MEP 802a Fuel Drain not draining

[Tommytone]

I acquired a 2010 MEP 802a and am working to get it up and running. To do that I want to drain the fuel as I think it is 13 years old and smells off. I opened the cock on the drain toward the front of the unit (compared to the oil drain). I do get a dribble of fuel but it acts like it closed somewhere else but I do not see any other valves in that drain line either on the unit or in the manuals. Am I missing something? I just hate the siphon method.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Might be plugged by mud wasps... not uncommon. Got anything small you can run into the drain line? Its just a bulkhead fitting that goes behind the battery and to the drain plug on the tank.

Could be trash in your tank too, that has settled onto the backside of the fitting in the tank prohibiting flow.

 

[Guyfang]

What are you trying to drain? Fuel tank? Filters? Strainer?

 

[Light in the Dark]

What are you trying to drain? Fuel tank? Filters? Strainer?

I read it that hes trying to drain the tank bulkhead.

 

[Tommytone]

What are you trying to drain? Fuel tank? Filters? Strainer?

I am trying to drain the tank itself so I can dispose of the fuel in the tank and replace with fresh prior to replacing the filters. I believe there is a water filter and fine filter in two housings, one spin on water and the other in a bowl type set up. Running trashy fuel through new filters seems like a bad idea.

 

[Tommytone]

I read it that hes trying to drain the tank bulkhead.

Correct the tank bulkhead. I will try some welding wire and or blowing compressed air back into the tank as the fuel in it has gotten to that funky diesel fuel stage and may be trapping debris with messy fuel at the bottom.

 

[Guyfang]

That is the normal problem with the tank petcock. Plugged up. the tanks have a problem with rust in them. I saw 3-4 tanks in the back round of a picture in a thread about a guy who has tons of stuff, last week. Need to remember where it was.

Why don't you just start at one end of the system, take it apart and clean/inspect it?

 

[Tommytone]

That is the normal problem with the tank petcock. Plugged up. the tanks have a problem with rust in them. I saw 3-4 tanks in the back round of a picture in a thread about a guy who has tons of stuff, last week. Need to remember where it was.

Why don't you just start at one end of the system, take it apart and clean/inspect it?

That is what I will need to do. I tried welding wire but it will not go past the cock. I tried compressed air and it made air bubbles in the tank. Odd. Anyhow I used a 12v pump to get most of it out and just need to get the rest of the old fuel out.

Are the tank steel or plastic? If they rust I am guessing steel.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Or unhook the hard line at the primary pump and fab up a short hose from the outbound side of the pump, into the container of your choosing. No sense in recreating the wheel.

The tank is HDPE or similar.

 

[Tommytone]

Or unhook the hard line at the primary pump and fab up a short hose from the outbound side of the pump, into the container of your choosing. No sense in recreating the wheel.

The tank is HDPE or similar.

We got the old fuel out. It looks like the diesel turned to a sludgy-sticky consistency in the bottom like molasses. If you have any cleaning ideas I would love to hear them. Otherwise is using clean diesel and maybe a cleaner to dissolve it.

 

[Tommytone]

That is the normal problem with the tank petcock. Plugged up. the tanks have a problem with rust in them. I saw 3-4 tanks in the back round of a picture in a thread about a guy who has tons of stuff, last week. Need to remember where it was.

Why don't you just start at one end of the system, take it apart and clean/inspect it?

You mentioned using acetone in another thread and that it would eat the float. Is acetone a good option to clean the tank if I remove the float and pickup?

 

[Light in the Dark]

How much work you want to put in? The absolute best result is pulling the tank and pressure washing... but you need to pull the radiator and all metal above the tank to do that (as well as the items in the tank). Acetone or similar may do what you want, can take a plastic brush and stick your arm into the tank and scrub the bottoms and sides best you can with the solvent as you care to, for best results. You will just have to disassemble the fill neck sheet metal part (not terribly difficult). All in how thorough you want to be.

I would strongly recommend whatever you end up doing, to take the time now and invest in changing out the well nut on the tank to the substantially more robust 'ultimate well nut' upgrade. Its in the forums, and well worth the part expense and time to never have to worry about tank leaks at this prone spot.

