MEP-803A Fuel Gauge Pinned at about 95 Hours on the Clock

[Mweiss]

I was in the hospital with stomach cancer when my wife did a video call as I guided her to start the genset and charge the battery bank on a rainy day. She showed me the panel and I knew something wasn't right seeing the fuel gauge not in its customary scale reading. When I got home from the hospital and surgery, I took this picture. A few days later, I opened the panel and measured across the meter terminals. When the start switch is in the fuel pump position, I read 5 volts across this meter, which seems way too high. Most meters are 50mV FS and under. So something happened with the circuit that drives the meter.
When I Google the problem, it's always the opposite--fuel needle pinned to the left. My case seems unusual.

We've been having constant rain and thunderstorms all month, so the generator got at least weekly and sometimes twice weekly use and I hit the 100 hour mark this week and did the oil change. New Wix filter and Shell Rotella Diesel synthetic oil, per recommendations I found elsewhere on the forum. I unscrewed the plug and opened the valve down below. Expected it to pour out like a faucet, but instead, it slowly dribbled out. Took over an hour to drain. Would have taken two hours, but that I found that if I remove the old oil filter and dead crank it a few seconds, another quart would come out very rapidly from the oil filter port. I got two quarts out that way. But wondering why draining oil from these units is so slow? Instead of going into the pan I put under the outlet, it ran down the rails and inside the unit, making a mess that took me 20 minutes to clean up with a lot of paper towels. Hoping I can find a way to improve the flow so it's not so messy next oil change.

Other than the fuel gauge issue, the generator has been putting in yeoman service. And it's a good thing I got it just in time. My Northstar generator, which has been up for sale for 10 months (Honda V-twin engine with 303 hours on the clock) blew a piston ring today while I was running it to maintain it from taking on moisture. Engine sticker says "made in China" so maybe that's not a real Honda engine. Being I purchased that in 2011, I'm sure Honda won't honor the warranty. So now I need to find a good small engine repair shop that can fix it so I can put it back on the market.

 

[justinn]

Sorry to hear about the Big C.... Hope everything turns out ok

Funny, I have a 75 hour 803 with the same issue. Here's the rub though..... If I run it for 10 minutes, it automagically fixes itself until I let the gen sit again. I haven't dove in to it yet as it's not a pressing matter(since it has a mind of its own), so if you happen to discover what's causing it, please post it here. I will do the same, although it might be a couple of months before I pull it back down.

On the oil, I've found the same thing.... it takes forever. I usually just use the suction method out of the dipstick. It's faster, and I am certain that I get more oil out that way. The factory drain is not the lowest point of the pan, so I prefer to vacuum it out. Some people might cause it laziness, but I call it efficiency

Justin

 

[Ray70]

On the gage/sender you can have it pinned all the way up or all the way down, it just depends where the problem lies.
You have a 24V+ line , ground line and a sensor line.
Verify you have 24V between the I and G screws
You then need to disconnect the "S" wire from the gage and read the resistance to ground on that wire.
A short to ground will send the gage up and an open will send it down.
The problem could also be a broken wire inside the gage itself, but start by verifying the sending unit in the tank is good.
IIRC you should have around 33 ohms when the tank is full and 230 ohms when it's empty.

A tip on oil change, get the oil hot then drain it, otherwise it takes forever and a day.... with it hot it only takes a day.....

 

[Mweiss]

Thanks for the helpful insights on what to expect on the oil changes. I thought there might be something obstructing the exit pipe, but glad to hear it's normal. The idea of using a vacuum pump to suck out the old oil sounds like a good idea. Any recommendations for such equipment would be appreciated.

The gauge measurement data is going to be a huge help. I'll run those tests when the rain stops in a couple of days. I'm running the generator now, as solar only brought in 10kWh all day. About 90 minutes run will top off batteries.

My cancer came as a complete surprise. Doctor said the bleeding may have been caused by the Plavix I am on for heart failure (last year's 2nd major heart attack). Had stomach cancer surgery to remove stromal tumor. Am recovering, but lost so much blood that I am anemic and out of breath all the time. I'm busy getting the manual for the house main infrastructure prepared, so my wife can know how to handle things after I am gone.

 

[marchplumber]

Being prepared is crucial for the survivors!! Been there, done that......

As a plumber, I hear it all the time.....husband/wife passed.....other is "lost" about details of household....

God is with you!!