My newly purchased MEP-002a...Vandalized

I was recently cruising around eBay and Craigslist on a lark searching for any "spare parts" that I might need in the future. Instead, I ended up buying a complete MEP-002a generator mounted on a M116a2 trailer off Craigslist. Its a late model 1991 (last yr they were made) with 3,000 original hours on the Hobbs and appears to be in great condition... except for the fact that it was vandalized apparently by a thief wanting just the copper content out of the wiring harness.

Unfortunately, not only did they eviscerate the main wiring harness they also cut the leads coming out of the gen head! Sure seems like a lot of effort and risk for such a small amount of copper! I really do want to bring this generator back to life, rather than using it as a parts donor, since it is in such great shape otherwise than the wiring vandalism.

I just posted an ad in classifieds "parts wanted" section for the main wiring harness as well as generator stator or complete generator head. If anyone here has any of these items please reply to that ad.

I do have a question though regarding removal of the gen head in a MEP-002a since I have never tackled that before and couldn't find a TM describing that procedure. Do I have to remove the gen head with engine still attached, or is it possible to remove the gen head without removing the engine?

Here are some pictures:

Wow, unfortunate theft.


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rcamacho said:

Wow, unfortunate theft.

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Yep, probably some meth-head looking for money for their next fix I guess. The guy I purchased it from said it was always kept indoors until he moved to another location where he had it stored outside temporarily when it was vandalized.

Anyway, I do hope I can find a wiring harness and generator stator or gen head to bring this unit back to life. Worst case, I have an excellent source of spare parts now!

Well the SS classifieds ad I placed for a MEP-002a/003a wiring harness, MEP-002a generator stator or complete gen head has not produced any results so far.

In the meantime, I am thinking of temporarily robbing a known good wiring harness off one of my other -002a generators in order to verify that the engine in this particular generator runs OK. If it runs OK then I will be patient and see if any of the necessary repair parts surface on eBay, Craigslist or SS Classifieds.

However, I do have a question... Since the output leads to this generator's generator head are cut, would it be OK to attempt a start & run WITHOUT the generator stator leads repaired? Since there won't be any connected wires going in-or-out the generator head, I am assuming there will be no excitation and it will not produce any electrical output...correct? I will tape up the cut gen head leads to make sure they are completely isolated just for insurance.

Chainbreaker said:

Well the SS classifieds ad I placed for a MEP-002a/003a wiring harness, MEP-002a generator stator or complete gen head has not produced any results so far.

In the meantime, I am thinking of temporarily robbing a known good wiring harness off one of my other -002a generators in order to verify that the engine in this particular generator runs OK. If it runs OK then I will be patient and see if any of the necessary repair parts surface on eBay, Craigslist or SS Classifieds.

However, I do have a question... Since the output leads to this generator's generator head are cut, would it be OK to attempt a start & run WITHOUT the generator stator leads repaired? Since there won't be any connected wires going in-or-out the generator head, I am assuming there will be no excitation and it will not produce any electrical output...correct? I will tape up the cut gen head leads to make sure they are completely isolated just for insurance.

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I'd still tape them up just to be safe, as there will most likely be some residual magnetism in the rotor/stator that will produce some voltage when spinning. Might not be a lot of voltage, but still enough to make some sparks.

As long as the exciter / voltage regulator is not connected now to your exciter leads, besides of what Coug pointed out, there is no way to produce any power at this point.

you can buy a spool of 500 feet 16ga airframe type 2 wire and get the manual and start rewiring it. The control wiring is quite simple to wire. The Voltage reconnection switch which wires to your head is by far more complicated at this point. As you have to identify the correct T number for each wire on the head side, otherwise you will be experience Bengalian Fireworks beyond your wildest imagination.....

Chainbreaker said:

Well the SS classifieds ad I placed for a MEP-002a/003a wiring harness, MEP-002a generator stator or complete gen head has not produced any results so far.

