What Did I Do to Break My Generators???

HadEnough wrote:
Wow. What a disaster!!!

How could I have fixed so many small and large engines in my life, even done rebuilds and never run into this problem before??

I had absolutely no idea you had to keep a small engine level at all times even when it’s not running.

4 stroke Outboard engines all tell you how to move them and store them. Lawnmowers? They don’t necessarily stay upright as you put them into a pickup truck. I’ve moved these generators around on end many times. Just never stood them up for 20 minute like that before.

I also didn’t know scratching off deposits on a modern plug could damage them. I can’t understand how I had these huge holes in my knowledge of engines. Especially after I’ve fixed dozens. What the heck?

Guess there’s always something new to learn.

The air filters were full of oil, so the carbs must have also been full of oil.

Thank you for the posts. They have all been really helpful. I am doing a really big, full time project right now and didn’t feel like cleaning out the carbs because it’ll take too long. I’ve cleaned carbs countless times on these small engines and know how long that takes. So I’ll let the Northen Tools service department do that while they put in the new AVR which was all I was doing.

Can’t believe swapping a pair of AVRs between 2 generators resulted in this because of the way I tipped them.

Small engines do not need to be 100% "level" all the time, they can operate or be stored "off level" to a certain degree.. Lets just say 90 degrees off level (tipped on end) is way out of spec for operation or storage..

Oil can and must seep past the rings, otherwise if an oil film is not present to ALL rings your engine would seize up solid with in a couple of minutes of running. Normal engine operation splashes oil up into the cylinder and piston. The piston rings wipe down the oil that is splashed but it leaves a light oil film for the next rings above the bottom ring..

When you tipped it on end for more than a couple of seconds or even a minute or two, the oil will flow past the gaps in the rings and eventually spill into the cylinder and that is what caused your grief.

Depending on which valve was open at the time oil would run into the carb or exhaust.. Some of the smoke may actually have been oil in the muffler and some from the carb and air filter..

And yeah, newer plugs are not as robust as the older ones, not a lot of quality goes into them and the OEM ones most Chinese gens generally foul out quickly, you are lucky to have operated them for such a long time.

I have on a occasion accidentally flooded some small engines, the only way to get them running was to replace the fuel soaked plug.. Drying or burning the fuel off didn't fix the plug, tried carb and other cleaners and no joy.. It took a new plug to get it to fire again.

Not sure how you are cleaning your small engine carbs, the Honda clone carbs are very easy to clean (fortunately since they tend to clog when there is a speck of dirt in the air)..

Turn fuel off.

Remove fuel bowl (center screw which holds bowl on)
Use flat blade screw driver that is just small enough to fit into the same center post the fuel bowl screw goes into.

Unscrew the jet with the flat blade screw driver.

Carefully lower the jet (not done yet)

Remove emulsion tube that the jet was retaining from the carb (sometimes sticks in place and top can be seen in the carb throat).

Carefully lower the emulsion tube out (may be an additional part in there so if there is pay attention to the order and direction of the parts).

Use a can of pressurized carb cleaner to clean all of the littler holes on that tube.. Final "rinse" by holding the jet end of tube directly against the carb cleaner spray tube. Observer that carb cleaner comes out of all openings.

Once that is done reassemble (just the reverse of what you did to take it apart)..

Fuel bowl gasket tends to be reusable as long as you didn't tear or rip it during disassembly.

Total time to dismantle, clean and reassemble should take no more than 15 minutes.

Lots of very good pictures and even videos on the web to show you exactly how to do this.

Heck you can buy a spare carb for these gens dirt cheap, I bought a spare for one of my gens just in case the cleaning didn't work or I lost a part when cleaning.. Cost was $18 or so.. Can't find a mechanic to work on them for that cost. You can get the replacement carbs on Amazon..