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Mep 002a no start

Chris454

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First I would like to thank everyone in advance for any help they can give me, I have never posted here before. I have an mep 002a that I acquired about 7 years ago with 12 hours on it from a tier 2 reset. I would start it every month and run my dryer off it to exercise it. I went out a few weeks a go and it was a crank no start. I check some basic things over and read some other threads here and found out about the broken plastic ball socket. mine was cracked so I replaced it, still no start. There is no white smoke out the exhaust when cranking so I am assuming it is a fuel problem. The plunger on the ip appears to be moving. It appears I am getting fuel from the ip to the injectors because when I remove the lines at the injectors and crank the engine fuel squirts out. I had a diesel tech from my job come by this weekend to help me and he is stumped. The first question I have is about the fuel return lines from the injectors. Is there supposed to be fuel going to those lines when the switch is in prime? When we crack the return lines and put the switch in prime there is fuel going tot he return lines. I have fuel returning to the tank when I am cranking the engine. Thank you again for any help.
 

Ray70

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If I read correctly you are getting fuel to the injectors but no smoke at all?
When you attempt to crank it have someone look at the fuel shut off solenoid. The solenoid should pull up and the throttle linkage should lift up to full open.
For the return lines, yes you will have fuel coming from the return lines when the pumps are running.
When cranking does it sound normal or does it spin excessively fast and smooth, without the compression pulsations?
If you hold your hand over the exhaust and attempt to block it will the exhaust force you hand away and leak out?
We need to determine if you have compression as well as fuel being sprayed out of the injectors.
 

Chris454

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thank you for your reply. yes the solenoid pulls up and the linkage lifts up. when the engine cranks it sounds normal and we believe the engine has compression. when we had the glow plugs out to ohm them we cranked the engine and it appeared to have good compression. we have no smoke at all out of the exhaust. the last time I ran it about a month a go it ran fine with no issues. I also drained the fuel out of the tank, replaced the fuel filters and cleaned the screens on the bottom of the electric pumps.
 

Guyfang

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A diesel needs just three things. Air. Fuel. Compression. You are missing one of those three things.

1. Are you sure your fuel is good? Not full of water? Not older then dirt?
2. If your fuel is good, and you take an injector line off the injector, and then hold the throttle linkage in the full fuel position, then crank it over. The fuel should come out in a serous spurt. Not dribble. It should shoot out.
3. Test compression. Don't guess.
4. If the fuel is good, and the IP is giving you a good spurt of fuel, and the compression is good, then it can only be air.
 

1800 Diesel

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I know this may be obvious, but are you using the pre-heat function? Even in warm weather these engines don't like to start unless I use the pre-heat. Once they've been running awhile, a re-start is not a problem but for a cold-iron start up they usually like the pre-heat for at least 30-45 seconds...

2nd, are the batteries & starter good & providing fast cranking speed?

Have you checked timing?

If you're positive the IP is sending high pressure fuel to the injectors, timing is correct, and pre-heat & crank speed are good, that leaves valves stuck open or not seating properly, or ring issues, thus no compression..However I don't believe any of these are the problem if you've been running the unit on a regular basis ....pointing back to pre-heat or cranking speed...
 

Chris454

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Ny ny
Yes I am using the preheat function, the glow plug circuit is good and both of the glowplugs ohm out to 5.6. Is it possible that both injectors are stuck? when we pulled the injectors out the head was dry, no sign of fuel. The fuel that comes out of the injector lines is not very powerful, it is a steady squirt. I understand things break( I am in the automotive repair field) but I am having a hard time digesting that it ran fine a month ago and now it is a no start. I keep a battery tender on the batteries so it cranks strong.
 

1800 Diesel

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Santa Rosa County, FL
Yes I am using the preheat function, the glow plug circuit is good and both of the glowplugs ohm out to 5.6. Is it possible that both injectors are stuck? when we pulled the injectors out the head was dry, no sign of fuel. The fuel that comes out of the injector lines is not very powerful, it is a steady squirt. I understand things break( I am in the automotive repair field) but I am having a hard time digesting that it ran fine a month ago and now it is a no start. I keep a battery tender on the batteries so it cranks strong.
Sounds like you may have found the culprit. Shy of taking the injectors apart, you can try soaking them in diesel a few days and then install the high pressure lines onto the injectors (out of the engine) and do a "bench test" to observe fuel spray/atomization quality, while cranking . Just don't let it spray on your skin!

This is still a very unusual situation. I've had an MEP-003A sit up for several years and it would start right up. Too late for your situation now, but I use TCW-III 2 cycle oil in all my diesel equipment since the current diesel has very low lubricity....once you sort this out, consider the oil addition & injector cleaner as regular ingredients in your fuel supply....
 

Ray70

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Chris, if you feel the injectors are not spraying fuel, I'm in RI and am set up to test, rebuild and set the pop pressure on these injectors.
If you are getting no smoke then for one reason or another you aren't getting fuel into the cylinders.
It seems very unlikely that both injectors would stick shut at the same time, but it is possible.
Even with no glow plug and slightly weak compression you would still see some smoke if you were getting fuel.
 

Chris454

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Ny ny
I have bled the lines many times. It has been sitting since last weekend. Yesterday I said let me try to start it. After cranking for a while I got white smoke out of the exhaust and it fired up, I shut it down to get my meter to set the frequency and hook up my dryer to run the unit and it wouldn’t restart again after that, but I am getting white smoke out of the exhaust now after it cranks. I guess that is some sort of progress.
 

Ray70

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Location
West greenwich/RI
I have a suspicion that your plunger guide has skipped 90*
If you are able to get it to start again, let ir run a bit and see if it gets abnormally hot, especially in the valve cover area.
If so, I bet the dogbone skipped but did not split open. I've seen this a couple times before. It usually results in smoke but either difficulty starting or no start at all. if it does start it will usually get hot too fast.
 

Chris454

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Location
Ny ny
I was just able to get it started again but I had to spray it with wd40 to get it to fire. It seemed to run ok but a little noisier than I remember but that is probably because I have the ask off. I let it run for a minute then shut it off. Now it won’t restart and I am back to no smoke out of the exhaust when it cranks.
 

Guyfang

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Is it possible for you to pull the per-heaters? And them hook them up to see if they work? Also, have you checked to see if the per-heaters are getting power?
 

Chris454

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Ny ny
When you say the pre heaters are you referring to the glow plugs? If so, yes I have removed the glow plugs and ohmed them out both had about 5.6 ohms resistance and I checked power at both glow plug connections with a test light and they are getting power.
 
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Guyfang

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Yes, glow plugs is what I wanted to say, but after speaking german all day, sometimes those kind of words escape me. You haven't by any chance adjusted the fuel cut off linkage have you? Or is it loose? If you have someone hold the linkage in the full fuel position and you start it it, will it run?
 

Chris454

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Location
Ny ny
I didn’t adjust the linkage but this all started with the plastic ball socket being cracked. I ordered a new one and installed it onto the rod to where the stop nut was. I assumed that was the position of the old one .
 

Chris454

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Location
Ny ny
Guyfang you may be onto something. I had my wife against her wishes crank the generator and I lifted up the thing and it fired right up. I thought this is great I set the frequency with my meter, it seemed to be running great hooked it up and under load it almost stalled out, took the load away and it went back to idle , applied load and it almost stalled out again. Could this all be caused by an adjustment on the plastic ball socket?
 
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