[homeimproverjoe]

Wouldn't you know it, the power is out today and the generator is down.

The power went out today but it doesn't come on. I went to check on it and it has a red trouble light lit. Just solid so no indication of what's wrong.

It was very low on coolant - below the low line, so I filled it. Moved the switch down to Start then back to Auto and it fires up and runs for about a minute then shuts down. Some sensor is kicking in I suspect.

HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU CHECK THE OIL ON THIS BEAST???

I see no dipstick. Only an oil fill cap, an oil filter and a drain plug. Where is the damn dipstick or oil level indicator?

Its an air cooled 15KW generac 607-2 model. I can find no trace of a manual online.

Also, there is an unplugged cord laying in the bottom. It's connected to what appears to be a pump that's hosed to the radiator. Any idea of the purpose of this cord and any harm to plug it in?

 

[bob22]

I'm thinking the id plate may not be for the whole unit but more for the alternator.
Look for another nameplate or model #.


Try this link for where dipstick is on one of their models; maybe they are all similar?:
https://soa.generac.com/manuals/5854026/0G8334


Where to find image:

 

[homeimproverjoe]

I found the dipstick. Staring me in the face, lol. Just on the back side of the engine. Definitely very low oil.

I left the house without pulling the specs on the filter. I'm going to just drain and fill, but any idea what size filter these take?

Can you spot the oil dipstick in the photo above

 

[tmittelstaedt]

The unplugged cord is not going to a pump it is going to a coolant heater. The purpose of that is to keep the generator hot so that there's no warmup. Those heaters do fail after a while and will need to be replaced so check continuity on yours before plugging it in, if it's open, replace it. Obviously if you replace it all the coolant will come pouring out.

Typically oil on these things will never get black because they run so rarely but the oil will get acids injected into it by blowby and the additive package in the oil that neutralizes them will get consumed, so if the oil is low, you should plan on an oil change. Generac seems to like to use Diesel lubricating oil in these not regular motor oil. The same thing happens to the coolant, so plan on a coolant change periodically. The coolant doesn't get contaminated by blowby it gets contaminated by dissolved metals from the block and radiator.

If you have low coolant and oil I would say this thing is badly suffering from many many years of neglect. Preventative maintenance on a generator is a requirement if you aren't testing it every 6 months you should be. Maybe you should hire a genset maintenance company?

 

[homeimproverjoe]

OK, topped off the oil and restarted. I'm getting same issue. There are no volts are watts on the meters. The Hz is steady at 60 or so IIRC.

What's happening is that after it starts up, after about 15 seconds, it makes a loud popping sound in the generator, like its trying to fire an ignition coil or similar. Sounds like a loud spark pop. When it does this, the meters move for a split second. It does this pattern for about a minute then shuts down and the red trouble light comes solid.

The local generac guy I called said it sounds like a voltage regulator or a generator failure.

 

[joed]

The popping does not sound good. Probably some sort of arcing inside.
I would try it again with a simple load like high watt light bulb or cheap resistive heater. Nothing electronic.

 

[Bud9051]

Is it possible that what you are describing as starting and running for 15 seconds is just cranking noise. Then the pop is it trying to start. As Joed said, not good. Call for service.

Bud

 

[homeimproverjoe]

Update. I'm back online with the generator power. Solid power all over the house.

Here's what I did...

When I just went out to check the generator to see if I could spot the location of the voltage regulator, I decided to try to switch it on again to get a snapshot picture of the exact meter readings.

This time, I switched it off then back to Auto (rather than switching it to off then Start then back to Auto). Once I did that, it ran for about 15 seconds as expected before the spark sound (which I believe is the generator starter circuit switch/ignition), but this time, I started getting voltage on the meter shortly after the spark sound and the lights in the house came on!

I'm not sure why it worked as expected. Perhaps it was the switch sequence I used? Perhaps the oil I added had to settle a bit to coat the sensor?

BTW, I'm still hunting for a user's/service manual for this gen if anyone knows where I can find one. Gen 00607-2

Here's a snapshot of the meters now that she's making power again. No issues in the house, we have solid power everywhere, but Amps reading supposed to be that low?

 

[dmxtothemax]

If your generator has not been used for some time ?
Then it was probably suffering from low residual magnetism for the field windings.

