Mep 803A

[grywitt]

Hello. I hope I'm doing this correctly. Is this a new thread labeled mep 803a?
I just got home with one of these. Can someone tell me the name and size of the nipple that the water line ties to behind the alternator? I'll post some picks. The nipple is broke off and someone had stuck an ear plug in the hole. That's the green stuff. Also the water pump looks funny is it normal to fit like that? The gasket can't be correct? Here are the pics of like to hear what people think. I'm hoping this gen isn't ruined. I can turn the engine with the fan blade. It's not seized at least

 

[Ray70]

Wow! looks like something went haywire when you uploaded your pictures!
Anyway, the fitting that is broken off under the water pump is simply a petcock for a water drain.
It's supposed to be connected to the rubber hose that ties into the radiator drain and the coolant overflow bottle and exits through the skid frame.
You'll need to get in there with an easy-out or pipe remover to get that broken piece of brass out of the block.
Either replace it with a new petcock or just screw in a brass pipe plug. It's really not critical to have a drain valve there.

As for the gasket on the water pump, it looks like crap, but may not be a problem. There's an intermediate plate between the block and water pump and the gasket they used is covering much more area than it needs to so it's just falling down where it's not compressed between the plate and pump.

 

[grywitt]

Wow! looks like something went haywire when you uploaded your pictures!
Anyway, the fitting that is broken off under the water pump is simply a petcock for a water drain.
It's supposed to be connected to the rubber hose that ties into the radiator drain and the coolant overflow bottle and exits through the skid frame.
You'll need to get in there with an easy-out or pipe remover to get that broken piece of brass out of the block.
Either replace it with a new petcock or just screw in a brass pipe plug. It's really not critical to have a drain valve there.

As for the gasket on the water pump, it looks like crap, but may not be a problem. There's an intermediate plate between the block and water pump and the gasket they used is covering much more area than it needs to so it's just falling down where it's not compressed between the plate and pump.

Lol. I hadn't noticed what happened with the pictures until I read your reply. Oops. That's good to know thank you. I didn't realize that was just a drain. I knew that one hose was supposed to attach there and was curious about it's function. Do you know what thread that is? 1/4 npt perhaps? Thanks for the reply. I bought this without knowing if it runs so it's a bit of a gamble and I'm hoping I wasn't dumb.

 

[grywitt]

Wow! looks like something went haywire when you uploaded your pictures!
Anyway, the fitting that is broken off under the water pump is simply a petcock for a water drain.
It's supposed to be connected to the rubber hose that ties into the radiator drain and the coolant overflow bottle and exits through the skid frame.
You'll need to get in there with an easy-out or pipe remover to get that broken piece of brass out of the block.
Either replace it with a new petcock or just screw in a brass pipe plug. It's really not critical to have a drain valve there.

As for the gasket on the water pump, it looks like crap, but may not be a problem. There's an intermediate plate between the block and water pump and the gasket they used is covering much more area than it needs to so it's just falling down where it's not compressed between the plate and pump.

I did mean to post those pics of non relevant parts of the machine in case someone might notice something I should know about but I sure wasn't meaning to post 5 of each

 

[Ray70]

Off hand I don't recall if that is a 1/4 NPT or a 3/8" NPT thread, but it's one or the other.
Probably 1/4" NPT I'd bet.
If you look down low under the crank pulley there is a drain plug in the bottom of the block pointing forward towards the radiator.
That one is a 3/8" NPT, for comparison.

 

[grywitt]

Wow! looks like something went haywire when you uploaded your pictures!
Anyway, the fitting that is broken off under the water pump is simply a petcock for a water drain.
It's supposed to be connected to the rubber hose that ties into the radiator drain and the coolant overflow bottle and exits through the skid frame.
You'll need to get in there with an easy-out or pipe remover to get that broken piece of brass out of the block.
Either replace it with a new petcock or just screw in a brass pipe plug. It's really not critical to have a drain valve there.

As for the gasket on the water pump, it looks like crap, but may not be a problem. There's an intermediate plate between the block and water pump and the gasket they used is covering much more area than it needs to so it's just falling down where it's not compressed between the plate and pump.

BTW thanks for the direction. I found the part in the TM and sourced one on ebay.

Off hand I don't recall if that is a 1/4 NPT or a 3/8" NPT thread, but it's one or the other.
Probably 1/4" NPT I'd bet.
If you look down low under the crank pulley there is a drain plug in the bottom of the block pointing forward towards the radiator.
That one is a 3/8" NPT, for comparison.

Awesome thank you. I took your advice and used the TM. Those things are awesome!!! I found the part number and ordered one off ebay. It's 1/4npt btw. Thanks again for the info.

 

[Guyfang]

You wrote this:
Awesome thank you. I took your advice and used the TM. Those things are awesome!!!

This is good news.

 

[grywitt]

You wrote this:
Awesome thank you. I took your advice and used the TM. Those things are awesome!!!

This is good news.

I am really happy there are such awesome resources available both written and such a helpful community of knowledgeable people that are willing to help. I knew there were many reasons I wanted military gens both because they buy the best but also great documentation.

