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MEP002/MEP003 Hours

Deucenut

Member
64
0
6
Location
Provo, Utah
How many hours can I realistically expect to get out of a MEP002 or MEP003 if it is maintained regularly? I understand that they were overhauled at 5000 hours. Is that a realistic life expectancy?
 

Isaac-1

Well-known member
1,970
50
48
Location
SW, Louisiana
My understanding is the military considered them deployable at up to 5,000 hours, which would suggest a service life of longer than that. Over on the Smokstak generator board there are a few known documented cases of Onan DJB / DJC generators (which use the civilian version of the same engines as the MEP-002a / MEP-003a going over 10,000 hours between rebuilds, but these tended to have regular service, valve adjustment, etc. As well as a few with numbers WAY over that.
 

Jimc

Member
725
1
18
Location
Mullica, nj
to give you an idea, i pulled an 002 apart with 3600 hours and the hatch marks were still in the cylinder bores. if maintained i believe they are well over 10k. probably about double that.
 

johnray13

Member
121
0
16
Location
Chantilly, Va
I don't doubt for a minute the these units can make those hours but from what I have seen, many of they will require quite a bit for work after about a thousand hours. Mainly from neglect, rust/corrosion and UV (gummed/rusted/stuck fuel tanks, pumps, lines and IP, corroded controls and worn our rubber grommets, bushings and fuel lines).

Not a rebuild by any stretch but still costly and time consuming work. Once those are corrected the motor-gen end will still run strong for a long time.
 

Deucenut

Member
64
0
6
Location
Provo, Utah
Jim, thanks for the response. I have read several of your threads and gleaned much information from them.
Johnray, I understand that there will be issues that come up. I can handle those things much more easily than a full rebuild, not to mention finding rings and other rebuild parts.

I love this site!
 

Jimc

Member
725
1
18
Location
Mullica, nj
Absolutley john, thats why i restore the units the way way i do. Unless you really go through these things i think there will always be the annoying little issues. Imo, better to just go through them 100 and take care of everything so you have a really reliable unit. I think deuce's question was mire engine related.

if you look at most of the new generators with perkins, kubota, isuzu engines. Most of these manufacturers have rebuild times of 25k hours. I think with proper maintenance there is no reason why we should not get atleast close to that with our onan models. Of course withban 003 that would be close to $100k in deisel fuel at todays prices lol.
 
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