mep016d new owner

[cucv1833]

Mep016D / Mep-002 New Owner

Well I just received my new mep-016d 3kw. My first mil gen set. Now im in the process of getting it going. I first removed both fuel tanks and cleaned them out. I then put the top tank back on with new fuel filter installed. I left the belly tank off till i can install new transfer hose.

At this point I CAN NOT get it going. I have the fuel petcock in the vertical position and confirmed the fuel is flowing. The throttle in the start position. I pull started it a few times and then slaved it off my CUCV the starter works great and turns over nice. It seem to also have good compression.

The problem is I cracked open the injector lines but no fuel is flowing upon start up. I also pulled the IP but just had a look and reinstalled

Any tips are appreciated or what should I do next. I have been doing research on here and glanced through the TMs also checked Youtube.

A BIG THANKS to ISAAC-1 for helping me with this purchase and all the info

Corey

 

[cucv1833]

Ok. I just got it started and let it run for about 5 min. It was a little rough idle then smoothed out rather nice. In a day or two I will see if it makes power. I will post picks when i get it all working and cleaned up.

The problem was the injection pump was stuck in the closed position and wouldn't move in and out. Once I freed it and bled the injector line it fired up.

Thanks (jks587) for your PM

 

[derf]

Yes, the plunger in the IP gets stuck when allowed to sit for a long time.
You may find the voltage regulator to be bad but they're not hard to find or fix.
Or, like me, you may find it works fine.
Don't let it idle. It should start, run up to 3600RPM and stay there. There is a low fuel shutoff in the tank and one or two electric fuel pumps that you might need to deal with.
The 016D is my favorite small gen.

 

[derf]

Just realized you're in LC. There goes the neighborhood again.
Ike is not far from you and I'm over to the east a ways.
Welcome to the party, pal.

 

[cucv1833]

Just realized you're in LC. There goes the neighborhood again.
Ike is not far from you and I'm over to the east a ways.
Welcome to the party, pal.

Thanks alot DERF!
Well yesterday I got the engine going then cont reading more info.
Just now I went out and set it to 120-1ph and then 240-1-ph. I got good power from the L-1 / L-2 side on both settings and the Freq/hrz gauge is working and reading around 61 hz. Last night I thought is was broke. The duplex Rec. plug is also working

There's nothing connected to the ground lug so is it safe to say the ground mod has NOT been done.
If so does that mean to hook it to a load I run hot to l1 and neutral to l2 and ground lug to either a grounding rod or ground on house transfer switch??

Next I will install the belly tank and new hose then slap some new 383 rapco paint on it then post some pics.

Looks like its now time to start looking for a MEP 002

 

[Isaac-1]

Before wiring up anything to the output lugs read over this ongoing thread http://www.steelsoldiers.com/auxiliary-equipment/92309-mep-016d-voltage-wiring.html

Oh, also I will be in the Lake Charles area at my mother in laws later this afternoon / evening so if you get confused feel free to give me a call and depending on what part of town your in I might be able to drop by and help out for a few minutes.

Ike

 

[cucv1833]

Thanks IKE for coming over the other day. Everything is looking good. Im basiclly finished with it now. I got the belly tank back on and put some new 383 rapco paint on it. Also installed some 3" caster wheels on it in some holes that was already there. Its a whole lot easier to move around the shop now. Just need to add the fuel tranfer hose and install new air filter.

 

[steelypip]

Looks like a great set. I'm debating about getting one for my 'portable power' needs. My MEP-002A is a wonderful beast that will run both heat pumps in my house, but even the addition of casters would not make its 1000 lb bulk easy to move around...

 

[cucv1833]

Well got the Mep-016D belly tank hosessorted out just need to run it a while and check for leaks and make sure the fuel pump is working correct.

Another update is I just bought a Mep-002. I paid top dollar for it though . After playing with the 016D I had to move up and get me a 002A. Had to have it !!! I will pick it up soon and see how it goes

 

[derf]

Like I said, there goes the neighborhood.

 

[Isaac-1]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, next thing you know you will have to get a MEP-003a.

Ike

 

[cucv1833]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, next thing you know you will have to get a MEP-003a.

Ike

Ha Ha. Getting a MEP-003 = Divorce
The wife wanted to know why I needed to buy 2-generators in 1 month

 

[s205designs]

Reading Material

Congrats on your purchase, I also recently aquired a MEP 016D and am new to the forum. There are a ton of great posts on here about this generator here this one is particularly useful for the fuel system.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/auxiliary-equipment/84044-my-findings-mep016d-engine-fuel-controls.html

 

[Isaac-1]

Just wait until you buy two at once

 

[cucv1833]

I just ran my Mep-016D for a good hr with 1KW load. It did great. All gauges working. Hrtz and voltage looks good. With 1KW on it The load gauge showed a steady 75% I want to load it up to a good 3kw and see how it does.

