mep-003a teardown and refurb

ok well i got to fire it up today. boy that wasnt pretty. got some issues and i think its injection pump related. so what was great is it fired right up, didnt struggle and i didnt have to crank it forever just to get her goin. problem is once it did fire it got faster and faster and pumped so much black smoke it was beyond nuts. it ran away away on me and wouldnt shut down. after about 30 sec i got it to turn off. when i say it smoked alot, that is an under statement. if you were standing 20 feet away i wouldnt even be able to see you. it was pretty nuts. so i have i felling there is an injection pump issue. do you guys agree that would be a good place to start? i did have the pump off. i didnt really do anything to when i had it off. when i reinstalled i did the routine and used a 1/8" drill bit to lock the gear in place then put it on the pc mark and all that. one thing i thought was unusual when i had the pump off was the throttle lever on it, the arm with the ball and socket, it moved so freely back and forth with absolutely no resistance. like the arm wasnt doing anything at all. not even the resistance of an o-ring rubbing on the shaft. would just flop back and forth. maybe this is normal. not sure. you guys think i should be looking for a new pump or send this one out to rebuild? just pull it apart myself. any ideas? anything else i should look into?

also another question, the shutdown solenoid, when the gen is not running but in the prime/run mode should the actuator be retracted or up so the injector pump arm moves freely?

The fuel cutoff solenoid only retracts when you try to start, not when priming. I'd start with valve adjustments then governor adjustments. You are obviously getting fuel past the IP. Crack fittings at each injector while cranking to see that each cylinder is getting fuel and all air is bled. I suspect your IP is good. You may have a bad injector or injectors needing adjustment.
Jerry

A diesel will run away if it is sucking in engine oil. Make sure that is not the case. If it is fuel related it should shut down when the fuel is cut off. Also keep handy something to stop airflow just in case.

yeah its definitely getting a ton of fuel. how can fuel get past the injection pump? if the injection pump is dumping way too much fuel, to the extent i am seeing here wouldnt that indicate something is up with the pump? it seems like its just pumping massive amounts of fuel into the engine.

i pulled the hose from the air cleaner to the intake manifold and i have a rubber plug for next time.

You can get the new gauge part number 5844s01793 at E-COMPONENTS ASK FOR TAMMY COST LESS THAN $25 shipped tel number 1-800-640-1556, takes visa mc etc.
walt

It is not the pump that lets fuel get to the cylinders. Rather, its the injectors and timing and valve adjustment that appears to be the problem. No one has ever criticized an IP for providing too much fuel (in my memory). Fuel is beinf delivered at the wrong time or not compressed enough (injectors set too low) or something else beyond the IP.
Jerry

It is not the pump that lets fuel get to the cylinders. Rather, its the injectors and timing and valve adjustment that appears to be the problem. No one has ever criticized an IP for providing too much fuel (in my memory). Fuel is beinf delivered at the wrong time or not compressed enough (injectors set too low) or something else beyond the IP. The purpose of the return line off each injector is to deal with excess fuel from the IP. Sorry, didn't mean to double post
Jerry

Hmm thats interesting. Pretty sure the valves are adjusted ok. I went through them a couple times. Ill check it again though. I think i will start by double checking the pump to make sure the timing is right as far as the gear being set to the cam correctly. Maybe its off a tooth. If thats not it ill look into the injectors. Who know what the guy did that had it before me.

Who know what the guy did that had it before me.

Jim,

Very true.

I'm assuming you found the A and B marks on the flywheel to enable you to do the valve adjustments correctly.

Jerry

Yes did all that. There is a pointer up above the blower wheel so i set the engine to the pc mark then marked the blower wheel. I then put the new flywheel on, put the blower wheel back on the mark and double checked the pointer in the flywheel to be sure it was right on the pc mark again. No pointer adjustment was needed. The pointer was right on.

Approaching 180 degrees from normal but I forgot you had to split the unit. Seems reasonable.

Jim,
My computer has been down and I just got a chance to scan the board. Ike's response on a different thread may apply to you. It makes all the difference in the world which cylinder you time off of. You need to do it off #1 (closest to the fan). That may account for your problems. I should have asked about that sooner, but I work on 002As and need not be concerned about double rotations.

Ike's comments
"I will leave it to those with first hand experience on this model, but it sounds to me like you may have it 1 full rotation out of time. A full cycle of the engine takes 2 turns of the crank, and therefore passes the timing mark twice, you may have it on the wrong part of the cycle."
Jerry

Thanks jerry but yeah i did it on #1 on the correct rotation.

You could have one problem that is causing both symptoms (run away and no stop). I think that the throttle linkage isn't connected properly at the governor assembly (FIGURE 41, pg. 132 in the parts manual). This is also connected to the stop solenoid. If the throttle assembly gets too loose the engine will run WOT and potentially not actuate the stop solenoid. Let me go out and take a pic of my 003 governor assembly for reference so you have something to compare to.

John

Johnyray13,
Good observation.
My sons live in Warrenton and Herndon. Maybe we can get together and I can learn,
Jerry

That would be great. I took pics of everything and put it back like it was but that doesnt help if it wasnt right to begin with

Here are six pictures of the governor assembly, stop solenoid and throttle cable connection.

John

thanks for that john. all looks pretty much like i have except for the spring. mine is hooked up high against the star nut. i need to lower that.

well on another note, here are some pics of this thing all put back together minus a batt gauge and hour meter i am waiting on and me redoing all the data plates. also a pic of the new fuel gauge. pretty nice and easy to read. you'll also notice i went through and put techflex sleeving around the harness so its not bare wires anymore.