 

[surferdude2]

It could have had some varmit or trash causing a line short and it finally cleared. Check to see if the neighbors cat is missing. :wink2:

 

[homeimproverjoe]

If your generator has not been used for some time ?
Then it was probably suffering from low residual magnetism for the field windings.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsN9S1luQzA

It started working again without me doing anything like indicated in the video.

Its been running all day since for several hours and we have been running the whole house off generator power since. The line power just came on briefly and it shut off the generator, then the line power went down again after about a minute and the generater kicked back on again automatically as expected.

 

[Msradell]

I'm somewhat confused here, you stated in your 1st post that it was an air cooled generator which makes sense for Generac of that size. However he went on to discuss coolant and a radiator which means it's not air cooled. Looking at the photos it doesn't appear to be air cooled.

 

[joed]

Amps reading is based on how much load you have running. Turn on some more things and the amps should go up.

 

[homeimproverjoe]

I'm somewhat confused here, you stated in your 1st post that it was an air cooled generator which makes sense for Generac of that size. However he went on to discuss coolant and a radiator which means it's not air cooled. Looking at the photos it doesn't appear to be air cooled.

That was my mistake. It's got a radiator and coolant system.

 

[homeimproverjoe]

Amps reading is based on how much load you have running. Turn on some more things and the amps should go up.

Thanks, that was my suspicion, but didn't seem right based on our load. We have 2 refrigerators, an AC unit, many can lights (granted, most are LED), a 70 inch LED TV, a modem, router, many devices, phones charging, etc. I'd think that's a pretty good size load, but still not seeing it pulling many amps.

Anyway, it definitely did its job today. The power just came on about half hour ago and has stayed on so I'm hoping the line guys finally got her done.

I'll put on my calendar to do a proper oil/filter/coolant drain and change next weekend and then 6 months maintenance thereafter.

Appreciate all the helpful advice and tips.

 

[67IreneRoad]

just a question.....hoe frequent are power outages in your area

 

[homeimproverjoe]

just a question.....hoe frequent are power outages in your area

Very frequent. Just about every house on my street has a stand by gen. We live atop Shades Mountain in suburbs of Birmingham. There are very mature pine trees all along the power line cutbacks.

 

[tmittelstaedt]

The amp meter is reading zero because the meter is broken. The same thing happened on the 50Kw generac I maintained. Needless to say Generac is the only source of those meters (they probably special ordered them from someplace in China)

I still say you really should put the genset on a maintenance agreement. Particularly since you have one of the "old school" Generacs that used an off-the-shelf motor vehicle engine. (yours looks like a 4 banger) Generac moved to the dual overhead cam Honda "industrial" engines in their newer gensets due to pressure from the EPA for "clean burn" and the Genera forums are full of customers complaining about them failing after very short periods of time. You definitely don't want that genset of yours to get fried due to poor maintenance.

 

[homeimproverjoe]

The amp meter is reading zero because the meter is broken. The same thing happened on the 50Kw generac I maintained. Needless to say Generac is the only source of those meters (they probably special ordered them from someplace in China)

I still say you really should put the genset on a maintenance agreement. Particularly since you have one of the "old school" Generacs that used an off-the-shelf motor vehicle engine. (yours looks like a 4 banger) Generac moved to the dual overhead cam Honda "industrial" engines in their newer gensets due to pressure from the EPA for "clean burn" and the Genera forums are full of customers complaining about them failing after very short periods of time. You definitely don't want that genset of yours to get fried due to poor maintenance.

This is good information. Thanks.

FWIW, I'm not sure which pic you are referring to, I have a few pics on this thread showing the meters. One pic reads zero on all meters when the unit is powered off. Here's that pic:

The other pic shows the gen making power at 120 Volts and about 10 amps (not zero). FWIW, here's that one:

 

[tmittelstaedt]

This is good information. Thanks.

FWIW, I'm not sure which pic you are referring to, I have a few pics on this thread showing the meters. One pic reads zero on all meters when the unit is powered off. Here's that pic:

The other pic shows the gen making power at 120 Volts and about 10 amps (not zero). FWIW, here's that one:

10A seems low for an entire house unless you are just running lighting off it. That's what I was referring to. 15Kw at 120v would be 125A. (your nameplate says that also) If it was me I would confirm that meter reading by a clamp on ammeter at the panel. An air conditioner would easily take 10A or more.