generator issue

[Ellis Kinney]

I have a Generac house generator. When trying to start the starter engages and cranks for about a second and stops. The battery is good. Any suggestions?? Thanks, Ellis

 

[Ray,IN]

Good luck Generac doesn't have a reliable reputation.

 

[Frankmn]

I have a Generac house generator. When trying to start the starter engages and cranks for about a second and stops. The battery is good. Any suggestions?? Thanks, Ellis

Are the valve clearances set correctly? Do not know about generac but many small engines has a small bump on the cam for a compression release and the starter motor has a hard time rolling the motor over if the valve clearance is too large making compression release not effective

 

[RobCons]

Is it showing any fault codes like low oil, low coolant if water cooled, or communication errors?

 

[Mule Meat]

Bad starter.
If it has a Kohler engine. Be a good bet that one of the magnets has came loose.

 

[Russ from MN]

Lots of good advice here, but if Billy Shaefer was still alive, he would have given his opinion on Generac, and it wasn't very good! Billy worked on generators for a living. I would put my battery charger on in boost mode, that might rule out a bad battery.

 

[phil25]

I have a Generac house generator. When trying to start the starter engages and cranks for about a second and stops. The battery is good. Any suggestions?? Thanks, Ellis

just a question on your problem that might give a clearer idea of what is happening:
when you turn the key to start ? the starter engages and the engine rolls, for a second? and stops rolling?
At that time is there a growling/battery strain coming from the unit? does the starter just dis engage by itself without you turning the key off?
when you turn off the key..and try to start again, is the same problem identical?
without knowing the actual unit you have, there might be an interlock relay, as mentioned below(low oil level), but usually they will roll but not start, because of low oil.
Next take the spark plug out and check for the smell of gas ?, and try to roll the engine over using the pull cord? or the the start position on the key switch, does any vapor blow out of the spark plug hole? i am thinking that maybe the gas float valve didn't shut off in the carb and has hydraulically locked the the piston/cylinder.
make precise notes of what you find, that will help members on here solve your problem asap.
keep your stick on the ice.

 

[jniolon]

Ziller Forum

www.zillerstore.com

you didn't say water or air cooled but go to this forum and choose your generator group and ask your questions. They have pulled my generac ox out of a ditch several times... good folks, friendly with accurate information. If it's water cooled look for "Peddler". he's a water cooled unit guru

john

 

[Goose]

I'd check the battery again. I've seen batteries do that when they're not quite up to par.

BTW, both of my Generac generators have been flawless. A 10KW portable and an 18KW automatic.

 

[rustred]

hard to know by your explanation, starter cranks for a second and stops. a second would be like one revolution, so then what happens? is the starter drive kicking out and still starter making noise ? or just nothing as in silence ? no click or anything ?

 

[Charles in Aus.]

Bad starter.
If it has a Kohler engine. Be a good bet that one of the magnets has came loose.

Exactly what happened to the Kohler engine in my old John Deere STX38.

 

[Mule Meat]

Lots of good advice here, but if Billy Schaefer was still alive, he would have given his opinion on Generac, and it wasn't very good! Billy worked on generators for a living. I would put my battery charger on in boost mode, that might rule out a bad battery.

Billy Schaefer did not like Generac because they were his competition.

 

[TheBartman47]

I got an old 30kw Generac that started acting up... It's not getting fuel (Diesel) even though I verified fuel in the line before going to the mechanical injector pump. I sprayed either to get it going and after lots and lots of cranking and basically running on either, it finally started running on Diesel. I let it run 30 minutes with no problems, shut it off, waited 10 seconds and tried to start again, but it would only crank and not fire up; again not getting any fuel. I suspect there is a problem with the control circuits not activating the one wire that goes to the injector pump, which I reckon is a shut-off control wire.

 

[miangus]

Gas, diesel, propane? Sounds like the fuel isn't getting turned on.

 

[Earl Grey]

Gas, diesel, propane? Sounds like the fuel isn't getting turned on.

But it should keep cranking, right? Unless it has an automatic feature to stop it if there's no fuel present.

 

[Kevinwterry]

I got an old 30kw Generac that started acting up... It's not getting fuel (Diesel) even though I verified fuel in the line before going to the mechanical injector pump. I sprayed either to get it going and after lots and lots of cranking and basically running on either, it finally started running on Diesel. I let it run 30 minutes with no problems, shut it off, waited 10 seconds and tried to start again, but it would only crank and not fire up; again not getting any fuel. I suspect there is a problem with the control circuits not activating the one wire that goes to the injector pump, which I reckon is a shut-off control wire.

How old is the diesel? Generators usually don't get run often, at least around here. I have to remember to start my gas gens during summer to keep the fuel in the carbs moving.

Anyways, what im getting at is diesel doesnt last forever. I have a large diesel air compressor that wouldn't run, but was running great a year ago. The fuel was just in a gas can with a hose shoved in it, leaving the fuel exposed to air. I flushed the fuel system and now it runs great again

 

[TerryfromSWIowa]

Billy Schaefer did not like Generac because they were his competition.

I seem to remember his dislike was because of lack of repair support

 

[John T]

I knew Billy Schaefer we e mailed each other often. He was a generator repair person he was NOT a dealer and having worked on probably all different brands over years he was NOT a fan of Generac nor was I having owned several over 55 years of RV ownership.

AS far as which is best ??? I had better luck with Kohler and Onan than I did Generac, just sayin based on MY personal experience others may have had different experiences...

I havent watched this yet but found what one Generator person had to say on You Tube, judge for yourself not me.

John T

 

[Goose]

I seem to remember his dislike was because of lack of repair support

He had his own personal vendetta against Generac, and I can understand why. He worked as an independent repairing generators, and I'm sure Generac wasn't too forthcoming with parts and technical information in order to protect their own franchised dealers, as you could expect them to.

I ran into the same thing years ago when I was in the boat and outboard motor repair business as an independent. Mercury and OMC had area distributors who sold me parts at the same discount given franchised dealers, but Chrysler parts orders went straight to the factory. In order to get a Chrysler OEM part I had to go to a dealer and pay full retail like anyone else off the street.

But, I had an account with an independent distributor who, among other things, had a line of basic tuneup and maintenance parts for Chrysler so it wasn't that often that I actually needed an OEM part from Chrysler.

 

[cjunrau]

He had his own personal vendetta against Generac, and I can understand why. He worked as an independent repairing generators, and I'm sure Generac wasn't too forthcoming with parts and technical information in order to protect their own franchised dealers, as you could expect them to.

I ran into the same thing years ago when I was in the boat and outboard motor repair business as an independent. Mercury and OMC had area distributors who sold me parts at the same discount given franchised dealers, but Chrysler parts orders went straight to the factory. In order to get a Chrysler OEM part I had to go to a dealer and pay full retail like anyone else off the street.

But, I had an account with an independent distributor who, among other things, had a line of basic tuneup and maintenance parts for Chrysler so it wasn't that often that I actually needed an OEM part from Chrysler.

I think everyone should pay the same price. Never could understand why repair places have to make $100 an hour plus $100 an hour on the parts. That is why places like amazon are so busy and came into existence. I need a part right now, local is $281 amazon same brand $54. It will take me 1/2 hour to repair and I need 4 of them. They would charge 1 hour labor at $150 plus the mark up. That is $800 profit for 1 hour work. I can see why some repair places don't like if they have to pay same as anyone else. They loose a lot of bonus money.