Blew up my new MEP-005a!

[sewerzuk]

One of the sets I picked up from Ft. Lewis was this really nice, low hour -005a, with ASK. I spent my normal few hours running through everything, changing filters, purging fuel lines, etc. She fired right up, came up to 50Hz, oil pressure came up within about 3 or 4 seconds, and I thought, "sweet! this is one great sounding machine." At the conclusion of that thought, the engine began to miss for about 2 seconds, followed by several successive knocks. I hit the off switch, but before the engine came to a stop the banging turned into and earsplitting sledgehammer-on-the-side-of-the-block sound (a neighbor came over to see if I was OK). I cranked the engine over by hand and could hear compression rapidly bleeding out the intake side of one cylinder. I can hear something hitting the side of the block in the oilpan area too...

I'm betting a valve stuck, the piston hit and bent it, which bent the connecting rod for that cylinder.

What a bummer...it would be one thing if there was already a hole in the side of the block, but it was :almost: just fine...if that one valve wouldn't have stuck there would have been no issue. Spent a lot of $$ just to end up with a pile of spare parts.

It isn't worth fixing...too much work for not enough payback. On the brighter side, it frees up a lot of spare parts for the other 5 sets I picked up. I will certainly be stripping it down, so if anybody needs a good 60Hz generator head or other MEP-004a or -005a parts I may have some in the coming months...

 

[coyotegray]

That really sucks...

I wonder what prestart steps someone could follow when dealing with an engine that may have not been run in a long time to help prevent this..?

 

[sewerzuk]

That really sucks...

I wonder what prestart steps someone could follow when dealing with an engine that may have not been run in a long time to help prevent this..?

I actually seriously thought about using some kind of an oil pump in line with the remote oil filter on these sets to prelube...could have saved a perfectly good -005 in this case. It would be easy with the -004 and -005 because of the remote filter cannister.

I typically crank a set for several seconds, then stop and check all fittings/hoses/etc. to make sure there are no leaks, smoke, etc. If that first check is good, I crank it until it starts. I let it run for about 5-10 seconds (just long enough for oil pressure to fully build) and then I shut down and do the same checks. This has worked for me on dozens of other MEP's...but it didn't this time.

 

[sewerzuk]

Decided to fire it up long enough to test the electrical side of things. Figured the engine was done for anyway, so I let her rip. Aside from the loud knocking and running on 5 cylinders, everything else checked out OK; in fact, I even was able to get about 25kW out of it before the engine began to bog down. And, amazingly enough, the engine held up for at least 5 minutes of runtime and didn't barf parts out of the side of the block. So, now the teardown begins...

 

[sewerzuk]

I got a chance to strip the set down this afternoon...found a 3/8"x1" bolt lodged in the intake valve of #3 cylinder. %^&*$!!

Valve is bent, seat is damaged, the piston is damaged, and the connecting rod is bent. Not worth fixing. Spare parts, now.

So...the set was probably just fine when I started it. I had no reason to suspect that there might have been something in the intake; the air filter was intact and in place when I got it. What really irks me is that this was obviously preventable by me. If I had taken the time to pull the air filter, I might have seen that stray bolt. I WILL be doing that on all future pre-run inspections.

Wonder who pulled that crap on me...some disgruntled grunt? A prankster in the GL yard?

 

[Recovry4x4]

Sadly, pctrans has a 005 here in FL with a burnt genset head.

 

[PeterD]

Personally, if the unit was in the condition you describe I would consider rebuilding it. Find a unit (like the one described above) nearby with a good engine (or parts?) and make it work. I know when I rebuilt my MEP-004 I did consider just throwing in a new engine. Fortunately for me, it wasn't necessary.

As for that 'errant' bolt, I gotta agree, that sucks, big time. I know sometimes the grunts did do stuff like that when they felt they didn't want to fix something that was fixable but difficult to do--so they'd have an accident that totaled out the unit.

 

[sewerzuk]

Sadly, pctrans has a 005 here in FL with a burnt genset head.

I was planning on selling what parts I didn't need for just above their scrap value...while I'm more than willing to palletize this thing and send it your way, I'm guessing that freight is going to kill any deal that far away.

Don't want to depart too far from the forum rules, so I'll start a classified ad here:
MEP-004a and MEP-005a parts - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

 

[sewerzuk]

Personally, if the unit was in the condition you describe I would consider rebuilding it. Find a unit (like the one described above) nearby with a good engine (or parts?) and make it work. I know when I rebuilt my MEP-004 I did consider just throwing in a new engine. Fortunately for me, it wasn't necessary.

Its too late now, anyway...several of the parts went to my many -004's to get them running. I seriously thought about trying to repair it, but at a minimum I would have needed machine work on the head, new valve, top end gasket set, new piston/rings/bearings/connecting rod, and even then I don't know if the crank was bent, or if there was damage to the block, head was warped, bent/broken pushrods/rocker arm, etc.
I have to admit...I move these sets though my shop with the intention of making $$ on them. If I sell a good working -005 for $3500, I need to be into it for $2000 or less, or it really isn't worth my time. I paid over $1k for this one from GL and am a bit more into it when you consider my time and fuel for hauling AND the fuel/oil/filters that I wasted on starting the engine; so the only way out for me was to part it out. If I fully repaired it properly, I'm guessing that I would be getting close to the $3000-$3500 area with tons of time invested. Just isn't worth it.

 

[PeterD]

I understand... Being able to get use out of the parts is good too.