Opinions on MEP-831A

Well the good news is I think I figured out the problem. Bad news is I almost burned my truck and house down. Muffler caught on fire and generator was in my truck bed. I was running a 2.7kw load with the governor set to full throttle. It was holding the load but more smoke than I wanted. Then it started spewing a lot of smoke from the case. Since I was in manual full throttle I had to open the lid and manually shut it down. Luckily I knew where the fire extinguisher was.

I'm guessing when the genset had a new motor in '09 they used the original muffler.

I can only assume I experienced severe wetstacking. What else could cause a muffler to catch fire?

Anyone have a muffler they want to sell?

hammick said:

Well the good news is I think I figured out the problem. Bad news is I almost burned my truck and house down. Muffler caught on fire. I was running a 2.7kw load with the governor set to full throttle.

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That might go on record as a classic Good News/ Bad News story.

Sounds like that motor is hurt.

Somewhere I've posted the number for the guy in Florida that I've been buying parts from. Might be easier to jump on the most popular auction site on the web as there's a muffler on there right now.

Cord said:

Sounds like that motor is hurt.

Somewhere I've posted the number for the guy in Florida that I've been buying parts from. Might be easier to jump on the most popular auction site on the web as there's a muffler on there right now.

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Thanks. That muffler looks pretty used. I'd hate to get another restricted one. Let me know if you find that guy's number. Thanks.

Is it possible for a motor running properly to wetstack this bad or is it likely I have an excess fuel issue?

What color was the smoke? Coal black or did it have a tinge of blue? Generally wet stacking is only exhibited when a unit is under loaded. Mine has been showing some minor symptoms of wet stacking because I havn't been loading it hard enough. Honestly, I doubt yours wet stacked. If the problem is a broken ring, then I'd guess that you were putting compression to the crank case (hence the smoke) and were pushing oil into the combustion chamber which built up in the muffler until it reached flash point. If that turns out to be true then you got lucky the engine didn't run away. Probably would have if you didn't have it loaded.

What damage did the muffler suffer? Burned the paint off or did you warp it?

Not sure of the extent of the damage to the muffler but pretty sure it is toast. I'll pull it off after it has cooled down.

How do I go about diagnosing this engine? Should I start it up without the muffler and see if any oil is coming out?

The exhaust was only black when it was buckling under load.

I think the cannister was severly restricted or something made a nest in there. I was hearing small back fires and stuff was popping out of the muffler on occasion.

I know nothing about the genset other than it got a new engine and paint in '09 and has 15 hours on the engine. The inside looked new.

How reliable would the MEP-831A be if using for the only sourse of power at a off grid cabin? I do not run 24/7, rather 3 or four hours per day, and 12 to 14 hours during the Texas summer when AC is needed. I have been using MEP-002 and 3 generators and they simply make too much power and use too much fuel.
Also, has anyone run WVO in one of these engines?
Thanks in advance for your reply.

I've put about 150 hours on mine and it's only gotten more reliable as I've worked the bugs out. Our cabin is off grid as well and we've been using it for construction power. I can't stand leaving it run unloaded, so I've been shutting it down between cuts. 100x more reliable than the gasser it replaced and way more efficient. I built mine with a 30 gallon fuel tank and that tank is maybe 1/3 full. 25 gallons of fuel over 150 hours is pretty good in my book. If there is a single drawback, it's the oil change interval. There isn't much capacity so you have to watch the level and change the oil often. The biggest problem has been moisture getting in the transformer causing it to trip overload. Flip the cover open and running it for 20 minutes dries the unit right out.

Not sure. But mine with 15 hours on a reset started right up and ran perfectly. I then drained the fluids and fuel and added fresh fuel and it wouldn't make full power. I assumed it was wet stacked. Well a lot of trying to get it to run properly it caught fire and almost burned up my truck and house (long story). It's now caked in fire extinguisher gunk waiting for cooler weather to fix. Pretty sure the problem was a partially clogged injector. I had to buy a new exhaust and injector.

Fire started on the exhaust. I assume when I bled the injectors the diesel that got on the exhaust blanket caught fire. I was running it in manual start mode so the override temp circuit was disabled. Thankfully I was there when it caught fire. It was in the back of my truck. Had to lift the lid to move the arm to shut it down since in manual mode the dial shutoff doesn't work. I almost won the Darwin award.

