MEP-016D home finally

[SandBar]

It has two data plates, and going by the newer one it was rebuilt in 2006. Since then it has had a whopping 17 hours put on it. CARC is re-done also and looks great, with only a few minor scratches on top where someone stacked something on it. You know it looks good when the wife says "it looks really nice".

I am surprised to see it not only has the fuel tank on the yanmar, but a much larger belly tank installed. 24 volt starter looks new also.

I checked oil and fuel then went ahead and tried to start it. I couldn't help myself. With the decompression switch pushed in I gave it a pull, let up ion the switch and she came to life. Ran good till it ran out of fuel as the fuel valve was in the off position (doh).

I have to say it is quieter than everyone described. For being a 3400 RPM diesel it is much much quieter than my briggs gas generator. It also was surprisingly vibration free, ran great in the bed of my truck on a pallet.

So for less than 400 including shipping it to my doorstep I feel I got my moneys worth. It is a lot less work than my M1009 is going to be Oh yes, see pics below.

 

[strycnine]

Looks very nice!

I had to clean the tanks on both of mine. I also had to clean both inj pumps.

 

[SandBar]

Thanks. If it started and ran do I need to clean the injector pumps? Have you load tested either of yours? I keep reading they will do more than 3K, at 300lbs I believe it

 

[Speddmon]

Nice looking set!!!

It should easily do more than 3KW. Probably closer to 4.5 or 5 KW for extended periods.

Your injector pump is probably fine if the tank and fuel pumps looked good.

 

[strycnine]

I tested the to about 3k and they did fine. I didn't have anything else to add to the load.

Like Speddmon said, if the tank looks good you probaly be fine. Mine was full of rust.

 

[derf]

$400 delivered is a steal. I would buy several in that condition for that price right now.


It should run at 3600 not 3400.
It may be louder than your gas gen but sometimes things that are technically louder are more tolerable because of the frequencies they emit. Generally, lower frequencies are more tolerable at high levels than higher frequencies.
Look for trouble with the float switch inside the Yanmar tank. They are sometimes trouble.
The unit was probably DRMO'd for some minor issue.
If not the float switch in the tank then maybe the 24V pump that pumps from the belly tank to the Yanmar tank.
1 out of 10 or so gens I've gotten had no issues that I could find. The others mostly had something minor that was easily corrected.

It wasn't rebuilt in 2006 but the Yanmar conversion was done so the motor was new. Mine is very similar with the Yanmar being recent and the gen head being from the 60s.

 

[Isaac-1]

It sounds like you found a deal, I would not be concerned with running one of these at 4KW all day long under sane conditions, the 3KW rating is at up to 8,000 ft altitude and 120 degrees F (or at least the Onan powered MEP-016b is I assume it is the same for yours), I think most commercial / industrial standby units are rated at 86F.

Ike

 

[ETN550]

Long Reply..

That's a real nice gen set you bought at a great price. You will enjoy it very much. I highly recommend pulling the top tank inspecting for rust and having it sandblasted internally or de-rusted by the dip tank process. Every unit I have come across is severely rusted and some have pin holes when the rust is removed that need soldered up. The rust can destroy the fuel system. Just peace of mind. The other issues I have seen are air leaks around the sediment bowl and belly tank supply line. Easily fixed. Unless you just want to use the top tank the unit is designed to be operated with the belly tank. If the air leak problem is not fixed then the pump will just continue to run and suck air every time the top tank gets low on fuel.

Regarding load capability. They will run up to a true 4kw load but any more load than that they become overloaded to some extent. This generator uses a 6hp L70 Yanmar engine which is not the same as the bigger L100 10hp Yanmar used on the 016E. The L70 is 290cc displacement and the L100 is 406cc displacement which is 40% bigger. As a rule of thumb most commercial small generator's engines are about double the kw of the gen end in hp. For example a 2.5kw gen typically is matched to a 5hp engine. So the 016D is 3kw matched to a 6hp engine.

