I have an open frame Champion generator purchased right after hurricane Sandy in 2012. It saw us through a number of eight hour power interruptions up until 2018 when a Predator 3500 inverter generator joined the fleet. It probably has on the order of 50 hours of runtime. For a few years I would still exercise it against target loads for a couple of hours per year. It has now sat idle for two years without being started. It is filled with E0 fuel that is probably also two years old.
Last weekend I thought it might be a good idea to exercise it. It refused to start without starting fluid and would quickly die after starting. After a few rounds of this it would run a couple of seconds before quitting. It would run continuously if given just the slightest shot of starting fluid every five seconds. It would appear that I have a fuel problem, be that the fuel itself or something going on with the carburetor. My plan for the weekend is to drain the old fuel and replace it with fresh fuel to see if that helps.
Let's assume for a moment that this doesn't solve the problem. What would the community recommend in terms of non-invasive procedures? I have both SeaFoam and RedlineSI-1 on hand. A highly experience colleague suggested Gumout as an alternative to SeaFoam while admitting to never having tried the latter. I'd like to get this unit up and running again so that I can offer it up for sale. Keeping things on topic, it has 5w-40 RT6 in the sump. It's a great little generator that I would highly recommend, but the Predator is just so quiet.
Last weekend I thought it might be a good idea to exercise it. It refused to start without starting fluid and would quickly die after starting. After a few rounds of this it would run a couple of seconds before quitting. It would run continuously if given just the slightest shot of starting fluid every five seconds. It would appear that I have a fuel problem, be that the fuel itself or something going on with the carburetor. My plan for the weekend is to drain the old fuel and replace it with fresh fuel to see if that helps.
Let's assume for a moment that this doesn't solve the problem. What would the community recommend in terms of non-invasive procedures? I have both SeaFoam and RedlineSI-1 on hand. A highly experience colleague suggested Gumout as an alternative to SeaFoam while admitting to never having tried the latter. I'd like to get this unit up and running again so that I can offer it up for sale. Keeping things on topic, it has 5w-40 RT6 in the sump. It's a great little generator that I would highly recommend, but the Predator is just so quiet.
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