Generator issues continue

[Meps1983]

Afternoon everybody. I'm looking for some advice on my generator
Which is a 2009 westerbeke 3kw with 19hrs run time.
Earlier in the year I came on here for help getting it to start as she would turn over but not fire up. After some sound advice from this forum, I cleaned the fuel pump checked the filters and sure enough she started straight up!! I let it run for 5 before plugging In a hoover to see if it worked and the hoover ran fine. Lovely!!
Fast forward a few months and I decided to get it running again to try the water heater with it genny power. It started on the 2/3rd attempt which seemed fine and I let it idle for a few mins before turning on the heater.
After 5 or so mins with the heater on the genny suddenly revved up high then shut off. Hit the start button again and it simply revved up really high then shut down again which is rather annoying as you can imagine. As I said earlier, the generator is virtually brand new being only used for 19 odd hours so Im stumped!!? Any help as to what to try next would be great. Thanks for reading, sorry for waffling! Ben.

 

[NBs]

Hi,

idleness is the enemy of diesel, hours mean little to nothing, here is the link trouble shot westerberg.

faq-troubleshooting.htm - Westerbeke

 

[Bouba]

I would also look at how much electricity the heater is using...also if there are other things connected to the generator that you may not notice, like battery chargers

 

[NBs]

I would also look at how much electricity the heater is using...also if there are other things connected to the generator that you may not notice, like battery chargers

Hi,
good point, in addition, many electrical devices when starting take much more watts than the given watt figure that is realized after starting.

 

[westernman]

After 5 or so mins with the heater on the genny suddenly revved up high then shut off. Hit the start button again and it simply revved up really high then shut down again which is rather annoying as you can imagine.

Overload?

 

[Meps1983]

Sorry I didn't mention the genny is petrol. Everything on board is on a switch panel, so I'm pretty sure that it was only the water heater running while the generator was on.
I'm not sure without looking but I think the water heater is 1500w....maybe which should be fine surely?

 

[Bouba]

Sorry I didn't mention the genny is petrol. Everything on board is on a switch panel, so I'm pretty sure that it was only the water heater running while the generator was on.
I'm not sure without looking but I think the water heater is 1500w....maybe which should be fine surely?

The heater might be drawing more than it should...get your multimeter out

 

[Meps1983]

The water heater/calorifier and the genny came as a standard extra on my boat. Would it suddenly start drawing more juice that the genny could produce?
I shall try and test Bouba, but where am I testing to get a reading?
The heater works when I'm on shore power btw. Thanks for the replies

 

[Portofino]

Assuming it revved up at a restart after you turned the heater off ? You haven’t made that distinction.
If it’s not overloaded then check the throttle mechanism is correctly adjusted should have a stop you can move to control the max rpm ?

Check oil and it’s cooling .They normally have a guard/ sensor which cuts the ignition if low oil or high temp .

If there’s insufficient oil when it revved up the guard might have triggered it to stop to save itself .

 

[Meps1983]

The heater was turned off before attempting to restart, but just did the same thing twice before I walked away.
The oil level was fine when I checked last time it was running but I'll have a look again this weekend. In terms cooling I'm not sure? The expansion tank has fluid in it and water is pumping out the exhaust. Excuse my mechanical knowledge I'm still learning

 

[Bouba]

The water heater/calorifier and the genny came as a standard extra on my boat. Would it suddenly start drawing more juice that the genny could produce?
I shall try and test Bouba, but where am I testing to get a reading?
The heater works when I'm on shore power btw. Thanks for the replies

When my boat calorifier element was on the way out it blew all the fuses on my boat....first run the generator without load...then add a small domestic appliance that you know the power of (you can use a kettle that you can see the element is clean, not the hidden one in the hot water tank), add the toaster etc until the genny stops working...it’s only 3kva so it won’t take many appliances. Not a tv or something with a power hungry start up.
If it can not do much and you are sure it’s not connected to anything else then it’s the genny...it’s not much of a start..but it’s a first step

 

[colhel]

After 5 or so mins with the heater on the genny suddenly revved up high then shut off. Hit the start button again and it simply revved up really high then shut down again which is rather annoying as you

This could be a symptom of the engine running to lean. Maybe check the fuel pump again and clean the carb.

 

[Bouba]

Also...it might be one of those generators that rev up under heavy load...and since it’s petrol, and sat for long periods of time, the fuel could have gummed up the carb or gone stale

 

[Meps1983]

Cleaning the carb keeps coming up on the Internet searches I've been doing also, So it looks like I've got to give that a go. My generator is situated in a rather awkward place in the engine bay, with all the parts one may want to service at the back!
Could I try blasting some carb cleaner in somewhere to see of that helps or do I need to try and get the thing off?
Thanks for the suggestions guys

 

[colhel]

Also, If it's got a separate fuel tank, how old is the petrol?

 

[Meps1983]

The genny runs of the main tank which has fresh fuel from forecourts not the marinas frequently . Before I got it running, I flushed new fuel through the lines and filters(which look new). So I'm pretty sure that's all fine

 

[colhel]

Sounds good. As you say you could blast some carb cleaner, simple things first!

 

[Meps1983]

So managed to get over to the boat briefly today to run it with different appliances as advised. Now it's just starting, revving up then shutting down! I was hoping to get in there with some carb cleaner but that's as hard as taking the thing off.
Can't see why it was running ok the other day for 10 mins and now it won't run at all . I'm guessing it's time to get in there and get the carb itself for a good clean. I've attached a terrible photo of what I'm trying to get to but it gives you am idea of how very little the unit has been used.
The quest goes on......

 

[Portofino]

See my post #9 second sentence .Take that adjuster arm off the butterfly and start it and hand rev it .Report back .