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Mep-803a water pump and stuck all the way to left fuel gauge

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Had a few hours early today and got a few things done on the 803a. Turns out that fleabay water pump will work, but here's what I had to do...just in case anyone else feels like taking a chance on these cheaper water pumps. First off, I had to take a 3/8 24 tap and run it through the temp gauge (1 wire) sensor thread. Then I had to take a 3/8 18 npt tap through the high temp solenoid switch thread (2 wires). Both of the plug threads were fine, as well as the reverse threaded fan one. I had to run the same 3/8 24 tap to the thermostat threads as well. Comes to find out the body of the pump is about an 1/8 shorter around the thermostat bolt holes on this cheap pump, so I had to stack some washers. I will probably either cut down the bolts I have or get some new bolts and cut them down to size, as there is plenty of thread to grab. One other thing I noticed is that this pump is a little shorter front to back (maybe a heavy 1/16th). So the belt sits one thread off on the alternator. Sits fine on the crank pulley. I haven't looked at the part on the TMs for the alternator, so I'm not 100% mine is the oem alt/oem mounting hardware, or some jerryed kit. I'll take a look at that soon. The good thing is, it's charging, no issues with the belt vibrating or running weird. I did have to break some casting flakes off (don't know the proper word for it) through out the ports on this pump. Piss poor castings. It works, its pumping liquid. No leaks.

I flushed the cooling system 7 times today, no thermostat. First 2 times was without the fan, so it would get up to temps. Used Cascade Complete dishwasher soap recommended from a bud who works w heavy machinery. It was very dark, similar to what others have posted in other threads here. By the 7th flush, it was nearly clear, and with the fan on, it wouldnt get above 100f, which I would think means more flow and less crap in the system. I used regular water, but will used distilled 2x more flushes then install the new high temp switch... then Rotella ELC.

Seen some other people having good luck giving the fuel gauge a good smack to get it unstuck all the way to the left, and wouldn't you know...after the 4th smackaroonie that bad boy started working properly! What a relief.

After warming up, the oil pressure seemed to sit comfortably at 45psi over the 2 hours I put on it today.
 

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2Pbfeet

Well-known member
414
735
93
Location
Mt. Hamilton, CA
Hey bud, do you perhaps have any links to the sensors or pump threads you mentioned? Im not coming up with anything using the search on this site. Thank you!
What do you (did you?) need? Your later posts sound like you have things sorted.

BTW: if you mean the metal that sticks out at joins in moulds for castings, I think that the word you might be looking for is "flash" or "rat tails";

All the best,

2Pbfeet
 
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Location
SW Pennsylvania
What do you (did you?) need? Your later posts sound like you have things sorted.

BTW: if you mean the metal that sticks out at joins in moulds for castings, I think that the word you might be looking for is "flash" or "rat tails";

All the best,

2Pbfeet
Hey, thanks for the reply. I think I have everything sorted. I have a few hours early tmrw morning and planning on doin the fuel return lines, draining the fuel tank, and a few other odds and ends. I appreciate all the help you guys gave me, definitely good stuff. Yes rat tails haha oh boy those china pumps are full of em
 
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SW Pennsylvania
Fixed the dry rotten fuel return lines early today. Had a heck of a time starting er afterwards, but I eventually opened the banjo bolt near the fuel filter and it released a ton of air. Did that 3x and then it fired up and mellowed out. Noticed a bit of a drop in oil pressure (30ish ) after installing the thermostat, (gettin it up to operating temps) but I read 18-60 psi is nominal. It's chuggin right along. I'll replace the high temp switch sensor on the water pump tmrw when it arrives in the mail... which I almost forgot. The company selling those in groups of 5 for 45$ on fleabay no longer sell them as a 5 pack... its 1 for 45$ fyi. I ended up getting 5 for 45$ as they changed the listed a few minutes after I won the item. I'll flush the cooling system one more time tmrw and install the switch sensor and fill er up with coolant and it'll be ready for service. Thanks again to everyone who offered help, I am grateful. Yes thats RP342 all over the injector area. I was gonna paint it green but I didn't like the fact that those o-rings were exposed and didn't want a hardened paint on em so RP342 it was. That stuff is a bloody mess to work with ;)
 

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Location
SW Pennsylvania
Afternoon all, just want to confirm the AN fittings on the aux fuel system is -5an, yes? BTW I got the generator running top, and everything is good here. Thanks again to the folks who lent some info here on this thread!
 
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SW Pennsylvania
Good morning everyone. Finally got everything wired up last night and did some testing with the 803a. The gauge on the control panel in regards to % of usage... Where abouts do you guys typically run yours? My electrician friend was a bit confused on what that gauge represents. The number on the top of the gauge represents % of usage, yes? Not amperage? Since my home service is 100amps, and the generator power is running on 50amps, we didn't want to overload anything during the initial testing. For instance, when I was running all the circuits in the house, including stove, heat pump, lights, fridge etc, we were near 50% on the gauge, but inside we were only down 1amp at 239. We left the spa off, as its on a 50amp itself. 2024-11-07 17.21.27.jpgIf anyone has a link to another thread that explains this, or the page # in the TM, as I couldn't find it in the TM, that would be awesome. Thank you for any further info, greatly appreciated!
 

Light in the Dark

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
3,800
5,847
113
Location
MA
That gauges represents percentage of power output, compared to rating of the machine. So if you were using 240V, and the rated output of the 803A is 52A @ 240V... your machine was producing 45% of 10KW, or 4500W. At least theoretically... clamp meter will tell you definitely, more than an analog gauge. It depends on what kind of loads, as the power factor rating on the gauges is .8, so you could have been producing up to 5600W.
 
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Location
SW Pennsylvania
That gauges represents percentage of power output, compared to rating of the machine. So if you were using 240V, and the rated output of the 803A is 52A @ 240V... your machine was producing 45% of 10KW, or 4500W. At least theoretically... clamp meter will tell you definitely, more than an analog gauge.
Ok, thats what my electrician thought. We are going to wire up a couple sensors to a LED screen inside near the panel, so I know exactly whats going on when on 803a power. Where abouts do you run your 803a in regards to percentage on that analog gauge on the control panel? I have seen some videos where some gents were doing testing using power blocks, but I haven't came across any videos showing real actual use connected to a home. Electricians concern was running up near 75% when the dryer was on, including the rest of the things I mentioned above.
 
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