My Powertech 10 KW has been working well, until now. Started up and died very quickly. I got the red fault light inside but no fault lights on the generator. I tried it several times, got it to run almost 12 minutes once, then died- sounded like fuel starvation. I changed fuel filters, tried it again, similar results over many tries. Had it run almost an hour total when I add up all the 5 minutes, 2 minutes, etc, changed fuel filters again. No joy. Roland helped me take out the fuel pressure solenoid, zip tie it up and plug the hole where the solenoid was. We could see very quickly after starting the generator the green run light would go off and the solenoid would push out the rod which would cut the generator off. No fault lights. Even then the generator would grumble to a halt.
We got a new piece of fuel hose and hooked it on the suction side of the fuel pump to test it- no joy. Replaced the original fuel line and tested some more, still cannot get it to stay running long and do not think it is fuel with changing 2 sets of filters so soon.
Conclusion- something electrical is telling the fuel solenoid to shut off early- no idea why.
And something else is causing the generator to grumble to a stop - no idea why.
We will be in Yuma tomorrow- anyone there have any ideas or recommend a good tech or shop? I am at a lost with this and reluctant to keep trying to by pass the faults as I read that they are safety devices and I could cause an expensive repair by running it when the fault says not to.
Your help and ideas are always appreciated.. ^.^d
Try checking all wire connections in and around the generator, there are some 2 and 3 wire conections where the wire from one end
may have pulled out of the connector.What about a bad oil pressure shutdown?
Oil pressure switch is a common failure item - and signals fuel solonoid to close.
oil pressure switch was just replaced in September along with the fuel pressure solenoid. I looked for loose wires but haven't found anything that stands out to me. Thanks
It won't hurt to jump the oil solenoid to see if it is the problem. As long as the oiling system is working, no knocks or other noises. The other option is to read continuity across the solenoid after the engine starts to see if a connection continues until after the engine shuts off.
Worst case, limp to "Q" and we can help you there.
To confirm a consistent supply of fuel, I temporarily replaced the short section of fuel hose after the fuel filter with a piece of clear tubing. It made it easy to see bubbles in the fuel supply. The source of my issue a previous owner spliced in a short section of 3/8 supply line using a 5/16 fitting which was allowing air to enter the supply side.
Unplug the water temperature sending unit on the back side of engine. If it runs unplugged, it's the sending unit. Wire just plugs on the end of the unit.
If the electric fuel pump is on the edge of failing, that is also a possibility. Good to see if the pump is still getting juice after the engine stops. If air is getting into the system, leaving the "T" handled valve partially open will allow any air bubbles to go back to the tank while the generator is running. The electric pump does not produce enough pressure to open the relief valve back to the tank and the air can build up until the injection pump is starved for fuel.
I installed a temp gauge and fuel pressure gauge on the generator engine so I could eliminate some possibilities.
Pierce
I once had a similar fault caused by the coolant level float switch. It had no fault light. Just wired in.
Is it producing electricity?
Ted,
You might try to swap out the 2 relays on the ES-52 to see if the problem changes. Here is a link to see I am talking about and what you will be looking for. Stubborn Powertech Generator (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=25240.msg199326#msg199326)
Mike
When mine was playing those games it ended up being the ES52.
Low coolant will also cause the no run. Mine did the same thing. It was low coolant. Pull the rad cap and physically inspect the level in the rad. It turned out to be the solder connection was faulty and slowly lost coolant till it would start. Run a few minutes and stop.
Good luck,
Safe Travels
Dave
And if it is low coolant, there is a specific procedure to "burp" it (at least on our 2003 U320). Procedure for bleeding the coolant system on Powertech Generators (http://www.beamalarm.com/Documents/Generator/procedure-for-bleeding-the-coolant-system-on-powertech-generators.html)
I had this problem after OTM drained and refilled our generator coolant a couple of years ago. A air pocket trapped in the system would turn to steam, overheat the sensor, and shut the generator down. The burp procedure fixed it.
" It turned out to be the solder connection was faulty". I also suspected the solder connection. I used 2 part JB Weld epoxy around the neck after wire brushing first. Still holding strong more than 2 years later.
Mine was running anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 hours, changed the ES52 and knock on wood no problems so far
Keith