 

[Tommytone]

How much work you want to put in? The absolute best result is pulling the tank and pressure washing... but you need to pull the radiator and all metal above the tank to do that (as well as the items in the tank). Acetone or similar may do what you want, can take a plastic brush and stick your arm into the tank and scrub the bottoms and sides best you can with the solvent as you care to, for best results. You will just have to disassemble the fill neck sheet metal part (not terribly difficult). All in how thorough you want to be.

I would strongly recommend whatever you end up doing, to take the time now and invest in changing out the well nut on the tank to the substantially more robust 'ultimate well nut' upgrade. Its in the forums, and well worth the part expense and time to never have to worry about tank leaks at this prone spot.

Thank you! I want to be as thorough as is reasonable and would prefer not to take the radiator out if I do not need to do so. I did see the well nut issue, thank you for mentioning it, and that was on my list from a "while I am at it" standpoint.

I took the line for the drain apart up to that tank penetration and it certainly seems like it is clogged inside that connection (the rubber part at that penetration) so I plan to do both.

Are there any other "things" it that area that would warrant a while I am at it preventative replacement? With as messy as the fuel was and the fact that this is one of those low hour units that is not running should I just pull the injection pumps one at a time and clean them? That seems logical but...

 

[Ghostrider65]

I acquired a 2010 MEP 802a and am working to get it up and running. To do that I want to drain the fuel as I think it is 13 years old and smells off. I opened the cock on the drain toward the front of the unit (compared to the oil drain). I do get a dribble of fuel but it acts like it closed somewhere else but I do not see any other valves in that drain line either on the unit or in the manuals. Am I missing something? I just hate the siphon method.

Is there anyway you could lightly blow back with air pressure on on the drain?

 

[Light in the Dark]

Its absolutely possible to backblow the fuel drain to clear something up, but as its a gravity drain, whatever is displaced will simply end up back there. It might even be part of the well nut, FOD, you don't know. Compressed air never hurts as a step one to see if it helps get some of it out... but definitely not a cure all.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Thank you! I want to be as thorough as is reasonable and would prefer not to take the radiator out if I do not need to do so. I did see the well nut issue, thank you for mentioning it, and that was on my list from a "while I am at it" standpoint.

I took the line for the drain apart up to that tank penetration and it certainly seems like it is clogged inside that connection (the rubber part at that penetration) so I plan to do both.

Are there any other "things" it that area that would warrant a while I am at it preventative replacement? With as messy as the fuel was and the fact that this is one of those low hour units that is not running should I just pull the injection pumps one at a time and clean them? That seems logical but...

Just a good time to check the in tank components for corrosion (the fuel level float especially). The double float aux fuel switch are notorious failure points, so take care in removing and replacing. Not much else going on back there from a preventative maintenance point of view past that stupid well nut.

I wouldn't pull the pumps unless you have gone through any other 'no start' troubleshooting steps have been gone through from the TM. That would be 'next level of maintenance' past what they call out in the books. No harm in doing so, you might just find that its not needed and your time can be used elsewhere first.

 

[Guyfang]

Run a load of Seafom through it. That should help clean up the IP's.

 

[TomTime]

Thank you! I want to be as thorough as is reasonable and would prefer not to take the radiator out if I do not need to do so. I did see the well nut issue, thank you for mentioning it, and that was on my list from a "while I am at it" standpoint.

I took the line for the drain apart up to that tank penetration and it certainly seems like it is clogged inside that connection (the rubber part at that penetration) so I plan to do both.

Are there any other "things" it that area that would warrant a while I am at it preventative replacement? With as messy as the fuel was and the fact that this is one of those low hour units that is not running should I just pull the injection pumps one at a time and clean them? That seems logical but...

Was reading through some threads here on the MEP-802A. Going to pickup my first MEP-802A tomorrow from GovPlanet. Just down loading the TM's, watching some videos, and reading as much here as possible in prep to work on the gen.

I came across your post and I had just watched a video from @CallMeColt which shows how he removed the fuel tank without taking out the radiator. Colt has some great videos of him working on the MEP-802A's. The attached video Colt addresses a Well Nut upgrade. In the video at 3:22 he shows you how he gets the fuel tank out. Maybe this will help you. If your going to take the generator down this much, might as well do some additional maintenance while in there, that's what my plan is at this time.

Just FYI.

Tom.

 

[CallMeColt]

I have had a few plugged up. A lot of them never get used. Best way to see if they can be freed up is open it all the way & blast it with air using the rubber tip from an air gun to get the best seal you can. You're cleaning everything out anyways, so pushing crap back into the tank is what it is.