Servicing My Generator for Winter

SidecarFlip wrote:
My only comment on your video that at least in my experience isn't completely correct is.. Placing a battery on a concrete floor. That applied to rubber cased batteries, not plastic cased batteries. Plastic cased batteries are not impacted by concrete floors at all....and valve adjustment is so easy on these small genny's, I check mine everytime I service my genny, lawnmowers and pressure washer too. Only takes a second to do.

Good video though.

Thank you for the constructive input. It is refreshing.

azrving wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:

Dave H M wrote:
Ummmm Rider, you made two big mistakes on this here board.

1. You bought a HF genny

2. You aren't gonna run it every thirty days under load.

:W

I thought it was a good vid. Almost identical to the way I put the Champ to bed a couple of years ago. I am gonna get it out of storage and crank it up today in preparation for our winter departure. We will see what happens and i will report back later on.

On this board, if you son't spend the big wad on a Honda, you are a second class citizen because the Honda is the best you can get and no other comes close (hogwash).

Myself, I prefer being a 'second class citizen' with my Champ and having some extra jingle in my pocket...

Good video btw. I'd have bought the Pred instead but it wasn't available when I bought the Champ.

Although I have noticed that more Honda owners do know what the h33l they are talking about and actually know how to use a feeler gauge and WHY. :)

denigrating people and more sarcasm. Even better.

wa8yxm wrote:
Gee. on my ONAN I treat it the same Summer or Winter (Save for the fuel blend) That is 1/2 hour (minimum) every month under load (about 3,000 watts)

Last time was as I drove from SENECA to Lunch (Exactly 30 minutes) day before yesterday with two space heaters running all out (Space heaters have special outlets just for them) Was exactly 30 minutes. It was COLD out for this part of the country NEEDED the heat.

Still do (But have shore power).

I see no problem with that at all, but if you want to put it away for the winter and not mess with it again, I do exactly what I preach in this video. My generator may go 6 months without being started.

Gee. on my ONAN I treat it the same Summer or Winter (Save for the fuel blend) That is 1/2 hour (minimum) every month under load (about 3,000 watts)

Last time was as I drove from SENECA to Lunch (Exactly 30 minutes) day before yesterday with two space heaters running all out (Space heaters have special outlets just for them) Was exactly 30 minutes. It was COLD out for this part of the country NEEDED the heat.

Still do (But have shore power).

Dave H M wrote:
Ummmm Rider, you made two big mistakes on this here board.

1. You bought a HF genny

2. You aren't gonna run it every thirty days under load.

:W

I thought it was a good vid. Almost identical to the way I put the Champ to bed a couple of years ago. I am gonna get it out of storage and crank it up today in preparation for our winter departure. We will see what happens and i will report back later on.

Well I got it down out of the loft this afternoon. checked the oil, put gas in it and pulled the cord. Messed up and pushed the choke in too soon. It took a total of 4 pulls. It ran just fine with the load I put on it. :B

Valve adjustment is not delayed or unneeded because one does other maint. Would not matter if you ever serviced it, it will still need adjustment at the same time.
Failing to do the adj. can not only cause poor performance and noise, it can also result in burnt valves and seats.
They often don't do a very exacting job at the factory. It won't hurt anything and is probably good practice to adjust it earlier.

How critical is a valve alignment? I never did an alignment on my Yamaha 3000 iSE, and I put at least 4000-5000 hours on that beast. I did change the oil, change the air filter, empty out the spark arrester and other items, though.

Of course, what killed the generator was me loaning to a now ex-friend, and after an oil change, the camshaft seized for good.

SidecarFlip wrote:

Dave H M wrote:
Ummmm Rider, you made two big mistakes on this here board.

1. You bought a HF genny

2. You aren't gonna run it every thirty days under load.

:W

I thought it was a good vid. Almost identical to the way I put the Champ to bed a couple of years ago. I am gonna get it out of storage and crank it up today in preparation for our winter departure. We will see what happens and i will report back later on.

On this board, if you son't spend the big wad on a Honda, you are a second class citizen because the Honda is the best you can get and no other comes close (hogwash).

Myself, I prefer being a 'second class citizen' with my Champ and having some extra jingle in my pocket...

Good video btw. I'd have bought the Pred instead but it wasn't available when I bought the Champ.

Although I have noticed that more Honda owners do know what the h33l they are talking about and actually know how to use a feeler gauge and WHY. :)

My only comment on your video that at least in my experience isn't completely correct is.. Placing a battery on a concrete floor. That applied to rubber cased batteries, not plastic cased batteries. Plastic cased batteries are not impacted by concrete floors at all....and valve adjustment is so easy on these small genny's, I check mine everytime I service my genny, lawnmowers and pressure washer too. Only takes a second to do.

Good video though.

Rider7767 wrote:

azrving wrote:

Rider7767 wrote:

azrving wrote:
How many hours? Valve adjustment?

About 20 hours. I bought it at the end of the camping season for my trip to the Smoky Mountains. Valve adjustment is at 300. I will not adjust my valves unless I see some need. With good oil and fuel, the valves should not need adjustment for a long time. My last Gen had about 500 hours and I sold it because it was loud. My friend still uses it. Never touched the valves.

Strange that an engineer would think differently. Just wondered about accessibility.

Indirect Sarcasm, Awesome!

Why do they tell you to change the oil at 30 hours? Because it's the break in time frame to get the trash out of the crankcase. In the same respect the FIRST valve adjustment is the MOST important one not the one that is 1500 hours late. By seeing the valve clearances early on you can make two assumptions as far as following the manufacturers schedule. If the clearance is spot on or very very close you might assume that it's able to go longer next time. If it's off considerably you could assume that it wasn't correct from day one or that it may need more frequent adjustments. If you then did a second check and everything is ok then you would know they had it wrong from day one extend the inspection interval.

Regardless of Yamaha or Honda or Predator recommendation it's the first lower hour valve check that is the most important. It's not the end of the world to not do it but it's just good maintenance to do it right and know it's right. The small effort is just more assurance of long life.


The valve adjustment also effects the performance of any engine. Wide gap equals late open, early close. Tight valve equals valve face heat and burning. Valve head contact dissipates heat to seat then head then cooling air. Most all of these engines utilize a centrifugal compression release which is affected by valve clearance. The centrifugal flyweight uses a secondary"tab" which opens the exhaust valve slightly during the compression stroke. When the engine fires and speeds up the flyweight allows the tab to retract and allows full compression. A wide gap equals higher compression which is hard on the starter.

Too tight a clearance equals lower compression and possible hard start. The other super ears on hear can hear all of this though and dont need no stinkin feeler gauge. :)