MEP-003A up and running!

[Earth]

Carl,

Did you drain out the tank? I think you had a half tank or so of fuel when I unloaded it. I would change the filters a second time and give it some good run time before worrying too much about starting issues. Put some fuel treatment in too. Your little fuel leak could be an air sucker too. I bet its fine, and glad to hear its ready to go. We installed the transfer switch in the house and have one all hooked up--just waiting for the grid to go down.

 

[Carl_in_NH]

Hello, Tom. I think I've got the fuel leaks solved by going back over everything and snugging connections.

The fuel gage reads half a tank - but it's stuck there, and inop; the tank was dry when I got it home. There's also a tag on the tank indicating it was drained in April 2009. I am going to change fuel filters today - and change the oil again; picked up all the filters needed at the local NAPA. I figure it's worth flushing everything out a couple times on a unit with an unknown history. I've got a little more than an hour of runtime on the unit since it came back to life, so I suspect this is the right time to change all the filters again.

Glad to hear you got your transfer switch taken care of; with New England Winters being what they are, it won't be long before you're using it.

Almost forgot - Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[jimbob1111]

Hi Carl,
Good to hear the MEP003A is running.
I was running my MEP002A off a Jerry can adapter because the fuel tank had some real nasty stuff in it. I looked in, took a sniff & told my son to remove the tank and set it outside. My gauge would have been stuck on "E" I just had to clean the guide rods while it was out.
I've been adding 1oz of 2 stroke oil per gallon of ULSD.
James

 

[Carl_in_NH]

Thanks, James. A little extra oil added to the fuel should make life easier for the injector pump. My fuel gauge is showing about half a tank, yet the cork float seems to be all the way at the bottom of the guides. I didn't remove the assembly yet, just looked into the tank with the strainer basket removed. I'll have to remove the assembly to get a better look - just haven't done so yet. I suspect the magnet that couples the float assembly to the gauge may have come unglued and resides somewhere inside the tank.

The Onan was still a little hard to start yesterday - but not too bad. I suspect it might just be the way it is. Went through allowing it to prime, preheat for a minute, and crank for 15 seconds; it was huffing along and firing here and there, but wouldn't sustain. Preheated again, and it fired up in about 10 seconds, and built up speed. I am beginning to wonder if I've got an issue with air getting back into the injector lines that might be causing this after the engine cools.

When I brought the engine up to temperature and shut it down to do an oil change, I had no issues restarting it half an hour later; it just fired right up with only a preheat of a few seconds. Given how easily it started, it might have fired without the preheat at all.

Think I'll keep running some injector cleaner through it and see if that helps, in addition to looking for any air leaks that might be present.

 

[Speddmon]

Carl,

I think yo might be on a good path, a very close inspection for air leaks will not hurt anything. Also, the preheat really isn't needed on a warm engine, but it will not hurt anything either.

I'm curious, how did your oil look when you changed it the second time, after running it such a short amount of time? Did you do the duel filters again as well, if so how did they look?

 

[Carl_in_NH]

My initial oil change after recovery drained out stuff that looked like ink; about as black as it could be. No metal, water, or other signs of badness there - just dirty.

The oil I drained yesterday was a mixture - mostly clean from the last change, but with a small amount of carboned oil in it - likely from mixing with whatever few ounces of the really black stuff were left when I did the initial drain. Again. no signs of metal, water, or other distress.

The fuel filters didn't look contaminated when I removed them - I thought about returning them to service, but then thought better of it; it's less aggravation to spend $20 on a pair of NAPA filters and change them too soon as opposed to running a few more hours and having a problem.

The more I run it, the more I like the 003A; it's loud, but not nearly as bone rattling as the 3600 RPM MEP-017A, or my B&S powered bigbox genset. It's just a nicely made piece of equipment - not something I could justify purchasing new, only on the surplus market due to the costs involved in making something that heavy-duty.

 

[Scarecrow1]

Well Carl you are a determined guy . I see your in NH I bet you will see the need for it this year. Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the cause and repairs with us ........Good stuff to know.

 

[Speddmon]

The more I run it, the more I like the 003A; it's loud, but not nearly as bone rattling as the 3600 RPM MEP-017A, or my B&S powered bigbox genset. It's just a nicely made piece of equipment - not something I could justify purchasing new, only on the surplus market due to the costs involved in making something that heavy-duty.