 

[grywitt]

So I know you've all been dying to know if the new 803A was going to run. I know I was. So the suspense was killing me and I had to know. I put a plug into the open hole where the petcock will go topped off the oil and filled the radiator. She started and ran and produced electricity. What a relief. This machine has over 6000 hours on the reset. After a while I see that I'm not reading coolant temp. I will read the book and figure that out. But when I had it running long enough to be up to temp I'm not sure I'm circulating coolant. The top radiator hose was hot but the bottom hose was cool. If you look at the pics the water pump job is suspect. Since I can't read water temp I'm nervous about over heating. What's a good way to make sure water is circulating? A little about me I am a mediocre mechanic and an electrician by trade. I can usually get things figured out and repaired but still have lots to learn. Would you guys just recommend getting the water temp guage figured out before I move on?. Should I have faith in the water temp overheat switch? Any suggestions? I am thrilled this thing runs. I kind of gambled buying it without knowing. Here are some pics of the machine and the water pump area. I will be reading the book to figure out how to troubleshoot the system. Thanks

 

[grywitt]

Update. After some reading and troubleshooting I'm pretty sure the water temp guage needs replaced. I'm still not sure the thermostat is opening or that the water pump is circulating water though. I did establish that the temp sender is sending. Maybe I never got it got enough to open and I was just nervous about over heating my new toy. Maybe I'll steal the temp guage from my 802 while I wait for one and verify. I stole the batteries to run it so might as well steal the guage. Lol

 

[Guyfang]

If you are going to fix this right, get a new thermostat, gaskets and put them in a box. Find out what else you need and put it all in a box. when its all there and you have time, do. Take the front end off and fix everything at once.

 

[grywitt]

If you are going to fix this right, get a new thermostat, gaskets and put them in a box. Find out what else you need and put it all in a box. when its all there and you have time, do. Take the front end off and fix everything at once.

Yes sir. Right now I'm still trying to figure out what all I need. Do you have recommendations based on what you see? Should l just replace the water pump too? Or maybe just buy a full gasket kit? I haven't been able to find just the water pump gaskets yet.

 

[Light in the Dark]

The pump is a pretty simple impeller... you will know if its working or not once you've taken it off. I would assume its fine. For the price, you can get just the pump to cylinder head gasket (with o rings for the sleeve that goes into the block) here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1537395244...YJhFW1tS-SIUv6iyd_4TkiFNwSrO_MEJnrBj9k2fM0qNA

Or you can buy a gasket kit for not much more and have more options: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2749138605...RiM8Wlq53G+x1PiyTNcQfcfA==|tkp:Bk9SR5LLnpXgYw

 

[grywitt]

The pump is a pretty simple impeller... you will know if its working or not once you've taken it off. I would assume its fine. For the price, you can get just the pump to cylinder head gasket (with o rings for the sleeve that goes into the block) here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1537395244...YJhFW1tS-SIUv6iyd_4TkiFNwSrO_MEJnrBj9k2fM0qNA

Or you can buy a gasket kit for not much more and have more options: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274913860591?itmmeta=01HW0N7MP3AW3YSDBTAAZDD18E&hash=item4002249bef:g:t6cAAOSwenRhIAJw&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAAwNTzaUMLMvTfkIAJIXkozRWw6zLGvOZP9mhlRdKF60m+2bz0o/nLKVbctt9e0P5RErammaZs3nCjLrtbUKdc6mJCCAqX0atU5g+LYGsGY8UrextP6Fp9IFt++E0xF+8E+hvS2TBgSf5TC3vFcA/L8oE8KJ5Zid9Imq1JIepW7X6X2J9m5/Kqz0wzIneipAuE9wT7qZRtFTsBhbCq2EwNxpayjJl6NiytR+1HRBWZE8RiM8Wlq53G+x1PiyTNcQfcfA==|tkp:Bk9SR5LLnpXgYw

Thanks a lot. I'm in the process of learning about these and knowing which parts to buy. I see you can very easily spend to much. Lol. I stole the water temp guage out of my 802 and did the recommend 30 minute run while watching the temp. I added a 35% load as a bonus though. It gets to 180 and sits there. I guess the bottom hose being cool was lack of needing circulation often since it wasn't working hard. I definitely need to change those gaskets anyway it looks so ugly the way it is. I was much more comfortable once I could verify Temps. I'll need to buy a water temp guage now also. Here is a Pic of my load bank this one is only 5k I have a 10 and 15 I plan on building something so I can run the fan and add load as wanted. These furnace heat kits are cheap compared to load banks. Thanks again for the help

 

[grywitt]

Do you guys know why they might have ripped all the reset tags off a batch of auction gens? There are like 20 gens two per trailer power plants and all the reset tags have been torn off.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Probably the same guy(s) who cut the return lines right at the oil drain...

 

[Ray70]

Not the first time I've seen that. Years ago there were a whole slew of rolling 803's at auction up at Ft. Bragg and all of them had the tags ripped off.
I also got a few elsewhere where the tags had been cleanly removed by drilling the rivets out, someone planned to reuse ( or sell ) those tags I bet!

 

[grywitt]

Well I did it again. I bought one of those power plants. I was supposed to sell a piece of equipment to a friend up in Pennsylvania so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and deliver it then pick up my stuff. Any way the delivery fell through and I don't want to drag my 40 foot trailer across the country empty so I thought I might just tow the trailer but I see air lines on the trailer. It's an M103A3. Can I cage the brakes on that trailer? Dragging 5000 pounds around without brakes isn't a great idea I know. I guess my question is are the TM s for that trailer on here? I've been digging but not finding. I still see park brake handles on the trailer. Why does it have those? Aren't the brakes always applies when there is no air?
Thanks for the help I find myself in a bit of a pickle

 

[grywitt]

I thought for sure that sync box was so you could parallel the loads and get 20kw. I've been reading and it's just for transferring without interruption. I do need to research more before I do things. Well I guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway I still want it. I just thought for sure that's what that box was for. I'm sure it could be modified to work that way pretty easy.

 

[Light in the Dark]

You can't parallel the 80x sets like the 10x0 AMMPS, with this box or without.

I don't believe you will need to cage these like tractor Haldex cans. Its an air over hydraulic system, and if memory serves these free wheel with the air unhooked.