Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

My NEXT scheduled generator maintenance run is scheduled for tomorrow. I look it over good and run it under a load every second Sunday of the month. My LAST generator maintenance run will be after I'm too old and feeble to do it.

Nicely done. When you are ready to Stand Down, by then they should have an app perfected for that task .

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

changed oil in main gen today, had to ask my fireman neighbor over to lend me a hand, simply to look
at dipstick. Generac uses a shiny metal dipstick that with fresh oil is almost impossible to read. I was afraid I had overfilled it,
and I had by about a third of a quart, which we drained out. Synthetic oil, in this case made from natural gas, is very clear in color,
simply hard to read on dipstick. We both had to check it time and time again, and then he suggested a cure.

We laid the dipstick down on a clean paper towel, and then saw where the darker mark was. What we couldn't see on the shiny metal
we could see easily on darkening paper towel. We did that several times and finally got it right.
learned something new every day.
Of course my neighbor is a paid fireman engineer and works with machinery all day long. Nice neighbor to have...

tomorrow I run the 2kw Champion inverter gen again, may change that oil also, could get loaned out during this hurricane.

 

[3930dave]

I hear you d - some of the newest oils are just about water-clear out of the bottle.

I often have to play around with lighting/angles to read a stick, but that paper towel technique would work well.

You'll be all set for storm season - may all that happy-generator Karma push the worst of it out to sea.

Rgds, D.

 

[Fallon]

I hear you d - some of the newest oils are just about water-clear out of the bottle.

I often have to play around with lighting/angles to read a stick, but that paper towel technique would work well.

You'll be all set for storm season - may all that happy-generator Karma push the worst of it out to sea.

Rgds, D.

John Deere Lubricants - JOHN DEERE #MT3668 HYDRAULIC OIL DYE

Half a jar works well for hydraulic oil with the same issues. I assume it would work well for engine oil as well.

 

[3930dave]

I'm used to multi-oil UV dye - if that's an eye-visible distinct dye, should be handy.

I'd probably want to see a more detailed spec sheet, before using it in engine oil.

Rgds, D.

 

[TractorGuy]

Ran mine today and with storms looming in the distance I went over and load banked my daughter's. They hadn't run it since I bought it last year and put it together and tested it for them.

 

[Fallon]

I'm used to multi-oil UV dye - if that's an eye-visible distinct dye, should be handy.

I'd probably want to see a more detailed spec sheet, before using it in engine oil.

Rgds, D.

Half a jar in the 5 odd gallons of hydraulic oil in my old L3200 made the oil look look like ATF. A few drops in a gallon or so of engine oil will get it pink enough to see.

 

[daugen]

John Deere Lubricants - JOHN DEERE #MT3668 HYDRAULIC OIL DYE

Half a jar works well for hydraulic oil with the same issues. I assume it would work well for engine oil as well.

I had to chuckle at this, John Deere even has the ability to make things green that aren't....
I buy a tube of their green colored grease every once in a while when at the dealership.

If they would change the color of the dipstick to allow more contrast, that would really help. I have more than two dozen engines to maintain and I don't have this problem with any other motor.

Ran out of 5/30 synthetic so put in 10/30. Not like it's going to make a difference until the dead of winter, nights here are in the 70's.
Unit had 75 total run hours in three years. Third oil change for 75 hours. No wonder it looks so clean...overkill, but if there is one motor I really really want to run perfectly, it's this one. And so far it has done that, and so had the 20kw I had before.

 

[daugen]

started on fourth pull. Considering it doesn't have a primer bulb, that seemed fair for something that had sat several months.

Changed the oil, though it only had about five hours on it, but it had been two years.
Surprised and not impressed that Champion runs this gen 200 rpm faster than others to make rated power.
3800 rpm? Since when?.....
runs smooth as can be but clearly this is for intermittent use only.
Pretty quiet too.
Once again mud wasps had got into a receptacle, this time the big rv one. Cleaned that out, checked to make sure there
weren't any other critters inside the case, which is a sound shield, and it was totally clean. Ran unit for ten minutes and put it away after
topping off gas.
Might get loaned out in this hurricane.

 

[3930dave]

Ran mine today and with storms looming in the distance I went over and load banked my daughter's. They hadn't run it since I bought it last year and put it together and tested it for them.

Peace of mind, for them, and you. :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.