Generac 8Kw generator balky start and transfer switch makes clicking sounds

The fins on the flywheel are for cooling air. Please put the cover back on when you finish service.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

Was that all the oil you got? Surprised it had not yet seized up and turned into a rock. I guess a wise and caring friend of yours knew some how that you needed to check oil?

No clue about the two oil caps.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

CY: I saw bare copper low voltage wire, and some bad insulation on the high voltage wire, on the other one. The colored wire might be possible to cut out the bare copper, and splice in some newer wire. The black wire, I'd buy a roll of good electrical tape, and wrap it.

CY: Less than a quart and a half, for sure.

CY: Most likely lack of maint. Twist left and right repeatedly, and then pull again. use spark plug grease inside the boots when reassembling.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

That may get back to the separate oil holding tank you mentioned. You said the manual says it has one, but it actually doesn;t. But are you sure? If the engine is designed to be used in applications either with or without the extra tank, you could have one cap on the engine, one cap on the tank or hoses leading to the tank, etc. without, then having a cap on the engine

I would be amazed that with that little oil, the oil pressure or level cutout wouldn't have shut it down completely long ago. And IDK how low you can go without screwing the engine, but I agree, I would think if that's all the oil there was in there, you would think the engine would be shot.

See my other post about his previously mentioning an external oil tank, eg a dry sump kind of settup, that was in the manual. If that's actually there, then maybe what he drained is just from the crankcase, there is more in the tank? What he drained is clearly one oil drain, the very obvious one that you'd go to, but could there be another? IDK.

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:07:49 -0500:

Thanks for that suggestion. Much appreciated.

When that little dribble came out, I was embarrassed to snap the picture. I actually considered not posting it. I'm shocked that I allowed the oil level to be *below* the dipstick!

I'm surprised the thing ran at all (since it has a low oil pressure switch). I realize pressure does not equal volume (but eventually lack of volume equals lack of pressure).

I suspect that's why it was shutting off in the beginning, until it built up enough oil pressure. But I'm not sure.

Nonetheless, not only was the oil extremely low, but, it came out muddy. Mea culpa.

I'm waiting on the Generac support line to ask them.

trader_4 wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:20:38 -0800:

You are correct in the doubt of whether there is only 1 oil tank or two oil tanks.

Clearly, there are two oil-filler caps, one of which has a dipstick, while the other is on top of a cylinder head (which is a weird spot).

Yet, that second (blue) oil filler cap clearly has an oil-can symbol on it, as does the (black) oil filler cap next to the drain.

OK. I just got off the line with Mitch at Generac. There is only one oil tank, he says. The blue oil filler cap is for when the engine is mounted 90 degrees to where mine is mounted, so, he says, I should use only the black cap.

He says there may be a special tool needed to remove the spark plug cap, so, he's going to research that for me and get back to me.

You'd think the manual would mention these two things...

trader_4 wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:15:51 -0800:

I'm confused, because: a) The rev 0 manual said there were two oil tanks of different volume, b) The rev 1 manual only mentions one tank c) I have two oil-filler caps d) Yet, the blue one is vertical (so it would be hard to fill).

Generac support (Mitch) asked someone for me, who told him to tell me that the second (blue) one is for when the generator is mounted sideways, and for me to use just the first (black) one.

As for the spark plug boot, Mitch says he'll research that further as a special tool may be needed. It must have some kind of spring mechanism because it pulled back hard when I tried to pull it off.

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:03:50 -0500:

Yeah. Those wires look chewed on.

Maybe I need to stick some rat poison in there in addition to putting the cover on.

BTW, the exposed fins are only because I had removed the cover to them; which I will certainly put back on.

Thanks for noticing that detail!

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:11:13 -0500:

It's raining now (woo hoo!) but when the rain stops, I will wrap the blue bare wire with electrical tape (and maybe reinforce it with some bare copper wire) and wrap up the high-voltage wire also.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Danny,

I have replied to your prior inquiries in 3 separate posts, and you have not acknowledged or replied to 2 of them. This will be my final attempt to help you, barring any acknowledgement or thanks.

As I stated earlier, the Ziller forum I linked in one of my prior replies to you is the authoritative place for Generac technicians and advanced home users to assemble and discuss Generac repairs and issues. I have been using it for nearly 8 years with great success as have many others.

Rather than asking questions on this home repair forum such as why there are two oil holes, and other very specific issues which people here are very unlikely to know. why not go to the Ziller forum and ask people who are working on these units every day.

If you had ordered or even looked up a description of the Generac maintenance kit such as the one I previously linked you, then you would not have had a huge surprise to discover that your generator had 2 cylinders and 2 spark plugs! This stuff is not that hard to find and read about.

Use the resources Generac and Ziller provide and save yourself a lot of wasted words, time, and effort.

Generally I agree - but recently I had a good look at the Fram Ultra Synthetic (Gold) oil filter last week and it appears to be built as well as any Wix or other mid-line to premium brand filter. It has a silicone drainback valve, metal end caps, premium dual layer filtration media, and metal screen support for thefiltration media to maintain flod spacing. I really could not think of many ways to make it a better filter.

The silver Tough-Guard is a cheap filter - bsing sold at a more premium pricepoint than the also cheap Orange ultra-guard filter

Now, to be sure, this is NOT a cheap (or even inexpensive) filter - Next spring when I change the oil on the Taurus again I'll try to remember to open it up and get some pictures.

Smarty wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:59:51 -0500:

Hi Smarty, I apologize for not responding to all your posts, and I did read the suggestion to go to a generac-specific forum. I had actually gone there and realized I had to create an account, login, etc, and decided to call Generac instead (which is well documented).

In addition, I updated this thread, since that's where the question started. It's usually not a good idea to have multiple threads in multiple places, so I had opted to remain in this thread and not open an ancillary thread.

I realize you feel that is folly, and I do understand your point, but I have had lousy experiences with the quality of results from many web-based forums, not the least of which is the mechanical problem of remembering the various logins and passwords unique to each web based forum - none of which is needed for Usenet posts.

I believe I am moving in the right direction, and I do appreciate your advice and information. While I fault the manual for not explicitly stating there are two spark plugs, the fact is that the exploded diagram shows a v-twin engine, which, even though there are no spark plugs shown in the exploded diagram, would have intimated two plugs.

Anyway, I have the second plug, and I am just waiting word from Generac Support (Mitch) on how to properly remove the boots.

On Mon, 15 Dec 2014 19:20:42 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in

Well, thanks for sharing. I had a moment or two like that, over the years. I hope that runs properly for you with repairs, spark plugs, etc.

I'd done some small engine work, and some things stay in memory. The rat poison sounds proper.

The blue wire, if it were mine. I'd cut out the bare part. use wire, crimps, and some electric tape to spilce what's chewed. But, that's me.

I doubt it. Some of them the rubber boot just grips very tight.

trader_4 wrote, on Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:05:21 -0800:

That's a fair enough assumption.

I haven't heard back from Mitch, at Generac, so, in the morning, I'll give another call.

It sure *felt* like there was a spring on that boot, although it would have to be a very strong one to give an inch, and then snap back like that boot did.

It was *not* stuck solid - it moved a good half inch to an inch and snapped back.

Weird.