MEP-803A - New to me, excited to get it going.

[KD7CAO]

How does the motor sound when cranking? does it spin abnormally easy and smooth ( lack of compression pulses? )
The black goo leaking from the muffler joint indicates a fair amount of wet stacking has happened.
I've seen several 803's where the carbon buildup was causing the exhaust valve to not seat fully, resulting in Zero compression.
It was easy to fix, but wouldn't start otherwise.
If it cranks fast with little change in sound when pistons come up on compression ( combined with the pulsing you feel in the air cleaner ) leads me to think your valves may be hanging open a little.

No, it spins with some compression. Not as smooth as my 3 cylinder Yanmar on the John Deere. I am very suspicious about a stuck valve at the moment. It seems to be sucking and exhausting through the intake. I have got to figure out how to get this out of my truck and onto the ground. Such a pain climbing into the pickup bed to work on it.

 

[Ray70]

If no equipment is available, do you have a garage you could back into and set up a chain fall or come-along on a beam spanning a few roof trusses / rafters, or a decent tree branch outside you could back that Ram Dually ( I can tell ) under??
Pick it up and drive out from under it.

 

[KD7CAO]

If no equipment is available, do you have a garage you could back into and set up a chain fall or come-along on a beam spanning a few roof trusses / rafters, or a decent tree branch outside you could back that Ram Dually ( I can tell ) under??
Pick it up and drive out from under it.

I wish. I don't have any trees I can trust either. I'll probably end up yanking it on to my gooseneck trailer till I can acquire a different trailer to dedicate to it. Sure would be nice to find an affordable trailer that was made for these. My wife is already getting suspicious about my great price.

 

[KD7CAO]

Took the covers off the top last night. What a pain to unglue the sealant on the electrical bays. Just a small amount of leaf litter in the high voltage section. At first my heart sank thinking it was a mouse house, but alas zero signs of rodent mischievousness. I belive it is just fan blown litter from when a door was open.

All the connections look great too, very clean and no apparent oxidation. This also made it possible to vacuum out the radiator bay where some debris had accumulated.

 

[Light in the Dark]

No thats absolutely the start of a nest. You are lucky thats where it ended. Not all machines have the RTV sealant at the top. You will want to properly rodent proof the set once its out of your bed and into its final resting place. Its been covered in the forums, a bit of searching will yield your best results.

Make sure to contact clean everything, that you can and cannot see. Especially inside the orifices of the switch bodies.

 

[Ray70]

Before you replace the cover I would use Deoxit5 contact cleaner ( think you already got some ) and thoroughly clean the main AC select switch. spray it on the small openings around where the contacts come out the sides, then vigorously exercise the switch, rinse and repeat! D o the AM/VM switch on the main control panel too.

 

[Light in the Dark]

You will also want to do the S1 start switch with the same effort. Also there is a little jumper cable between 1 and 7 positions on the start switch. It appears its in place, but its got a directional component soldered into it. Wouldnt hurt to share some photos of what you have, to confirm its wired right, and in the right direction.