Honda Generator bad low oil sensor?

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Dec 16, 2006
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Being in Hurricane induced Florida, I got to put some of my generators to use that see little use. I usually use the same ones for camping but I have some that I maintain but use very little. The Wacker 5600 with the Honda GTX340 engine is one of them. I haven't probably used it in two years. I got my power back the same day but my son was without power for a week and half and he had the Honda. It was full of 15w40 oil, still nice and gold when I dropped it off although it was last changed a year ago, it didn't have but 5 minutes on it. It started 2 and pull. He ran it full time, I "thought" he would check the oil. I told him it had a sensor though so I guess he figured it would shut off if it got low. It ran fine the whole time. I brought it back to storage and thought I go ahead and service it and drained about 4 ounces of black tar out of it. Luckily it didn't blow. He said it wasn't smoking and he never smelled any oil burning. I should have checked if it had spark with the oil drained. I changed it with 10w30 Deli 400. I ll take it camping and see what it does, but I take a back up in case. Surprised me because it never used oil before. I checked the black wire it was still connected. They have the internal sensor so they are terriable to change. I ll just know to watch it and check it frequently.
 
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For the little time it takes to check when one has while shutting down to refill with gas it's really foolish not to check.
 
Oh, yeah he caught "Trouble" for it. He knows better. He has been around engines his whole life. He knows better. I think engines are made so better than the days of old, we all get lazy. I bought a old 1961 generator over the weekend and ot actually said in the manual it uses a ounce of oil per hour, is normal.
 
Those generators should have the oil changed every 2 days. I just keep a few quarts handy, pan and wrench for oil. Change when refueling.

Rod
 
the hours roll on quick when they are used around the clock. 50 hours is several months on a well-run homeowner mower. It's a week or less if the power is out for a gennie. I found the fuel burn with my inverter to be similar whether I let it run full time or just for periods, as the fridges would cycle when left full time or stay 100% on when run for periods. After I figured that out, I ran it around the clock which also gave us some air movement (fans) at night. 4-5 days of that and a lot of hours were clocked. That was on an eu2000i. Sucker didn't use any measurable oil.
 
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