mep003a percent rated current gage says 50% with AC circuit breaker off.

[campwell]

This is my first mep003a, has 1200 hr. would not start. Looked like the injection pump was not working so took it apart cleaned it up, all looked good inside put back on and would not start. When I tried to start it just got a little gray smoke, but would not fire. Then it hit me the valves are closed when they come up not down. Retimed it with the valves up (closed) and it started. Now it is running very good stays right at 60hz. But the percent rated current gage says 50% with AC circuit breaker off. I changed the gage with another one that’s working and it says the same 50% rated current load. Looked at all my manuals did not see anything for trouble shooting that. Does this sound like I may have a problem? It is putting out 120v and 240v and everything sounds good. Not sure where to go from here.

 

[Suprman]

There is a load current transformer I believe that's how the meters pickup their readings. I would check that.

 

[Ratch]

Before you start it any more, make sure the chassis and Gen head are grounded. Especially with a problem like this, which may lead to frame energizing.

There may be a short somewhere after the CT's, but before the output breaker.
Remove the cover below the output terminals and look for any obvious frayed wires or worn-through insulation.
Then at night, start the genset, and look around that cabinet with the lights off, and try to find any blue sparks.

Remember that everything inside there is energized with the engine running and would be happy to kill you or give you some thrilling muscle oscillation, regardless of breaker or switch position, or meter readings. Don't tempt fate by poking around in there with a stick, or even worse, a voltmeter.

It's very unlikely the CT's are failing by creating a reading on the load meter. You more likely have a short in the metering circuit or the actual generator output.

 

[campwell]

Will heed your advice and try not to get fried checking it out. I will let the group know what I find out. I ran it last night and did not see any sparks. Thanks to everyone here at Steel Soldiers for your selfless support.

 

[campwell]

I looked for wirers that could be shorting and lose connection’s. Did find one lose wire screw. Blew it all out and started it but still showed PRC 50% . Let it run for awhile, and the more it ran the lower it got, in about 30 min it came down to PRC 0 to 10% and stayed there till I turned it off in another 15 min. Tried to restart right after shut down, but would not make any smoke at all, checked if getting fuel to the injectors, it was. Checked the stop solenoid and fuel linkage, was working. Bypassed the oil pressure switch, still would not start. I let is set for 1hr. and it started right up, but the PRC gage was at 50% again. The not starting seems to be related to when it gets warmed up. Something like over heating switch coming on?

 

[cuad4u]

Sounds like you may have several issues. You can bypass the over temp switch with a jumper wire. It is located on one of the cylinders behind the cooling air "flappers". Do not run it with the over temp switch bypassed long but you can test it that way to see if that is why it won't start when hot.

 

[Triple Jim]

Alternatively you can put a voltmeter on the switch and see if it reads 24 (overheated) or zero (normal).

 

[Ray70]

Once you get the hot start problem fixed, maybe try using the TM and ohm out the CT/CVT and see if you've got a bad winding somewhere.
It's a pretty quick process. At least rule out the CT/CVT because they do occasionally go bad, just not common failure. You might also want to check the S8 amp/volt selection switch on the control panel. Looks like the signal for the Amp meter goes through the switch then out to the meter. Try jiggling the switch around, then retest.

 

[campwell]

Ran the gen today for ½ hr, shut it down and tried to restart again, no smoke. Put jumper wire on the temp switch, no help. Waited ½ hr tried again still no smoke. Waited another ½ hr it started right up. Shut it down right away and it started right up again. The problem with the PRC gage seems to be ok at this time, it staid at 0-5 .

 

[jamawieb]

If your not getting any type of smoke while starting, that means no fuel. Make sure you don't have any binding in the governor linkage. I've had units that would start one time and not others, finally tracked it down to the linkage binding. When starting it, it vibrates enough to loosen the linkage, that is why it starts intermediately.

 

[R Racing]

I have a new engine on 1 of my mep-002a and after I turn it off does the same thing. I found that my linkage is stiff. And when the stop solinoid pulls up the spring doesn't have enough tension to pull it off the stop because of its stiffness. So I pull it up beyond the stiff spot while cranking the engine and it starts right up. The tricky part is being able to reach both at the same time.

 

[campwell]

Started it up today, ran for ½ hr. shut it down would not start again. I checked the linkage on the IP and the shut off solenoid, all was working and did not make any difference, still would not make any smoke. I waited for another ½ hr. and it did start then. I bled off the 3 fuel filters all look good. I checked to see if it is getting fuel to the injectors. Cracked #1 injector line, was dry, cracked for 10 sec. got fuel then did the rest one at a time, but still would not make smoke. The temp here in AZ is 75-80 now. When it is running everything looks good, sounds good, go’s to 60hz stays there. Is putting out 122v and 246v. When first starting it is a little slow to fire, say about 10 sec. Does it sound like the IP isn’t putting out fuel when it gets warm, but will when it cools off? The percent rated current gage seams to be ok now, as it shows 0% with no load.

 

[Chainbreaker]

When it doesn't start try having someone lift the linkage manually when cranking, or alternatively you can temporarily wedge it up a bit with a small piece of wood and crank it to see if that helps. I had a similar problem of intermittent or no start (no smoke or just a wisp of smoke) and it turned out it was an itermittant linkage binding issue that just needed a bit of tweaking. Very similar to what Jamawieb and R Racing describe above.