, install a few gaskets do some cleaning and call it overhauled for well under an hours work. Don't be afraid to continue calling around if you get quoted big bucks to fix it.

 

[Isaac-1]

A couple of more things, base your choice of injection shops on reputation not on price, ask some of the local diesel shops who they use for injection pump work. Shopping injection pump rebuilds on price is like shopping for the cheapest dentist, maybe you get lucky or maybe you end up in a lot of pain. Also don't be surprised if there are extra parts costs that are not covered in the basic rebuild quote.

Ike

p.s. there are some big mail order injection shops that do quote prices much lower than the local shops around here (about half the price), I have read mixed reviews online about them, but they may be worth considering.

p.p.s. The issue with the rubber breaking down on the weight retaining ring in Stanadyne / Roosa Master pumps has a lot to do with when it was built (last rebuilt), as they improved the material in the early 1980's which fixed most of those problems.

 

[Stalwart]

On the first picture you can see the "X" with a circle around it but it is faded. A friend told me what that means: "dead, don't buy it for anything but parts."

BTW, when I was at Ft. Lewis a few months back ALL the trailer mounted generators had the "X" on 'em.

 

[derf]

The last gen sets I got were a mix of F7 and H7. The one I tested still had oil and fuel and fired up immediately when hooked to two car batteries in series.

 

[crasheej]

If you have the correct TMs you can do the replacement of that rubber - and gasket your self . I've done several myself.

 

[jdupont]

First off, THANKS for the helpful advice ! On the advice Isaac-1 and Pistonring, I started the process of removing the pump. I began trying to line up the timing on the pump, while turning the engine over we started it accidently and it ran ! I put back the timing line cover and she continued to run for about a minute than died like it was starving for fuel. I loosened the cover and she ran fine with fuel leaking out but when the cover was tightened she slowly shut down. Any thoughts ?
Thanks in advance.
-Joe

 

[Isaac-1]

I suspect your return fitting on the top of the injection pump is stopped up, if this is a stanadyne / Roosa Master pump it has a glass ball check valve that commonly gets clogged, once back pressure builds up the pump shuts down, having the timing cover off relieves the pressure. Some people use a punch to shatter the glass ball as a cheap fix.

Ike

 

[jdupont]

Thank, can you tell me where the ball is located ? and do you think a good cleaning of the pump by a shop will help ? I put air in the two return lines and into the top of the pump with no luck.
-Joe

 

[Isaac-1]

The ball is located under the return fitting that screws into the top of the pump. I am not sure, but it may be possible to remove and clean the ball without disassembling the pump (may require removing the top cover which is held down with 4 screws, or may be able to unscrew with just removal of the return fitting). Chances are this would just be a quick fix if the cause of the clog is disintegrated bits of rubber from the pumps guts.

Ike

 

[jdupont]

Bingo , The ball was colged ! Thank you very much.

 

[Isaac-1]

I am glad it worked for now, but I suggest you start saving up for a full pump rebuild.

Ike