Generator Help - Blue Smoke
The generator in my motorhome is 20 years old. It has been used infrequently and only has about 384 hours on the meter. It is a Kohler 5kw Confidant. The good news first. The generator starts ea...
Forum Discussion
Matt_Colie wrote:
Bill,
At 20 years and less than 400 hours, I can make two suggestions.
The first and simplest is that the rings are gummed up. A couple of lube oil changes MAY fix that in about 50 running hours.
The rest are not simple given the service resistant install.
It may be that the valve guide seals have dried out or died. That is about the age that rubber parts start going bad all by themselves. The oil change may help this.
Last and not a suggestion is that there is something actually wrong, like a cracked piston.
I have seen these installed and they are not fun to work on.
Matt
Thanks Matt for taking the time to read my post. I'm going to try your suggestion to let it run for a longer period of time.
Typically we only used the generator to run the microwave or perhaps the roof air conditioner for less than 30 minutes while at a roadside rest stop. I do change the oil once every year in the fall before storage. Today, I drained some of the oil and added some Lucas Oil Stop. I think I need to run the generator under load for about 60 minutes and see what happens.
Thanks again Matt.
