Won My First GL Genset Trailer

[bambambam22]

Can anyone please tell me where to find the TM's for the 30KW trailor mounted generator?

 

[b2948kevin]

Try here: Military Generators

 

[b2948kevin]

Just found a good lead on Onan New Old Stock (NOS) parts. It seems that the glow plugs (onan#333-0242) are obsolete without replacement, but can
be found here:

onangeneratorpartsplusmore.com - Home

Again, I'm looking to provide a good source of information for those who come behind me.

 

[bambambam22]

So close but not teh one I have, The numbers I can find on my generator that I know is a 30KW with the Quiet run kit are MEP-005A and MEP-005AAS and taht web site jumps from 004 to 006. May you can tell me if this is what I think it is there is a spot in the ID Tag that is titled TM 5-6115-465-12
TO 35C2-3-446-1
Model number MEP 005A
NSN 6115-00-118-1240
Does any of this help?

 

[bambambam22]

Maybe it would be better if I just tell you guys the problem. I have a Mechanic working on the generator updating it to common parts and removing the military specific parts. Everything was working great and all the changes were working great and all of a sudden it will not store a magnetic field. Or something like that. It will not tell it’s self to start making electricity unless he uses a 9 volt battery to excite something but when he uses the 9 volt battery everything works just like it is suppose to. but he said something about it not storing the magnetic charge that it needs to excite the field and I have no idea what he is talking about but I do know right now I have a 3000lb paperweight and everything I have put in it to buy it ship it and rebuild it to make it work better but instead it does not work at all. Does any of this make any sense? Please help maybe someone could give me there phone number and I can pass it to the mechanic and you could help him figure it out. He says it is something simple that he is overlooking or does not know about the military application. He is a good mechanic and a good guy but I am up a creek right now.

 

[b2948kevin]

Rickf, your post solved my issue. after you mentioned the shutdown solenoid, I went into a research frenzy to figure out what that was. All it took was for me to go out, prime the fuel, compress the fuel cutoff solenoid (figure 7-1 on page 129 in TM 05926B/06509B-34/3), and it came to life in about 2 seconds flat. Thank you!

Next question - Anyone know where I can get a replacement/rebuild? I will be researching the correct adjustment for these tonight, and I will attempt this tomorrow.

Also, when it came to life, it was dang noisy! Sounded like there was no lubrication in the engine. I only ran it for about 20 seconds or so before shutting it off and it didn't improve much. I checked the oil after the short run and it was a little below the low fill line. I am thinking that I am just barely priming the oil cooler and filter. I'll definitely be filling this up before the next test. Anyone know if this is normal? I have heard that these are pretty noisy in general, but how can I tell if there is something wrong vs just normal noisy operation?

 

[Isaac-1]

These military units have control systems that flash the field on starting, most commercial control systems do not have this. If he has replaced the military control system and voltage regulator with a common commercial unit this may be part of the problem, but honestly without knowing exactly what he has done I am worried he has turned your working generator into a paperweight.

Ike

 

[bambambam22]

If he hooks everything back up like it was will it still work like it did before anything was changed? ( Duuu) it did have one bad of the 6 diodes and he replaced all 6 just to be sure. Could changing out the controler mess that up also?

 

[b2948kevin]

Just exchanged some emails with Mike from onangeneratorpartsplusmore.com and I found that the part number on the solenoid is 307-2386. I did a search and didn't come up with anything. I'll be researching the circuit function on this solenoid tonight so that I can figure out if it's acting properly. Worst case, I'll contact an Onan/Cummins shop locally to see if they can find the part.

BTW, Mike has some NOS glow plugs in stock right now. These are obsolete with no replacement, so it would be prudent to pick some up if you have these gensets. He has an ebay store as well. I bought one.

Anyone know off hand what will trigger this solenoid to extend? I know that low fuel will. What else?

 

[Beerslayer]

I bought a couple of the same units from that sale, one for me, one for my Dad. Best deal on the correct 4HN battery was from Batteries Plus at $131. I looked hard for an alternative. They first wanted to sell me some "cheap" lawn tractor batteries but by the time you get two of them and make a cable, it was not worth it. It took them a week to get the 4HNs from the Deka distributor in Washington, but the wait was worth it. They fit.

I ran Delo 400 for motor oil, same as the Deuce.

Watch out for fuel tank contamination on these units, they have been sitting with empty fuel tanks for quite a while. Look before you fuel. Mine were full of guck.

Both generators didn't want to start even with the glow plugs heating for 30 seconds, so I had my lovely assistant point an electric heat gun into the intake and they took off. After having been run once, then sitting for two weeks, they fired after three seconds of cranking. They just needed to run once.

A propane torch also works good for intake heat if you trust your assistant with fire.

 

[b2948kevin]

Ok, here's an update:

I ran the battery low by cranking over the second generator. For some reason, It wouldn't keep fuel prime. I ordered a Schumaker 24v battery charger off of Amazon and got a chance to crank the genset over yesterday. At first, I had the same priming issue, but after cranking and pumping with the manual fuel pump about a million times, it finally started! Boy, these things sure knock when you first get them started. Likely due to them being stored without oil and needing to get some fluid moving for the first time in years.

While it was running, it began to surge and the solenoid would randomly pop out. I was worried about this and spent some time investigating before I just got tired and held the solenoid back and manually manipulated the governer to keep the genset running. After about 2 minutes, I noticed that the surging stopped, and after about 4-5 minutes, the solenoid stopped firing. Not sure why this was happening (though I have theories), but it worked itself out in a matter of minutes. The set also stopped knocking and started running more smoothly.

One thing I noticed is that the return fuel lines (the small braided one) on both gensets are wet and weeping fuel slowly. This is not surprising, and I ordered a couple of meters from mercedessource.com (look for the braided fuel return line for the W123 Diesel) as a replacement.

 

[b2948kevin]

I did some rudimentary testing on the power output on these sets using the convenience outlets on the front connected to a 1500 watt room heater. I am a better mechanic (still less than decent ) than electrician.

On genset #1

• I am having trouble keeping the Hertz at a constant 60 as it likes to wander. I hear this is not uncommon. Any ideas on improving this?
• The load guage shows about 30% total load while running the heater at full
• All guages seem to work correctly

On genset #2

• Not a lot of wandering issues, but the voltage knob doesn't seem very reactive
• The load guage shows 125% load when the heater is on full blast. Why would this be?