MEP-002A foamy oil

[Gunwriter]

Picked up an MEP-002A and it has foamy/milky oil on the dipstick.
A test run showed it to start/run fine but the dipstick oil
doesn't look good.

I'll drain the oil but any thoughts? Oil pressure on the gauge
was about 50 PSI.

thanks!

 

[Titanium Soldier]

go for a compression test on the cylinders maybe it has a cracked head or blown head gasket.. if you take the radiator cap off does water shoot out when you start it? is there oil in your coolant system??

 

[Titanium Soldier]

and i dont really know to much about these gensets but ive had other equipment that has sat for a while outside and rain had entered into the oil fill cap, who knows maybe its something stupid?!

 

[Gunwriter]

air cooled..........so no radiator.

 

[Titanium Soldier]

ahh sorry could rain have entered through the air cleaner/ intake area ?

 

[gimpyrobb]

I'm not sure how the oil on the dip-stick "looked bad". If it had 50 psi, I'd say your good. Mine starts out high like that and drops as it warms. How long did you run it? Have you replaced the filter or is is what came with the genset?

 

[Gunwriter]

it looked bad by being milky white and foamy on the dipstick.

I only ran it for a couple minutes. Have not changed filter/oil yet.

 

[maddawg308]

Milky white on the dipstick usually means water in the oil. Maybe some dumbass just put water in the oil filler cap because they were careless, dumb, or abusing equipment just to get it surplussed (don't laugh, it happens). Also, if the oil filler cap were loose sometime in it's recent military life, maybe some rainwater got down into it.

 

[Gunwriter]

I am hoping it is just rain water from being stored outside...guess we'll find out
once I have a chance to work on it a bit.

thanks for the input from everyone.

 

[ETN550]

Water in the oil is the problem from whatever reason. The water will burn off but in the process it can take out rod or main bearings. These engines have very substantial rods and mains but never the less why chance it. Just do an oil change and drain the filter good. New oil may turn a little milky as it picks up the remaining mositure. Run it hot and hard on the new oil until it has had a chance to evaporate all the water out of the oil. Several hours at load should do it. Then find out where it was getting in and prevent it from happening again.

 

[NJ_Toolnut]

It is a sound policy to change oil and filter upon receipt of any machine, regardless of machine type or oil appearance. It is good, cheap insurance.

Stan

 

[Grega]

Moisture will acumulate in the crankcase just as it can in the fuel tank. Run the jenny for at least 30 minutes every month, and change oil every 12 months, maybe longer if its kepted inside

 

[FireFighterHill]

Dont risk it, change the oil and filter. If your really finicky, run it for awhile till it gets hot then change the oil again. Moisture will accumulate in the crankcase, gotta start the genset periodically and let it warm up completely and dissipate. Its also a good idea to run it under a full load to burn off any carbon in the system.