OT - Yamaha EC200 generator floods

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, it's stored on the porch behind a friend's home. That's the home connection.

A friend of mine has a Yamaha EC-2800 generator which won't start. We cleaned out th gas tank, used a towel to soak up all the green water slime from the bottom of the tank. He then took apart the carb bowl, dried out the carb bowl. Says he bought new carb for it.

Bought brand new gas. Problem is, after several pulls (only hint of pop, from the exhaust) the spark plug is wet with gasoline, and the engine never did start.

He tried the plug on the top of the engine, and says he did see spark. I was standing in the wrong place, can't confirm the spark.

The carb has a metering screw. We tried lightly seated minus half turn. Minus one turn. Minus quarter turn. Each floods.

I did a web search. Found a Youtube of a guy with identical machine that runs fine. That's not much help.

Any ideas what to check, next?

[hubops]

Do you mean EC 2000 ? When was it last :

1. running
2. supplying electrical load. ? Also - there is usually a low oil shut-down - should be checked. John T.

[trader_4]

Fully disassemble the carb, including removing any welch plugs, soak it in carb cleaner, blow out all the passages with compressed air. Then re-assemble. You can get a carb rebuild kit for most carbs that includes new needle valves, gaskets, welch plugs, etc for ~$10 on Ebay.

[clare]

Crap in the float valve. (no, stormy - I'm not telling you to - I'm saying there is crap in the float valve)

[Stormin Mormon]

Last running? I don't know. Neglected to ask.

My bad, it's a 2800. There is an oil shut down switch near the oil fill. We added a couple ounce of oil. Tried the bit with the spark plug laying on top of the engine. He says he saw bright blue spark.

[Stormin Mormon]

That totally makes sense. I'll suggest that.

[Stormin Mormon]

There was a lot of liquid slime in the gas tank. Makes sense to find crud in the carb passages and valves. I wonder if the float bowl was off, a big blast of brake cleaner might flush that all out?

[hubops]

I've got a Honda 5000, bought used in 1999 - it was owned by a contractor but in good shape - I use it only for power outages - perhaps 2 or 3 times per year, plus test runs - about 2 or 3 times per year I start it and run it for about 15 minutes

- with electrical load on it - a couple of portable space heaters. I have spent maybe 5 hours on routine maintenance - total - over all those years ! I'd guess ~ 4 oil changes ; 3 air filter cleanings

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

My Honda generator low-oil shutdown has a red LED on the front that flashes if you try to start it without enough oil.

[hubops]

Yep - but my Honda EM5000 has no indicating light - - don't know about this Yahama. I only mention the low oil shutdown - as an early starting point for trouble-shooting - before tearing apart carbs & such .. John T.

[trader_4]

They usually don't include the gasket between the carb and intake manifold in the rebuild kit, I'd order one of those separately.

[clare]

Sea Foam

[Stormin Mormon]

There was two things on the end of the motor, one said shut down, and other might been low oil light. I wasn't really looking. Maybe I can get back there one day soon. Try taking the wire off the low oil sensor for testing, and see if there is a light.

I did work on a generator years ago (Coleman,

5,000 watt with Briggs and Stratton engine) which actually was low on oil. Add a couple ounces, and then it ran fine.

[Stormin Mormon]

Now, that sounds like real world wisdom. The various small engines (often Briggs and Tecumseh) had trouble with carb to block gaskets. In that case, the engine would only start with ether or a splash of gas into the air intake. Choke would not be effective for starting. In this case, the plug comes out wet, so it's not likely a carb to block gasket problem. Might be, after the carb is removed, of course.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yes, that sounds like great wisdom. I do agree with you, that a generator should be run two or three times a year. Sadly, this one has been neglected, and needs a bit of work to get running.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sea foam. Sea foam run.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

Stumped has to find a shore so get some of the foam off the sea. I wonder if he makes his gaskets out of duct tape?