Hour meters and MEP-002a service life?

[Isaac-1]

I think we all know to be suspicious of low hour meters on MEP generators, etc. My question is how many is too many hours to consider buying an otherwise cosmetically good MEP generator? Now I probably have enough generators so I don't really know why I am looking at them, however GL has some MEP-002a's for sale nearby and something in me is saying whats another generator or two if they sell cheap enough. The kickers is they seem to all have either very low (single/double digits) almost certainly false hours, or multi thousand hours.

Ike

 

[Nonotagain]

I kind of figure anything over 2500 hours on an air cooled generator even a MEP-002 or 003, you are asking for trouble.

I have seen some sets that were sold with more than 6000 hours showing but have not conversed with the purchaser.

Look at the condition of the screws holding the hour meter in the control panel. If they are not rusted in place it’s a good chance that the meter has been replaced.

GL does a poor job of taking pictures of the generators that they auction off. If they showed a shot of the control panel (just to show that all of the gages and control knobs were present), hour meter (showing hours), a picture of the fuel solenoids, a shot of the fuel tank, and finally a shot of any tags indicating that the unit had been rebuilt they could get more money for the units being auctioned. I guess I should not post that be what the heck.

I have a friend that purchased a set from Chambersburg a few months back that showed less than 100 hours. He wanted the unit badly. His hopes were that the unit actually had less than 100 hours. Turns out that the unit was rebuilt at Letterkenny in 2008 and did have less than 100 hours since rebuild. He was dis-appointed that the unit was not brand new.

The only way to judge the condition on a generator is to pre-view the auction which most of us don't have the time to do.

 

[rat4spd]

You can look for date stamps. The hour meter on my 003 has the same date stamp as the year of manufacture. Coincidence? Maybe.

 

[Isaac-1]

One of the 002's I am looked at has a meter reading over 4,000 hours, so I think I will take it out of the running, that still leaves a couple under the 2500 hour mark, not counting the replaced meters. I know what you mean about the poor photo's, sometimes you get lucky based on little info. I bought a diesel powered air compressor off GL last year with about 400 hours on the meter, when I got it home I found a tag saying it was rebuilt about 5 years ago, which I certainly feel is better than 400 original hours on a 30 year old unit just from the age related issues. Another thing I look for is the condition of the tags in the GL photos, if they are sun faded I try to avoid them. To stay on the MEP topic, I bought a MEP701A (016B with ASK) a few months ago, it has about 700 hours on the meter (rusty screws), I don't know where it was stored for the last 20 years, but whereever it was must have been out of the elements as the glass on all the guages are so clear at first glance I thought they were broken out.

 

[Speddmon]

Isaac,

I feel the hours can go a lot higher than anything you are looking at on GL. You have to keep in mind, that even though these are air cooled sets they are still diesel motors, and low RPM motors at that. you're in LA, I don't know if you are out in the country or not, but ask some of your local farmers how long diesel tractors last...I've heard reports of 10's of thousands of hours, and even more on some industrial engines used in the construction field. Anybody who has been around a farm knows the abuse that farm tractors go through. The wonderful thing about diesel engines is their ability to run under conditions that a gas engine cannot.

Even with 4000 hours on the meter, I would not be afraid of that set one bit. The military is pretty radical about maintainence. And maintenance with any engine is the key to longevity. My one set has over 3000 and it's the best/strongest running of the two. If you can preview then by all means do so, but if you are buying sight unseen, if you pass it up because it has a lot of hours showing, then you may just be giving someone else one heck of a deal.

Just my

 

[lavarok]

I had one MEP003 with over 6000 hours on it. Ran like a champ, sold it, and the buyer still lets me know how great the unit is working. It probably has over 7000 hours on it by now. High hours means it was put to use and should have seen regular maintenance. If the price is right, buy it!

 

[Carl_in_NH]

I read somewhere that the MEPs in general were designed to run more than 9K hours before overhaul if maintained. Take that for whatever it's worth given that I can't remember the source, nor vouch for how accurate that number is.

I'm looking to add at least one MEP-002a and an MEP-003a to my collection now. These units are just really nice - better than anything I could afford new. Even with high time on the Hobbs meters, the prices are typically right - buy more than one and have a spare (if you've got the space).

I bought an MEP-017A 5KW gasoline powered unit. 213 hours showing - and it's hard to tell if that's real or not. It was build in January of 1968 - but the only part that dates from then is the roll cage. The motor was replaced by one built in '88, and the generator head was rebuilt in '91 - no doubt for GW-1. Could it have sat around for nearly 20 years with only 200 hours of run time? I just don't know - but it is a good running unit, and for the money I've got in it I'm a happy camper.