In the meantime, I am thinking of temporarily robbing a known good wiring harness off one of my other -002a generators in order to verify that the engine in this particular generator runs OK. If it runs OK then I will be patient and see if any of the necessary repair parts surface on eBay, Craigslist or SS Classifieds.

However, I do have a question... Since the output leads to this generator's generator head are cut, would it be OK to attempt a start & run WITHOUT the generator stator leads repaired? Since there won't be any connected wires going in-or-out the generator head, I am assuming there will be no excitation and it will not produce any electrical output...correct? I will tape up the cut gen head leads to make sure they are completely isolated just for insurance.

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You should be able to find the T numbers on the wires. If all you want to do is test the engine side, then yes tape the up. I might even remove and tape up the F1 and F2 wires in the control cube, as there might, no should be a small bit of residual voltage produced by the main gen. Induction maybe?

I suppose you could just run a hot wire to the fuel cut off solinoid and one to the fuel pumps to just run the engine a while. But that would bypass all the safety circuits. Is the control cube also cut up inside?

For whatever reason, the large leads coming from the generator stator were severed but not harvested for the wire it contained. Due to the nature of those finely stranded wires I would not trust them to be spliced back together. Therefore, I'm looking at replacing the generator stator with its included harness w/connector or finding a complete generator head to swap out. I haven't personally seen how the generator stator wiring harness is connected to the internal windings but the generator stator assembly always includes the attached output harness w/ its connector as one piece. So I doubt the stator itself could be rewired. Anyway, that eliminates the potential for introducing any wiring issues mating the generator head wires to the AC Output Control box connector since it will be all original OEM wiring.

Fortunately, the wires that were cut out of the main genset wiring harness did leave all the connectors intact. Since I have all the connectors I could resort to building that wiring harness myself but due to other imminent fall/winter project priorities quickly approaching it would not make my top 10 priority list for a while. So, I am looking for a "used or NOS" main wiring harness at this time.

In the meantime, I hope to have some time to rob a wiring harness from my #3 genset to verify engine operation on this vandalized genset.

Guyfang said:

...Is the control cube also cut up inside?

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No, its 100% intact and pristine inside!

Hadn't considered just hooking up the bare minimum engine start voltages to see if it starts & stays running. Hmmm, will have to consider that...could save me from having to disconnect/connect then disconnecting & return the wiring harness out of my #3 genset. But like you say it bypasses all the safety circuits but oil pressure should still show on gauge & if shutters open it should be OK from potentially overheating especially considering our fall weather we are experiencing now.

Just a thought. You don't need 24 VDC to operate the shutters, or any real important thing other then the fuel pumps and the Solenoid. Try it,

In addition to temporarily wiring up the primary fuel pump and engine stop solenoid I will also have to hot-wire the starter & solenoid somehow... the copper thief cut & removed ALL the wires going to it including battery cables.

Once I get ready to attempt an engine start I hope I have a warm enough day since I won't have any glow plugs or intake heaters in play. I guess I could put a heavy canvas tarp over it and put a small 1500 watt space heater down low on the trailer deck underneath engine area to slowly warm it up a couple hours beforehand.

So, if it starts I won't really have any way to know if its running at 1800 RPM... If it was last adjusted to run at ~60 Hz I should be OK and the mechanical governor should keep it running at that RPM. If throttle has been messed with and is running too fast or lugging I will either adjust by sound or cut 24 vdc to the fuel shutoff solenoid to shut down. Doesn't really matter how long it runs as I only have to run it long enough to determine I have a good running engine before I proceed with investing the time, effort and $ in replacing wiring harness and gen head repairs (stator or complete head).

Might have some time to try to start the engine this weekend. Will report back the results after my start attempt.

I purchased a 003a from a local sheriff's department one time, that had the wires cut in the same way. Some crack head wanting just a little cash was the cause. They caught him on camera. lol!