Beginner Mep-802a owner with water in exhaust has questions

[DaChLi]

Picked up my set from Ft. Meade and like others have water in exhaust. I used a shop vac and sucked it out of muffler, removed muffler and exhaust manifold and sucked it out of the exhaust ports in the head. I then put a socket on the crank pully and the engine does rotate. What does anyone think about pouring atf thru exhaust ports at this point as the engine does turn? Would it still remove any corrosion or contaminants? Is it better to atf thru the injector ports? Does fluid normally flow so much inside the head? I imagine residual atf would burn off inside the head when the engine is running? Also, if i remove an injector would an inspection camera be able to view the inside of the cylinder. I imagine the passageway is too small. I'm trying to see what's inside without pulling the head. So far i feel lucky, all the panels are there, the engine turns over, and all the components appear to be there minus the battery trays and hold downs and secondary fuel housing(which i believe i found on ebay). Thanks for helping a beginner....

 

[max bowtie]

I would pour some ATF into the injector ports and let it soak for a bit as it lessens the chance of breaking a ring although you have already turned the engine over. While thats is soaking for a few days to a week you can work on the rest of the generator but it is good that it did turn over. Just remember, you can't compress water so you need to be certain that all the water is out of the cylinders!

 

[avc8130]

Pull the injectors and put a few spoon fulls of ATF in. Let it soak a bit. Then add some more then next day or so and rotate the engine over.

Don't fret TOO much about the water. Yes, technically it won't compress. If you vacuumed it out and then turn the engine over with the injectors out there won't be enough left to do serious damage.

Get a LOT of oil ready. You will be doing a lot of oil changes to clear this up. I assume you already drained the gallon of water from the crank case?

When you first crank it with the starter and get it running, it will rain nasty diesel/rust/grossness water.

ac

 

[DaChLi]

Yes, the first thing i did was open the oil drain. I don't know if it was as much as a gallon that came out, but it was a milky oil/mostly water mix. Thankyou both for the responses, i think i'll let the atf soak for a number of days, start with a little, wait a day, turn the engine, go slow with it. I figured i'll have atleast a few oil changes to do, provided it does get running. so far so good. maybe i'll find a pipe or something to connect to the exhaust so i can control the junk that comes out when it starts. Got to get the coolant, oil, fuel and batteries soon.

 

[avc8130]

Yes, the first thing i did was open the oil drain. I don't know if it was as much as a gallon that came out, but it was a milky oil/mostly water mix. Thankyou both for the responses, i think i'll let the atf soak for a number of days, start with a little, wait a day, turn the engine, go slow with it. I figured i'll have atleast a few oil changes to do, provided it does get running. so far so good. maybe i'll find a pipe or something to connect to the exhaust so i can control the junk that comes out when it starts. Got to get the coolant, oil, fuel and batteries soon.

Drain the oil, fill it with fresh oil. Get ready to change the oil often. Heck, change the oil in your truck and use what you take out to flush this motor. You WILL need 3-4+ changes to get it clear. Steal the batteries from your cars or something. You don't want to be $200 into batteries if the thing is a flop.

 

[m-35tom]

I would never start or run an engine that has had water in the cylinders. you are just asking for trouble and unreliability. pull the head and see what is there, it may be ok or it may be bad. These may have sat for many months or more with water. You may need to pull the pistons and clean things up or you can cause serious damage.

 

[DaChLi]

avc8130 - good advice about the batteries, i'll take one from my truck and one from her suv when the time comes. I was going to pull the head, but unsure how difficult it is. is it simply unbolting it, checking out the internal of the cylinder, replacing head gasket(hear therre is a better redesigned gasket now), and bolting it back in?

 

[avc8130]

avc8130 - good advice about the batteries, i'll take one from my truck and one from her suv when the time comes. I was going to pull the head, but unsure how difficult it is. is it simply unbolting it, checking out the internal of the cylinder, replacing head gasket(hear therre is a better redesigned gasket now), and bolting it back in?

Yeah...to a degree. That is the gist of how the head comes off.

ac

 

[DaChLi]

Any idea if I take the head off and rotated the engine slowly, if it would affect the timing and valves? Could I just put the head back on if I had rotated the crank?

 

[max bowtie]

You will not effect timing by removing the heads. You can remove them and turn the engine over

 

[DaChLi]

Thanks max!

 

[Ratch]

I drained at least 1 gallon from my new one last night. I vac'd water from the exhaust and would like to pull the head before I attempt to rotate it.
Is it possible to reuse the head gasket? Just thinking I don't want to sink money into it until I know it's a runner.