Not to say "I told ya so" , but I told you when you were looking that you would love it once you got one. They are animals!!!!!!!!!

 

[jimbob1111]

Hi Carl,
I hose clamped a temporary piece of clear hose in my supply side to check for air leaks in.
I found my MFC adapter sucked quite a bit of air! So I cleaned my tank got it back on. My fuel gauge has a twisted square rod that runs up to the needle, float has a square in it that turns the rod as it moves up and down. It works just like the one in my lawnmower gas cap.
Watch those fuel filters, I made a 3/16 thick gasket out of Viton to set on top of the cork one made on the filters. The prefit of my filter was good, had tension on it. Then I installed the oring on the base and the filter rattled loose in the can. I suspect with a better fitting oring, thinner, in the base and this filter might not be too short. I twisted the top set of prongs out of my filter cans, with no prongs the napa filter tabs centered up fine on the pipe. I didn't take my bottom prongs off, just bent the filter tabs in.
I found Purolator/ Facet makes a filter looks like it may replace the screen in the fuel pumps. My pumps have no screens. If your fuel pumps run fast for a long time when you prime I'd suspect it's getting air someplace.
I"v got a Baldwin / Dahl 3 way Filter,water sep that goes in the suction line between the pumps and the tank I'm going to plumb in when I get fitting to do it. The final filter in it is 2 microns with water block. It's the same as the amsoil diesel water sep/filter as far as I could tell. It sort of centrifuges the water & dirt out before it ever gets to the filter, big clear bowl to see any water or crud filtered out & a little ball valve to drain it.
I'll leave 1 filter can to catch any fuel pump debris in case a pump ever dies.
My rpm was steadier when I got my air leak fixed.
Tomorrow I'll take some temp readings on the intake to see how hot my heaters get it on preheat 30sec & 1 min then time the start. I'm running 2 big red top Optima batteries not 51r batts.

James

 

[jimbob1111]

temp readings

Hi
I rolled the MEP002a out of the shop about 11:00 am & took readings.
engine temp 49°F
primed fuel system, it only takes a couple of seconds for my fuel pump to slow down, when the jerry can adapter was sucking some air it took quite a while for pump to get slow.
Preheat 30 sec, intake @ heater 80°F, head @ GP 70°F
Preheat another 30 sec, intake @ heater 176°F, head @ GP 96°F
I wrote the readings down & started cranking 5-6 seconds it was chuffing out the stack. The first 2 puffs were white, the rest were black. By the 20 sec mark it's running on it's own. It takes about 10 sec of running to get oil pressure so I can let go of the switch. I have Texaco URSA SAE 30 wt in it for now.
I got about 3 hrs on engine. I get no white smoke while running at all if I preheat first.
I try not to fire it up too early, I only have a 1 acre lot. Neibors on both sides came out to look. I shut it off after 1 hour. The lady next door came over after I shut it off, said she was in the shower and it scared the HE## out of her when it fired up! That end of her house faces the shop, I & my wife had ear plugs in.
James

 

[Carl_in_NH]

Thanks for the data, James. My pumps slow in a reasonable amount of time - 3 seconds or so, so I don't think it's sucking air on the low pressure side.

I started mine around 2:00 PM today and let it run for half an hour. It did start with a single 1 minute preheat, and about 10 seconds of cranking; was up to around 12 or 13 seconds before the oil pressure came up to the point where the generator would run on its own.

I get mixed results on where the white smoke comes from, and how long it lasts. Today I had a few puffs of it from the front muffler while cranking, and once huffing along on the front two, the rear muffler was emitting white smoke for 15 to 20 seconds after the engine started. Then all was well and it ran normally. I've also seen the reverse happen in the past - where it was running on 3&4, and the white smoke came from 1&2. I need to do more diagnostic work to track this down. Likely would be a good idea to get a diesel compression tester, too, since I'm lacking one and they aren't too expensive. The good news is it's starting and running, and once it gets a little internal heat going it runs nice and smooth.

My neighbors never seem to come out of their houses anymore when I start something up; I think the collection of deuces might make them keep their distance.

 

[jimbob1111]

That might just be the way it is, I've seen engines that sort of fire up a few cyl at a time. I grew up on a farm, at least ya don't have to belt it to something else to spin it fast enough to start. LOL
James