Will they do more? Yes. Being diesel and having the 6.7hp temporary rating it can go higher safely, but not for extended periods or in higher temps or altitudes. But most manufacturers do not recommend higher loads for more than 1 or 2 hours out of 12 running. In this case the machine is engine limited not generator limited. The 016E with the 10hp Yanmar is generator limited as there is enough engine on that one to smoke the generator if overloaded.

Let's be realistic and do some math on the 016D. 6hp constant rating x .745kw per hp = 4.47kw available at the engine. With 80% efficiency (reasonable assumption) at the generator 4.47 x .80 = 3.57kw max output, the realistic constant duty rating. For overload, 6.7hp x .745 x .80 = 3.99kw.

When going above the 3kw rating watch for black smoke in the exhaust. Do not run it in that condition for any long period as it will soot the oil. The engine only holds around 1 qt of oil and has no oil cooler so if it is run overloaded the oil should be changed afterwards. Change the oil every 25 hours if the unit is highly loaded and check the level frequently.

Remember that most small appliances do not come close to their stated loads. So it is easy to think that a machine is loaded much more than it actually is. An "1875" hair dryer shows 1625 watts on my load meter. My "6.5 peak hp" Sears shop vac draws 1650 watts at .92 power factor which is equal to 1793 watts to the generator. 6.5hp x .745 = 4.84kw or 4843 watts, way off from 1793, thank you Sears. A 15 amp outlet can only deliver 1800 watts at 120vac. (15 x 120 = 1800). The "Kill a Watt" meter is a great little device well suited to measuring these small loads accurately. I think it can measure up to 1800 watts.

 

[SandBar]

Great info, I will be cleaning it properly this week. I just wrestled the mep-002 onto the M353, now wondering where my bolts went to secure it

 

[GreenBull]

I picked my MEP-016D up from Columbus yesterday. Complete set minus one of the output lugs and the gasket for the fuel strainer bowl. Oil and fuel purged and some dust in the fuel tanks that will need to be flushed out.

 

[GreenBull]

Good news and bad news for GreenBull and his first MEP,

I cleaned the engine tank and the MEP-016D starts fine with 24v slave and on the first pull with the rope. L3 wiring is there, less the ring terminal. Good news!

This thing is blowing ginormous clouds of white smoke. Does not shut down with the governer control in stop and I had to kill with the fuel petcock. The oil strainer has a drip. L3 lug is MIA. A little blowback residue on the clean side of the air filter. Didn't get to generate yet. Bad news.

The 597 hours seems honest. Air cleaner off I see some bidirectional breathing while running. Hopefully its just tight valve adjustment and a valve adjust will cure my issues. I know diesels but don't have much experience using or working on these little guys.

Time to get into the TM and the Yanmar manual. Figure out the governor, valve adjust, R&I Injector, pump and oil strainer seems to be the first order of business for this unit.

Any Yanmar gurus are free to jump in. Thanks!

 

[GreenBull]

Well the bad news got worse. I'm pretty sure she is drinking her lube oil.

R&I the pump and the pump's ballstud was in the governor rack. NPF

R&I the rocker box. pulled it into hard compression and TDC, there was a nice tica-tica and even lash on both rockers. NPF

While running I cracked the line at the injector and it was burning white smoke as it died.

Stuck rings or a piston/liner issue is my guess. It sounds good although rpm seems low when it runs.

Next step is to pull the injector and fill the cylinder with top engine cleaner. I'll see how carboned the injector tip is. If it's ugly I've got some of the old school GM stuff that was good and I think I'm going to try that if I see heavy carbon. I'll give it a few days and even crank it through with the injector out and try to force it deeper into the rings.

The good thing is that everything has come apart with no gaskets required. I'm sure that the head won't be that way and think that a piston, rings and cylinder liner are likely in this Yanmar's future.

Again, any Yanmar experts feel free to chime in.

 

[Grove]

I have an MEP-016D that is doing the exact same thing. It runs and is very loud compared to my other ones. It blows white smoke, surges, and back fires sometimes blowing a flame out the exhaust. I'm looking for advice on this one.

Grove