MEP one cylinder smoking on start up

[buck]

I've got an MEP-003A that smokes white (fuel) on one cylinder when cold. No smoke after firing up from the other 3 cylinders. It clears up as it warms up but doesn't really completly go away. It's hard to notice after it warms up, but it's there if you look for it. I've indentified the offending cylinder and will start trouble shooting it next week. I just thought I'ld ask the guys who've been doing this awhile if there is a common or usual cause for this, ie, injector, valve adjustment, scored cylinder, broken ring, etc.? It's got to be a compresion issue or an injector issue I would think. Hoping to speed up the proccess by eliminating more common causes first. I did thoughly clean the fuel system up to the IP before startup, but have not done anything with the IP. Kind of hoping a bad injector is the usual cause for this issue. Anyone with past experience with this problem please chime in. Thanks alot.

 

[Speddmon]

I don't think it's an injector unless it's spraying too much fuel (usually doesn't happen, typically just the opposite). It's probably compression related. Could be a valve adjustment or a problem with the cylinder. I would lean toward the valves to start with. That would be the easiest place to look.

Have you loaded the engine down with a large load yet? Try to load the generator with as close to a 100% load you can find and let it run for an hour or two...could be deposits from the beginning of wetstacking. While you are doing this, watch for any lack of power. If it is deposits, the loaded running should get the engine hot enough to burn them off.

 

[buck]

Thanks for the response. I havn't load tested the unit yet, just ran it long enough to verify it was making power as it should. I'll hook it up and give it a good workout see if any symtoms arise from that before getting ahead of myself. Thanks for the help.

 

[Harleyd315]

Get a infared thermometer. After the unit is running under load check each exhaust port and you will see a big difference in temp on the bad cylinder. you will have to remove the exhaust cover on the louver box to do this test.

 

[storeman]

"you will have to remove the exhaust cover on the louver box to do this test."

I've had pretty good luck noting differences at the glow plugs. No need to pull any sheet metal.

Jerry

 

[PJDiesel]

"you will have to remove the exhaust cover on the louver box to do this test."

I've had pretty good luck noting differences at the glow plugs. No need to pull any sheet metal.

Jerry

So,..... Which cylinder is the issue then? Cooler one or hotter one? I have a 30-40* difference between the two, rear one being the cold one.

 

[Harleyd315]

Did you check all 4 cylinders for a comparison? Is the gen fully warmed up under some kind of load? If you don't load the generator it may not get hot enough to burn off any previous wet stacking condition. Are all of your glow plugs working properly? Just a thought but I have 1 gen that no matter what the outside temp will smoke a bit when starting unless I use the glow plugs for a full minute before starting.

 

[storeman]

the cool cylinder is the issue. Obviously not heating up because not firing/burning fuel at same rate as the other cylinders. possibly the injector is at fault or poor compression, or blocked/leaking fuel line. Most likely a bad injector. You could confirm by rotating that injector to a different cylinder if you feel adventurous.

Jerry

 

[aspann]

Could it be a glow plug?

 

[buck]

Well, it wasn't convieniant to move the genny for a load test so I started checking things out. Pulled the injector and tested it. 1700 lbs on the stroke, holds at 1500 lbs. Dropped it in a hole on a known good unit, fired up with no smoke so I guess it's not the injector. Had the intake and glow plugs out of the first unit so no test with a different injector on that one just yet. I'm rigging up an adapter for the glow plug hole to do a compression and leak down test. Seems that I remember reading someone else doing something like that in a thread here but having trouble finding it. Anyway, I'll know more tommorrow when I get a little time to work on it some more. I'm off to the archieves for a little more research.

 

[storeman]

aspann,
glow plug should have no impact on block/head temp in this weather since I'm assuming he is not using glow plugs to preheat in summer.
Jerry

 

[buck]

Glow plugs are not the problem. Appears to be compression related. Was hopeing for an injector issue, now i'm hopeing for a valve adjustment or deposits causing a valve to leak a bit.

This can't be the first generator to have one hole smoking on it. I'm suprised no one's chimed in with a "this is what the problem was when mine did that" story.

A smokey hole that clears up for the most part isn't that big of a deal, but when it gets cold and I need this thing to start, I want to give it every advantage that I can to help it start. A dead hole when it's cold can make the difference between starting and not so I guess I'm going to figure it out and fix it. Will keep you posted on my progress.

 

[LuckyDog]

... I'm rigging up an adapter for the glow plug hole to do a compression and leak down test. Seems that I remember reading someone else doing something like that in a thread here but having trouble finding it. ...

I think this is the thread you were referring to: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/auxiliary-equipment/83566-compression-testing-mep-002a-003a.html

NJToolNut did make a couple of fittings. Don't know if he still has any.

/Paul

 

[buck]

I think this is the thread you were referring to: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/auxiliary-equipment/83566-compression-testing-mep-002a-003a.html

NJToolNut did make a couple of fittings. Don't know if he still has any.

/Paul

Yes, I found the thread rather quickly last night, along with some other threads that helped as well.

I'll continue to make my own adapter today when I get some time. Thanks.

 

[LuckyDog]

... along with some other threads that helped as well. ...

Probably too late, but do you have links to (or the keywords you used to search for) the other related threads?

I ask because I like when there are cross links in threads. I don't like the "Use the Search" replies as much as things like "Search on xyz" or "Here is a link"

just my

 

[buck]

I like the links as well when I'm going through a thread. I'm embarrased to say, I don't know how to link a thread. I'm sure it's not difficult, I've just never done it. I'll try to figure it out and link up in the future. Thanks.

Didn't make much progress today, hopefully more time tommorrow.

 

[buck]

Decided yesterday to go with an injector type compression tester. Got up early this morning and got mostly finished with it. Just need to size and thread the hole to connect the gauge assembly. Here's a few pictures of what I ended up with. Fits right in place of the injector. Hope to get it done and try it out this evening.

 

[Ktighe]

I have a mep-002a that is very difficult cold starting. I have changed the glow plugs twice with NEW (champions first time, welman second time). The manifold heaters appear to be fine. I've checked the amperage and resistance on the GPs and heaters and they are in spec. It takes way too much cranking. It starts to fire on one cylinder almost immediately but will not come up to speed. Sometimes I have to crank it for two minutes before it will run on its own on one cylinder. Then it runs much too slowly on one cylinder for 20 or 30 seconds before the second cylinder comes on. Once the second cylinder fires, the thing runs great, makes all kind of power. I am totally frustrated that I can't identify the "cold" cylinder. I have pointed an inferred thermometer all around the exhaust ports, cylinder head and elsewhere and detect any temperature difference between the cylinder that fires and the one that doesn't. My problem kind of sounds like buck's one cylinder problem, only I have half as many cylinders. I wonder how he made out with the compression test?

 

[Harleyd315]

An out of adjustment or faulty injector will give you this condition, along with other things, but most of mine cleared up after rebuilt injectors

 

[Isaac-1]

I too am facing this on a MEP-003a, changed the injectors on the offending cylinders, which has helped but has not cured the problem. I also installed a new style 2 starter as the old style 1 was a bit on the weak side, this has improved ease of starting, but has not helped with slow to fire cylinders. Next nice weekend we have I plan to check the valves.

Ike