Total Generator Failure

[jack14r]

I was inverting the night of 8-21 with the bedroom AC running and the generator auto start sensed the start voltage and the generator started at about 3 AM.I awoke and activated the other 3 AC units,at that moment the bedroom unit shut down,so I shut down the other 3 and the the bedroom unit started again,it all seemed ok so I went to the panel and one leg had 108 volts and the other had 140 volts.The gen would seem to correct the voltage and I would try to start another AC but it could not put out enough current.I was going to Louisville Ky for the week and so I called Nixon Power and they met me in Louisville,their rate for Sunday is $250 per hour and 4 hours minimum.The Technician did a good job but they did not have the needed controller,it was ordered on Monday and arrived on Tuesday.My real problem was that I was at the KY State Fair dry camping and so I had no choice but to find a generator,after searching around town the largest that we could buy on Sunday was a 8000 watt Generac.I wired it up and we had power,I felt like that we were on life support,I could run 2 AC units,charge the house batteries at the lowest setting and run the water pump or the water heater.On Tuesday Mike from Nixon had controller in hand and did a great job of figuring out the problem,first he replaced the SCR and we ran the generator and it failed in about 30 minutes,then he replaced the controller and started the gen again,we had voltage at the gen but not in the house.The failed controller apparently sent a voltage spike to the transfer switch and took out the coil in the transfer switch.I thought that was the problem so I called Troy at Liberty and we pulled some fuses in the transfer panel and plugged the shore cord into the buddy plug and we had power to the house but not to the AC units.Troy had me put in the two bottom fuses in the transfer panel and that sort of fixed it,we were now inverting on one leg and the other side had current from the gen.I could now run 3 AC units.We ran like that the rest of the week.When I got home I replaced the coil in the transfer switch and everything is working again.I know that Liberty has inverter bypass switches in the transfer panel and I did not try them because I did not want to upset anything.I do still have one concern,I had 116 hours on the new control panel when I got home,I serviced the gen and then I had 3.9 hours on the control panel,Bill at Liberty Chicago is checking on this for me,I think that I really want another new controller.

[jack14r]

Bill checked on the time on the controller,and he told me that Kohler was aware of this glitch but they did not know how to fix it but when they did they would contact us and replace the controller again.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

With that in mind, is Liberty dropping the Kohler generators until they make a reliable product? What vintage Kohlers are affected or are all potential problems?

It's bad enough when something breaks, but when it takes out other equipment or devices when it does fail that makes that failure intolerable.

[jack14r]

The glitch only affected the digital hour meter in the control panel on the generator,the reliability as I understand it is not affected,only the hour meter.I think that all of the EORD and EORZD series have the same controller.It will be interesting to see how long it takes for them to fix the problem and then get parts into their servicing dealers hands.I will post when I hear something.

[merle&louise]

My generator slowed down in rpm and then speeded up again several times, so I shut it down. I checked the oil level & water in radiator and both appeared normal. It started right up again and ran for about 30 minutes then did the same thing. But the second time it stopped producing electricity, so I shut it down and came home using the dash AC (which wasn't too bad!).

The generator is a 20 KW Kohler. It ran fine all weekend (tailgating LSU) and this morning when we left to drive home it started acting up. I am within about 100 hours of an oil and filter change so I'll see if that could be the problem.

It sounds to me like an engine problem that occurs when a load is applied (like an AC cycling on).

We were fortunate that it happened after the partying was over.

Any ideas?

[Woody]

It sounds like a fuel filter problem.

[jack14r]

I agree,change the fuel filter.

[dreamchasers]

My generator slowed down in rpm and then speeded up again several times, so I shut it down. I checked the oil level & water in radiator and both appeared normal. It started right up again and ran for about 30 minutes then did the same thing. But the second time it stopped producing electricity, so I shut it down and came home using the dash AC (which wasn't too bad!).

The generator is a 20 KW Kohler. It ran fine all weekend (tailgating LSU) and this morning when we left to drive home it started acting up. I am within about 100 hours of an oil and filter change so I'll see if that could be the problem.

It sounds to me like an engine problem that occurs when a load is applied (like an AC cycling on).

We were fortunate that it happened after the partying was over.

Any ideas?

Tuga,

The symptoms you have described is exactly the same as I experienced with my generator a couple of months ago. My issue was the electric fuel pump was faulty. My generator will not run unless the electric is priming the main fuel injection pump. I replaced the electric fuel pump and all is fine.

Hector

[merle&louise]

Hector,

It's good to hear from you again. Thanks for the post. I kind of thought that it might be the fuel pump, but I wasn't sure.

I will order one tomorrow and I'll post if that fixes the problem.

Thanks again,

[GDeen]

Might as well jump in with my own problem. Last weekend while dry camping at the OU FSU game, my generator shut down at 10:30 PM. It was very hot so I had been keeping an eye on temps and the voltage, etc. Even had the bus aired up to max height on level low to ensure good air flow under to the radiator. Let it cool down and it still would not re-start. Runs for a second and shuts down. Steve B was kind enough to take a call from me and we checked several things to no avail. Good coolant level, good connections on everything, checked some fuses, belt good, basically everything we could think of.

Nothing like spooling up all your tailgating stuff at midnight and moving to a remote lot. Ran the big engine on high idle and OTR all night. Next morning, a very generous gentleman walked all the way out to the edge of the overflow lot where we were parked and offered us an extra 50 amp spot. As is the case with most RV spots at big football programs, there is a long waiting list for the electrical spots.

I put in new fuel filter, new fuel pump in Dec, and had just changed the oil and filter ahead of the trip. Had about 25 hrs on the oil change and interestingly enough, while it was on the lift at Prevost 2 days before the problem, I took a close look at the radiator with a flashlight and it looked very clean. Temps would run up to 200+/-, and the high speed fan would kick in and drop water back down to 185 in short order. Pretty typical of the way it has always run for me.

Kohler 20 KW with Yanmar engine and 3525 hrs. Seems like some sort of a sensor or sender is bad. Spoke with Rick May and he is going to walk me through a few checks when I can get some time to run out to the barn.

Any other ideas?