Genny ok in ABQ?

[PartyOf_Five]

Thanks to support from many of you, our C's been parked for almost 2 months in Albuquerque, rather than in snowy Chicago. It sounded crazy at first, but there are so many in the area!

I winterized, cleaned, added Stabil, covered and locked it up. But I forgot to follow Onan's storage steps for the 4000 in the rush. We usually run it with load every month. So now what: hire a mobile tech? Take a quick trip? Wait till we go down for spring break? Find a local friend?

I'm inclined to play it safe, but thought I'd stick with tradition and ask the pros!

[Grit_dog]

Gas is one thing I won't skimp on, out of convienence in low output engines (not having to clean the carb(s) and out of necessity in high perf engines, especially 2 strokes.
If in doubt, don't skimp on gas. It's penny wise and pound foolish.

[Grit_dog]

Chum lee wrote:
When I bought my used 99 F53 Class A in 2011, the previous owner let the generator, a 4k gas Onan, sit for almost a year in Mesa, Arizona. The generator would start, but ran like ****, then it would die. With coaxing, it would eventually run, but, it would surge with changes in load. The now previous owner agreed to pay and have a mobile RV tech look at it. The tech said the carburetor was all gummed up. He replaced it with a new carb. +-$700 later and it was purring like new again. The generator then had +-300 hours on it. Now it's over 1,800. Just my experience.

Chum lee

yup it happens. I think evaporation of the fuel plays a large part. Dittmers carb may not totally evaporate siting in a garage in cool climate. A year in AZ sun, different story.
Another true story, Just visited one of our sons buddies at his grandparents cabin after snowmobiling. Grandpa has a stable full of sleds and not a lot of mech knowledge (after talking with him for a while). Just burned a cylinder in one of his sleds, first ride of the year, at the end of the day after riding all day.
1. He used yellow bottle HEEt in the tank, cause he thought there was water in tank? (Before the ride). Yellow bottle is death to high performance 2 strokes. Methanol not good.
2. The gas in that sled and every sled in his shop was yellow and smelled like c rap!
He said all was gas from last year, pump premium, not non ethanol. (But ethanol in gas basically eliminates slugs of water because it absorbs the water, like isopropyl and methanol, which is what red and yellow bottle HEEt is).

Can't say for sure, because I'm not tearing his engine down and fixing it, but the likelihood of the methanol or a partially plugged carb causing it to run lean are the 2 most likely causes of the failure. Could have a plugged or cracked oil injection line to that cyl as well that caused it, but far less likely.
The moral of the story is gas does go bad and it does screw up engines regardless of what some folks experience or luck lets them beleive.
4 strokes are more tolerant of bad fuel, especially low performance engines like generators and your average car/truck engine.

[Chum_lee]

When I bought my used 99 F53 Class A in 2011, the previous owner let the generator, a 4k gas Onan, sit for almost a year in Mesa, Arizona. The generator would start, but ran like ****, then it would die. With coaxing, it would eventually run, but, it would surge with changes in load. The now previous owner agreed to pay and have a mobile RV tech look at it. The tech said the carburetor was all gummed up. He replaced it with a new carb. +-$700 later and it was purring like new again. The generator then had +-300 hours on it. Now it's over 1,800. Just my experience.

Chum lee

[Grit_dog]

^Yeah man, it's kinda luck of the draw, time, fuel quality combination.
With about 25 engines around the house and some that inevitably don't get used every year, it's easy to forget taking care of the fuel in one or more of them. And once in a while I have a carb varnish up and not start. Which is preferable to running lean from being partially plugged up and burning down an engine.

[ron_dittmer]

Grit dog wrote:
Ron, you’re just lucky that that long of storage period with ethanol fuel hasn’t gummed up the carburetor on the genny once or twice at least.

I guess I am lucky.

What puts me at ease with my method, is all my lawn equipment and seasonally driven vehicles....no problems with any of them treated the same way for 31 years. Maybe the 10% ethonol helps rather than hurts. Who knows, I am no authority on this stuff. I only know what works with my gas powered things here at home.

My worst case situation was a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT I parked in the back of our garage for 3 years, on blocks with a full tank of gas. The car ran slightly abnormal until I burned off the old fuel. A fresh tank of gas and the car was back to normal.

[Grit_dog]

Party of 5, don’t worry about it.
Worst thing to happen is carb might gum up, but not too likely at only 6 months.
Not starting it for 6 months will not otherwise hurt anything else.

[Grit_dog]

^Ron, you’re just lucky that that long of storage period with ethanol fuel hasn’t gummed up the carburetor on the genny once or twice at least.
EFI truck engine not so much. It can handle it more easily being a high pressure system and storing full, while it gives you a full tank of c rap gas to burn up, does help prevent moisture in the fuel.

[ron_dittmer]

For us, the gaps between generator run-times is typically 8 months, and there has been twice of 1 year and 8 months. Practicing this for over 12 years and all remains well. The rig is kept indoors which likely helps, but I do feel that if your rig is stored outdoors in a dry climate, it's not all that different from our situation except for potential for rodent and large critter damage.

I should also mention that I never use Stabel or other fuel additive for long term storage, nor any other type of fuel additive such as fuel system cleaners. I hear about Seafoam all the time but really know nothing about it. I store our rig with a full tank of regular gasoline.

[Matt_Colie]

The monthly exercise bit is from the people that sell parts. If it is gasoline powered, that is most of the problem. You need to drain the carburetor. In ABQ, the problem is going to be the old gas in it.

You can fly there irregularly and run it, or when you get back, try it then. If it does not fire right up, remove the carburetor and clean it. If no gaskets get torn, just put it back the way you found it.

Matt

[midnightsadie]

x2 you should be fine.

[way2roll]

It will be fine until Spring. While it's good practice to exercise your genny monthly, it's not critical. Genny's can sit on the dealer lot for up to a year or more and still run fine. Some folks never exercise theirs at all.