OT - Yamaha EC200 generator floods

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.

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.

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

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.

That totally makes sense. I'll suggest that.

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?

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

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

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.

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

Sea Foam

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,

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.

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.

Sea foam. Sea foam run.

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca 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?