The only problem is I need to try to figure out the Aux fuel pump. I have 30volts coming out of the float switch lead at all times. High/low fuel in the top tank. Ileft the lead uplugged most of the time.I lowered the the fuel and plugged the lead in and switched to Aux tank but nothing kicks on and happens,

I will reread this thread again
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/auxiliary-equipment/84044-my-findings-mep016d-engine-fuel-controls.html

 

[s205designs]

I like you have been wanting to test my fuel pump. Was thinking of disconnecting the pump from the thermal switch/circuit breaker and just trying to run the pump off of a battery. My thought would be it may be easier to troubleshoot when the generator is not running. From research on this forum it seems like the pump runs around 30 vdc but I have no markings on mine. Maybe a more experienced user on this forum might be able to comment.

Thanks
Jonathan

 

[ETN550]

Yes, just unplug the pump wire and put 24vdc to it. The pump body is ground. I usually first unplug the wire and put 24vdc to it with my gen frame ground lug (bottom of skid) back to the neg on my 24vdc test battery.

If the pump still does not work then I remove the pump and test on the bench making sure I have the case grounded.

If it still does not work then I unscrew the base cap on the pump pull the screen, remove the clip and disassemble to make sure the plunger is not stuck with goo from sitting around. If it does not slide good then clean it good and make it slide freely back and forth.

At this point if the plunger is free and the pump does not cycle on 24vdc when reassembled then I cut the wire at the pump side of the "radio interference" device that is permanantly attached to the pump wire and bypass it. Test again with the 24vdc (+) directly to the wire coming out of the pump. and if it works then put it back without the "radio interference" piece in the wiring.

If it does not work then the pump is dead and must be replaced.

I have replaced 3 pumps that were bad and got one working that had to have the "radio interference device" cut out and bypassed.

Others have said the Klixon is a breaker so it could be bypassed as well for testing. You will figure it out once you tear into it. much easier on the bench then on a running gen! For sure!

Hope this helps some.

 

[s205designs]

Etn, thanks for confirming my suspicions that you can just apply 24vdc to the pump. While we were on the topic of fuel pumps I was wondering if the issue mentioned in another thread of tank venting was ever resolved. From my readings it would seem that the upper tank is only vented in that it will only allow air in. This seems like it may be problematic when the aux pump is running. I had an alternate theory to this.

My generator has a sticker covering the vent hole which makes me wonder if the upper tank is supposed to be sealed. In this instance assuming the gen was started at a low fuel level in the upper tank it would pull a slight vacuum, until the aux pump restored the pressure to normal. This would only work in the case where the gen was started with the fuel level in the aux tank close to the float trigger point.

Having not taken the fuel pump apart, I don't know if it would allow fuel to pass through it while not powered, this also may be a suitable path for a "vent". Does any of this make sense?

Thanks
Jonathan

 

[cucv1833]

Ok so I think I got a bad float switch. I got 40vac on each stator lead. I got 36vdc going to the float switch. I have NOTHING coming from the float switch and the fuel is low and the float is sitting on the bottom of tank. So I think the stator and rectifier are ok the little circuit breaker by the slave port Probaly ok no power to it yet.

The fuel pump DOES work I bench tested it.

 

[ETN550]

This is going to sound crazy but lift the float switch a little and it might start pumping. For some reason I have seen if the fuel gets too low the pump won't work due to float switch shutting off. I have sandblased the inside of many tanks and when put back together too little fuel does not actuate the float!

The best way to figure out what is going on after you have confirmed that dc voltage is being put out by the engine is to turn it off, unplug the dc feed and hook up a couple 12 volt batteries in series to the dc feed then start messing with it. I have unplugged the pump fed the floats 24vdc then slowly raise and lower the float and watch a meter to see what it is doing. The easiest way to do it is to have the meter working and add fuel very slowly while watching the meter. I can't say if the ones I had were messed up or not but I never found a replacement for the float switch and some would run with a full tank on the pump others with about 1-1/4 inches of fuel in the tank. And some turned off the pump if the float fell too far.

If you are intending to keep the generator and want to clean up some of the engineering problems you might consider eliminating the float assembley all together. If get another one to keep here is what i am going to do:

Remove the float and plug the hole with a standard pipe plug.

Wire the pump directly using a toggle switch.

Solder a hose nipple on to the filler neck of the belly tank.

Run the pump output through a small drilled orifice to a new tee in the injector return line so the pump will fill the tank at a slow rate constantly. This is now the fuel supply to the tank.

Run the existing large fuel pump feed line from the tank to the new hose nipple on the filler tank. This is now a return line that will establish the height of the fuel in the tank and return excess to the belly tank on a constant basis.

With this arrangement the pump will always circulate some fuel which is standard on the bigger generators that do not have problems with the pump. the orifice will allow less fuel in then can drain through the bigger hose so the small tank cannot overflow. The small tank level is maintained at near full by the pump. The unit can be run on the small tank by itself by switching off the pump or if the pump or 24vdc system fails. I'm actually thinking of adding a tank to one of my 016Es and setting it up the same way so the 016E could be started and make power with a dead battery or electrical control system failure.

Just some ideas... I can't wait to finish my current project and post it up. It will be interesting, indeed. I'm stuffing the guts of a Pow'r Gard generator into a gutted soundproof military fuel pump housing!