On the bright side, the water did drain, which means the block isn't cracked. I'm thinking it sat outside for a lonnnnnnnng time. The latest dates I could find on units I looked at while recovering were in 2011. Water could feasibly have been entering this engine for 3 years, getting only as high as the oil fill port or filter port.

 

[m-35tom]

you will also need to get the correct head gasket, they used to come in 3 thickness. be sure to follow the instructions for letting the lifters bleed down before you crank it after it is back together or serious damage can occur. read and understand the engine manual before you take it apart. it is not the best written or easy to follow, but it may be all that is available.

 

[DaChLi]

Would anyone know the correct part no. for the revised and latest head gasket? I'm going to pull the head and replace the gasket incase it turns out to be a good runner. What about a part no. For the upper engine reseal or decarbon kit? Are there other gaskets other than the head gasket to replace while I'm removing the head? Thanks for the advice on bleeding the lifters down. I intend to read the lpw2 manual as well as the tm's on the mep-802a. Valve cover gasket? Exhaust manifold gasket?

 

[Ratch]

I don't know the head gasket part number, so I can't help with that.

However, I had poured about a pint of ATF into the cylinders through the exhaust ports before heading out of state friday night. When I returned last night, I poured ina little Marvel Mystery oil, figuring the ATF had drained down by then and the Marvel would be a decent thin lube to start with.
I opened the crankcase drain and nothing came out... Then I accidentally turned the engine, and it turns out none of the ATF drained down as I expected it to. But the cranked turned so easy I figured it couldn't have any significant corrosion, so I kept going until it hydrolocked. Then I took out the injectors, and continuously turned the crank and sucked out/soaked up the fluids I'd poured in. My nice clean motor is now filthy with fluid spillage, but with that much water in it for that long, i wanted to go a little overboard.
It seems to have worked. Everything is reassembled and it turns super-easy and smooth until the compression stroke. No noises from the block like I'd expect from rust, either. Then it gets tough, but goes through it.
I may try to start it tonight.

 

[avc8130]

Ratch,

Keep us posted with what you find. I got one of mine that was "stuck" to spin. There was significant rust build up on the cylinder walls. We wound up pulling the head and are working to restore the cylinder.

ac

 

[DaChLi]

Yes Ratch, please post your progress. I'm curious myself why some water sat above the cylinder and some seeped into the crankcase, I bet the water was in there a long time to slowly seep into the crankcase. On the positive side for me is that all the tech manuals for generator and engine manuals and part no's I found online, there is a ton of it. Army TM,s for DN2M-1 engine look good, then lister petter has 4 I could see for the lp2w which is supposed to be same engine

 

[ETN550]

you will also need to get the correct head gasket, they used to come in 3 thickness. be sure to follow the instructions for letting the lifters bleed down before you crank it after it is back together or serious damage can occur. read and understand the engine manual before you take it apart. it is not the best written or easy to follow, but it may be all that is available.

The updated head gasket is one size fits all per Lister Petter. No need to know which of the three original sizes it was. I put one on mine, no issues. I don't have the part number handy. The LP guy I bought mine from did not need any info, Just told him it was LPW2 engine and he sent me correct head gasket and top end "decarb" gasket kit.

These engines have head gasket issues and the new design fixes it so its a worthwhile thing to do anyway, regardless.

 

[Ratch]

I'm curious myself why some water sat above the cylinder and some seeped into the crankcase, I bet the water was in there a long time to slowly seep into the crankcase.

Piston rings are never a perfect seal, so water will drain down past the piston eventually. They're usually a good enough seal to make good compression on a quick upward stroke. If you crank it by hand slowly, you'll find it's much easier than cranking it fast, because you're giving the air more time to leak through the rings. Maybe not much easier, but easier.
Oil being thicker than water, it will take longer to drain past. But very un-worn rings, rust, etc, will help the seal and slow the drain.

I agree, for the amount of water I took out of this motor to have entered through rain and snow in the exhaust, it sat for a lonnnng time collecting water.
I feel good that the motor turned so smooth and held the oil so long, but who know what ice did to the ring tolerances, bearings, etc. I may have hairline cracks that pop up after the first hour of run time, so I'm still trying to wait to pour money into it. I bought a couple oil filters and gallons of Dino oil to,run through it before really going deep.

 

[oliveone]

Looking at a few 802a. hope that yours will run with some work.