Just picked up my 803A: story + questions

[JRM]

Wow quite the week! won a rust free 803A on wed. It was located across the highway from the Yarma marine storage facility in Cali- 997 miles away. They said they would be available for pickup until 4pm Friday, luckily I already had Friday off for a hunting trip. Got off work at 6pm Thursday and did some quick math, If I left now I could possibly pick it up Friday vs Saturday so loaded my truck with a floor jack, tools, air compressor, pintel hitch, magnet lights, spare tires, sleeping bag, gallon of water and some power bars. Left home at 8:00PM made Shasta lake by 2AM and it was storming like crazy with record rain and flooding- found a sweet rest stop looking over the lake but the heavy rain and parking lot flooding took away from the peacefulness. Woke up at 5AM and hit the road. Got out of the rain south of Sacramento and wow do people drive fast, I had the cruse set at 80 and I was being passed like I was going backwards so I took it up to the speed limiter (new Michelin tires) for a hour but the fuel consumption dropped to 11 mpg so I backed off to 80 as the time lost fueling was drastic. Made Bakersfield and got them on the phone, GPS had arrival at 4:09 ok with them. New rain storm on hwy 58 east, crazy flooding with inches of sanding water- had to drop to 60 so the GPS starting tacking on minutes to my arrival time. Got over the hill and the rain turned into a crazy sand storm- wet windshield was covered in red dust that turned to a smearing mess- everyone was going slow slow slow (with good reason) Got there by 4:36 and they asked where my flatbed was- im like, I am pulling it home.... tires on it were very low- well good thing for my compressor- fired up the 803A and pumped the tires up to 30psi. pulled it outside the gate so they could go home and got it all hitched up perfectly. Way home was long and boring with the cali speed limit of 55 when pulling any trailer. I held 65 with no trouble and had it up to 75 a few times once I got into Oregon without trailer speed limits- no swaying and it pulled really nice! 2058 miles and $350 in fuel later I am now home.

Now to the questions:
1. Do most simply leave these outside or should I buy a small shed to keep it in? I want it to stay nice
2. Coolant Looks terrible- Should I use the same coolant as my Dodge Cummins http://www.peakhd.com/product-lines/fleet-charge/about/
3. Can these idle? Iv never been a fan of engines that race up to working RPM without warm-up.
4. My friend really likes the trailer with its black out lights and Aluminum construction. Has anyone sold these trailers and if so wants a rough $$ to ask?
5 Mine has s dent in the back, pulled the panel and the dent also dented the fuel tank on the right side see last pict- no leaks but its sure pushed in- anything to be worried about?

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
Congrats on the pickup.
They live there life outside. But, that does not mean it has too. A canopy, a lean too, a roof, a shed, a garage, anything will last better under rooftop.
Coolant = heavy duty diesel type.
Note: when draining coolant, the coolant drain on the front of the engine is a bear to get at.

Can these idle? = NO, you do not want that. The engine should start and run the same speed you had when shut down. That means your needles should be pointing right where they should be. 60-61.5 Hz, single phase 120/240 volts. Plus, its a electronics thing. Things will burn out and blow. The speed control should be set and only moved to fine tune the Hz

You start the unit and let it warm. Its in the manual too.

shut down=
turn off your load, let unit run unloaded to cool down, power off.

I have a few forum post with some tips
MEP 8xx series filters and such
24volt charging
fuel return line replacement

other odd notes,
the convenience outlets on the front are 10amp max., diesel generators like to run loaded. Wet stacking=diesel engine not running loaded for a long time and wet, gooey, unburned diesel buildup starts leaking all over, over time is can hurt the engine. There are some notes around saying the 10kw should be loaded at 30% or higher. When the unit has run for a long time at a very low use, you could run it at a high load the clear out the pipes for a little while.

Trailer prices = whatever someone wants to pay. It seems the 1102 genset trailers have been selling from the auctions pretty pricey in California.

Trailer lighting = For a1101/1102 trailer which will live behind a 12volt vehicle, and has incandescent bulbs.
Rear brake, turn light bulbs #1683 24v bulbs swamped to #1156 12v bulbs
Marker lights all round #1251 24v bulbs swapped to #97 12v bulbs

 

[JRM]

Thanks for the info! Those links are priceless as I have been thumbing threw the manuals for filter numbers

 

[JRM]

My dad is a Electrician (after retiring from the USAF F106 pilot) and I am a mechanic and we are both blown away at how neat this unit is- I love the fact that its ultra serviceable and my father loves the adjustments and gauges. After buying the wife a 2014 VW TDI and finding that it runs so hot during a regen (1300F EGT) the coolant gel's and clogs the heater core- then finding there is no radiator drain on a VW I must say working on the 803A is simply a pleasure. Fresh coolant is already in and the fuel has been drained and inspected for water and algae. Zero buyers remorse!

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
Some other hints.
Sometimes the spin-on fuel filter was put on by King Kong. I totally destroyed the filter finally getting it off. None of the civilian fuel spin-on filters have a bottom drain which the hose connection fits. I am not worried about draining water thru the filter. The other gotcha, the cartridge fuel filter. The cartridge cup needs to be put on and the seem needs to be in the slot all the way around. If not, it will leak. You will then need to unbolt it and try again. Some have used a little grease to hold the rubber gasket up in place. Fuel return lines, since your unit was in CA, they might start weeping shortly. That is where the inside rubber is breaking down. The fuel return line is also known as VW yellow stripe fuel return hose 3.5mm. You will soon find out how much the MEP-803A can handle at home. 10kw all day long.