If you can swing the extra cash get an MEP-802a. Mine is rock solid.

An oil change on the 831a takes less than three minutes and about 1 qt of oil. Not a big deal. Washable oil filter like a dirt bike.

Mono ammonium phosphate is corrosive so you need to scrub and hose it off asap.

Cord said:

Mono ammonium phosphate is corrosive so you need to scrub and hose it off asap.

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Crap! It's been on it for about three months. Thanks for the heads up. I did hose it off but not a real thorough scrubbing. It's stored inside.

Moisture activates the corrosion so that hose off might not be good. My skidsteer burned a several months ago it's surprising how much corrosion has occurred. Of course, it has been sitting outside so there has been plenty of moisture.

Cord said:

Moisture activates the corrosion so that hose off might not be good. My skidsteer burned a several months ago it's surprising how much corrosion has occurred. Of course, it has been sitting outside so there has been plenty of moisture.

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I have a Branson 40hp diesel tractor. What advice can you give me so it doesn't catch fire like your skidsteer or my genset?

Yea, keep the stray oil washed off of it. My machine lit up when I got a mapp torch too close to an injector return line and the oil soaked cloth jacket started on fire. The jacket burned like a cannon fuse. The line burned for a while until the fire got into the belly pan and started some soaked leaves on fire. Once the fuel filter popped even 3 extinguishers wouldn't put it out.

Cord said:

Yea, keep the stray oil washed off of it. My machine lit up when I got a mapp torch too close to an injector return line and the oil soaked cloth jacket started on fire. The jacket burned like a cannon fuse. The line burned for a while until the fire got into the belly pan and started some soaked leaves on fire. Once the fuel filter popped even 3 extinguishers wouldn't put it out.

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An out-of-control diesel fire is a scary thing ! Thankfully I've only experienced this twice in my life and that is 2 times to many !

Does anyone have the 24 volt battery number or brand.

ldeeoliphant said:

Does anyone have the 24 volt battery number or brand.

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Unless you want to spend over $500 on a battery I suggest you use a couple of motorcycle batteries in series.

You can see how I handled it here:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...ubleshooting&p=1667559&viewfull=1#post1667559

The stock 24v battery:
http://www.concordebattery.com/flyer.php?id=41

Yours for the low-low price of $549.
http://www.chiefaircraft.com/cb-rg24-15.html

This a thread that has been going a long time, so would like to hear opinions on these 831's now that the inverters are getting some age on them. I have had one that its inverter failed. Capacitors dry out and fail after a period time. Contacted OEM and they indicated that my units inverter had been built in 2000 and rebuilt the one time that they can be rebuilt again. They did not seem to be to surprised by failure. I also have had one governor module failure. This is on two 2010 and 2011 tier 2 rebuilds. Not a very good success rate, but it is a complicated piece of equipment. The governor control does not bother me as they can be purchased new for about $325. The inverters are another animal however, still working on quote, but I have feeling this will be more than the whole units are selling for. Will advise. I have been talking about these units to some other fellow members of SS who are interested in this size and efficiency, just wanted to see what other problems anyone has experienced. Just want to ensure that anyone reading can go into purchase with eyes wide open knowing that the beloved gen they paid $$$$ for has a shelf life that the other gen sets do not seem to have, by their simpler design. I have read a few threads about similar failures. I still love these units but that is waning.

So please chime in positively or negatively with your experiences with these 831's. Help your fellow SS members make informed decisions so money may be better spent on other OD green equipment.

Dwnorton1 said:

This a thread that has been going a long time, so would like to hear opinions on these 831's now that the inverters are getting some age on them. I have had one that its inverter failed. Capacitors dry out and fail after a period time. Contacted OEM and they indicated that my units inverter had been built in 2000 and rebuilt the one time that they can be rebuilt again.

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Is that just an expression, because capacitors are liquid-free elements (conductors separated by an insulator,) right?

Another Ahab said:

Is that just an expression, because capacitors are liquid-free elements (conductors separated by an insulator,) right?

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No. Lots of aluminum electrolytic capacitors use a wet type electrolyte. In fact most of the ones you will see are of the wet type and therefore subject to a drying out process.

The first few paragraphs here lay a lot of it out.