• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

 

mep-16a problem

jackasol

New member
4
0
0
Location
MT
I'm stumped and I cant find the answer in the manuals. HELP!!

I have a 3KW mep-16 and when i started it last it ran fine. last week i tried to start it and it wont stay running unless I'm squirting gas into the carb.

-fuel pump is pumping fuel and will suck fuel into sediment bowl when primed.
-engine runs and act otherwise normally when i feed it fuel with a squirt bottle
-changed oil and fuel out.
-cleaned out carb of goo.
-have electronic ignition system
-generator has always needed a squirt down the pipe to keep it going until it warmed up.

for a while it was kinda running by itself, but not at speed and not smoothly. choke could be used to keep it running but it wouldnt run up to speed.

I cant figure out what the top most screw on the carb does, but I have tried to adjust the lower and upper to get it to run but cannot get it to run normally.

I need specific instructions on what to do when adjusting the carb, as the manual does not say what that top screw does (it's not the idle adjustment but may be mixture)

I'm stumped.... help.

Jack
 

rosco

Active member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,102
27
38
Location
Delta Junction, Alaska
Hi Jack

Welcome! A genset once gave me fits - it turned out to be a faulty "low oil warning switch", but it sounds like fuel. Can't give more insite then that.

Good luck

Lee in Alaska
 

jackasol

New member
4
0
0
Location
MT
my sediment bowl gasket has always been weak. it's got a homemade deal in there now, and I thought for a while it might have been sucking air, but the pressure at the discharge side of the pump seems more than adequate to feed it even if it is suckin some air.

do the mep-16's have an oil pressure switch? ive run into that issue with more modern gensets.
 

Crash_AF

Active member
1,530
7
38
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Have you checked, cleaned, and properly gapped the spark plug? Is it making good clean spark?

It sounds like a fuel issue, but I've also seen gunky plugs make them run like crap.

If the plug is clean, I would lean towards carb problems as the major issue. Did you clean the entire carb or just the float bowl? It almost sounds like the float is hung and it's not filling the carb bowl up.

Later,
Joe
 

jackasol

New member
4
0
0
Location
MT
i just cleaned the carb bowl out, but did spray the rest of it out as best i could. the carb is relatively new and few hours on it.

I wonder if I put the float back in right? I put those little teeth on the float into the oblong shaped spring loop where it shuts the flow off. is there some float adjustment in ther i need to be concerned with?

I have not cleaned the plugs recently either, but it does seem to run smoothly when it get fuel.
 

Crash_AF

Active member
1,530
7
38
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
We fought with the carbs on those things all the time. Our NCOIC finally had the carbs put on bench stock and when they acted up we just swapped them out and tossed the old one.

My guess would be that the float is adjusted wrong and not allowing the carb to fill with fuel. That or there is garbage in the seat that is blocking the flow into the bowl.

Later,
Joe
 

peyton

Member
69
10
8
Location
houston, tx
We fought with the carbs on those things all the time. Our NCOIC finally had the carbs put on bench stock and when they acted up we just swapped them out and tossed the old one.

My guess would be that the float is adjusted wrong and not allowing the carb to fill with fuel. That or there is garbage in the seat that is blocking the flow into the bowl.

Later,
Joe
Those carbs give nothing but trouble with modern, alcohol added, gasoline. The floats are a foam material which will swell and stick against the float bowl sides. Maybe open, maybe closed or somewhere in between. Tried sealing them with gas tank sealer but it didn't work. I'm converting mine to propane/natural gas to avoid the problem.

Peyton
 

m139h2otruck

Member
569
5
16
Location
NH
Installed new carb from Saturn, and in one month the "new" gas caused the float to swell so the float sticks shut. Sanded the outside edge and coated with gas tank patch sealer and it has worked OK since. Also, run the carb out of gas when done so the float bowl is empty while idle.
 

peyton

Member
69
10
8
Location
houston, tx
Installed new carb from Saturn, and in one month the "new" gas caused the float to swell so the float sticks shut. Sanded the outside edge and coated with gas tank patch sealer and it has worked OK since. Also, run the carb out of gas when done so the float bowl is empty while idle.
What brand of gas tank sealer did you use? It didn't work for me but maybe you have a better sealer. Mine was a POR product. Glad it worked for youi ... hope for the rest of us.

Peyton
 

m139h2otruck

Member
569
5
16
Location
NH
Have to look again at the sealer tube, it was sold as a tank sealer and was heavy bodied like glue. I think that by running the fuel out of the carb bowl when done with the unit is more important, so the float is not exposed to the fuel while stored. Since the 2a016 engines also use the same carb, we do the same thing with the two 1.5 kw gen sets.
 

jackasol

New member
4
0
0
Location
MT
well thank you for your input, That did it. It was the little filter going into the bowl that was plugged. I also cleaned the float seat and the rest of the stuff in the bowl. gave er a tug or two and she started up, tuned the carb and now she runs like a top again!!

The float looked good. I try to drain all the fuel out of the carb by letting it run dry before it gets put away til next use. I also use PRI-G in the fuel and a little marvels mystery oil to help keep the system lubed up. hopefully that'll keep er runnin for a while longer.

I'm actually lookin to sell it. what should I be asking for it with a spare parts generator and a bunch of oil filters and some spare parts?

How many horsepower is that engine?
 

doghead

4 Star General /Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
26,247
1,166
113
Location
NY
Gods Country, is not a state, please change to your state(atleast). This is a site requirement.
 

Guyfang

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
15,676
21,606
113
Location
Burgkunstadt, Germany
I'm stumped and I cant find the answer in the manuals. HELP!!

I have a 3KW mep-16 and when i started it last it ran fine. last week i tried to start it and it wont stay running unless I'm squirting gas into the carb.

-fuel pump is pumping fuel and will suck fuel into sediment bowl when primed.
-engine runs and act otherwise normally when i feed it fuel with a squirt bottle
-changed oil and fuel out.
-cleaned out carb of goo.
-have electronic ignition system
-generator has always needed a squirt down the pipe to keep it going until it warmed up.

for a while it was kinda running by itself, but not at speed and not smoothly. choke could be used to keep it running but it wouldnt run up to speed.

I cant figure out what the top most screw on the carb does, but I have tried to adjust the lower and upper to get it to run but cannot get it to run normally.

I need specific instructions on what to do when adjusting the carb, as the manual does not say what that top screw does (it's not the idle adjustment but may be mixture)

I'm stumped.... help.

Jack

This is an old thread, but have not seen this question (In red letters) posed before in the forum. The answer to the question is, the screw on top of the carb goes all the way down to the carb bowl. Its a way to bleed air out of the bowl. In addition, you can pull the screw out of the carb, and pour a bit of gas into the hole, replace the screw, and you have much better chances of starting a gen set that has been standing dry for a long time. It primes the carb.
Open to read comments.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks