New Yamaha EF2000iS inverter Generator Oil Issue

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Apr 19, 2009
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We've got a two month old Yamaha EF2000iS inverter generator with 130 hours on it, going through far too much oil. We bought it brand new.

It uses approx. 100 ml./3.4 oz. in less than 20 hours of low speed, low load operation (eco mode mostly).

When I broke it in, I ran the generator with approx. 600 to 700 watt load for a good seven hours and did the first oil change at 8 hours using the same recommended 10W40 conventional oil as the original fill. The machine's rated continuous load is 1600 watts. I figured that between 1/3 to 1/2 load for that length of time would have been sufficient to break it in properly. Not sure if that's the problem or not. I've broken in a lot of small engines in my day and never had anything use enough oil to register let alone have something this small go through so much oil.

I changed the oil again at 25 hours and at approx. 70 hours, the low oil alert/engine shut down switch began to actuate. By then, the engine had used over 200 ml which is half of the sump fill of 400 ml. I changed the oil again and put in Rotella T 15W40 conventional. I ran the engine for another 20 hours and checked the oil level. It was down another 100 ml. So, it appears that this problem is persistent.

My questions are:

Has anyone else had a similar problem with this make and model generator?

Has anyone had any other make/similar model use so much oil?

Do you think it was the break in procedure that caused the oil consumption?

If not, does anyone have any other suggestion as to why it uses so much oil?

If it is a break in issue (glazed cylinder/unseated rings), is there a way to remedy the situation short of taking the engine apart, re-honing and installing new rings?

Any assistance/information will be appreciated.

Thank you.
 
If it's only 2mnths old why not get it exchanged or negotiate with their warranty?

I wouldn't open it up or even add any unicorn pea if I were you...get a new generator and get on with my life instead.

Q.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Of course an exchange for a new machine would be preferable. However, I very much doubt that is in the cards.

I have no plans to open it up. That's for sure. Unless there's a problem getting it repaired under warranty.

I'm bracing for resistance from the local Yamaha dealership. I didn't buy the machine from them. I know that I'll likely have to run some sort of gauntlet they'll be throwing down for me. I've had trouble with them in the past and expect more of the same.

I'm wondering if they'll try to tell me that the oil consumption is normal, or that I failed to break it in properly and that the warranty won't cover it. I'm also interested to know what they'll do to remedy the problem once the warranty battle is settled. I'm guessing that re-honing the cylinder and/or replacing the rings is likely the cure.

Anyone have any comments on what the remedy might be?
 
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In the market for an inverter generator myself-thought Yamaha was the BEST?
 
So did I.

On paper, they are the best. No plastic engine components as found in the Honda EU generators and we all know that Honda and Yamaha are in leagues of their own. Maybe I have a bad one or didn't break it in properly? I don't know. However, other than the oil consumption problem, it's wonderful little generator. Quiet, light and very fuel efficient. When not under heavy load the fuel consumption is amazing. Well over three hours per liter if the load is under 500 watts.
 
Off Topic; I saw these and pressure washers at my favotite bike dealer and was checking out the engine, does Yamaha actually make the engine?
 
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Originally Posted By: boraticus
So did I.

On paper, they are the best. No plastic engine components as found in the Honda EU generators and we all know that Honda and Yamaha are in leagues of their own. Maybe I have a bad one or didn't break it in properly? I don't know. However, other than the oil consumption problem, it's wonderful little generator. Quiet, light and very fuel efficient. When not under heavy load the fuel consumption is amazing. Well over three hours per liter if the load is under 500 watts.


Welcome back borat. Enjoyed reading your prior posts.
Joe

(Sorry, can't help you with your problem).
 
I helped a neighbor unbox, prep, and break-in a Yamaha EF2400ishc inverter gen after Hurricane Sandy last year and it worked magnificently. Next size bigger than the one you have.

We used YamaLube 10W-40, put 5-6 hours on it with a space heater occasionally varying the load between 800W, 1400W, and zero. Drained the oil hot (very little metal showed up in the drainage), refilled with more YamaLube 10W-40 and off it went to power his central heat, fridge, TV, lights, etc.. We changed oil again early after 3 days at approx 12hrs/day of running, oil was brown but not trashed. Refilled with RedLine 10W-40 as that was all I could find at the motorcycle shop, it motored along for the remaining 6 days of the outage without using any oil...dipstick still showed full when we shut it down to change the oil.

Sounds like you got a lemon but your local Yamaha dealer should have no problem providing warranty service.
 
I have the EF3000 and it has been reliable and consumes no noticeable oil.It may give a brief white puff for 5-10 seconds at startup.

Having owned both the yami and an eu2000i, I'll say there it's a tight comparison. My preference is the yami due to the controls all being on one side, and the metal shell. I thought the honda had better cooling... it moved 3x as much air.
 
In the aviation world, air cooled piston engines "require" aggressive break in at full throttle/power. The piston rings are chrome plated and the cylinders are nitrided (hard) .

The Yamaha engine also uses Chrome rings and probably a robust cast iron bore. Since you are having oil consumption issues, I'd suggest the very same method as aircraft use.

1) Full load, then no load, then full load etc. Do this for at least 10 hours.
2) Use a mineral, non detergent oil for an oil change cycle. Something like a straight 30. No, it won't harm your engine for one oil change cycle.

It would be my guess that the rings did not seat. I would not guess that the cylinder is glazed, as you don't have enough hours on it to achieve that level of wear.

However, I'd pull the spark plug, find a borescope and look at the cylinder walls. If you have a score from a broken piston ring or other fault, it might be evident.

If you find no cylinder wall problems, I'd run that little devil as hard as you can. The rings will likely seat over time. Remember, it's designed to last a very long time. So, break "might" be slow.
 
Thank you very much for that Cujet.

It looks like I'll have to follow your plan because I've just found out from Yamaha USA that the machine cannot be repaired in Canada? I have to bring it back to the US for repairs? That's nuts.

We bought it from Amazon.com and I picked it up at the US border. Saved almost $700.00 compared to buying it here. So, I either bring it to the USA to have it checked out or end up tearing it down and repairing it myself. For $700.00 savings, I don't have a problem getting a little grease on my hands.

By the way, I asked what happens to a U.S. citizen riding a US purchased Yamaha Motorcycle in Canada and it needs repair under warranty? She said that they would have to get the bike back to the USA to have it fixed??? Really? So I asked her that if she were traveling in her car (regardless of make) purchased in the USA and it broke down in Canada or Mexico, would she have to bring it back to the USA for warranty work? She said "Not likely." So, why is Yamaha being so uncooperative regarding their warranty policy. Bottom line is, beware of what and where your warranty applies when purchasing anything from Yamaha. It's great equipment but their warranty policy certainly needs work.

I'll be using Cujet's method first. That failing, I'll just pull the cylinder, have it honed and give it a shot.

Do you thing I should put in new rings?

I'll keep you posted on how thing go.
 
Thank you to everyone for welcoming me back.

Yeah, there are some real decent people here at Bob's and I did enjoy much of the discussions we had.

Just didn't like being spanked for talking straight. My butt's cooled off now. Let's see how long I can go without another warming.....
 
Hey Cujet:

Just curious. Why the use of non-detergent oil? I picked up a quart of straight 30 non-detergent oil and will be heading out to camp tomorrow to give the generator a serious workout. I've got a 1000 watt space heater out there and the wife's hair dryer to add an additional 600 watts.

I'm confident that there's no broken ring or bore damage. If there was, I'm certain I'd see signs of that. I do have a bore scope but I don't think it will fit in the spark plug hole.

This is the first engine of very many that I've had an oil consumption/break-in issue with. I have to admit that my break-in for this engine was pretty lame. I figured 600 to 700 watts for seven hours or so would do the job.

Another thing I need to check is the crankcase ventilation tube/valve to ensure that it's clear and functioning as intended. A blocked cvv can cause excessive back pressure which can force oil past the rings. The strange thing is that when running out in the daylight, I don't see any smoke. At night with a strong cree l.e.d. light shining on the exhaust, I can see a faint smokey vapour.

Hopefully, I can pull this from the fire by using Cujet's method. If not, I've found an outfit just south of the border that sells/repairs Yamaha equipment. We head down there fairly often. I'll just bring it along on one of our jaunts and have it repaired under warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
In the aviation world, air cooled piston engines "require" aggressive break in at full throttle/power. The piston rings are chrome plated and the cylinders are nitrided (hard) .


Between our short but intense break-in on the EF2400 and putting it to full duty with heavy load we may have accidentally accomplished a good break-in. Makes sense given the outcome.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
In the aviation world, air cooled piston engines "require" aggressive break in at full throttle/power. The piston rings are chrome plated and the cylinders are nitrided (hard) .

The Yamaha engine also uses Chrome rings and probably a robust cast iron bore. Since you are having oil consumption issues, I'd suggest the very same method as aircraft use.


I pulled my Honda EU2000i shop manual and it lists the #1 compression ring as chrome-plated as well. Just a data point.

It's been my experience that it's never too late to break in a set of these, even after the cylinder wall has become glazed. Cheap oil and hard running has always done the trick.
 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Hey Cujet:

Just curious. Why the use of non-detergent oil?


Additives in modern oils actually do inhibit ring seating in some engines. Hence the "old school" advice.

Honestly, I'm wanting to see you pull the spark plug and borescope the cylinder. I'm worried that there is a score or other obvious fault. Such as an out of round cylinder, or areas of the cylinder where the rings don't touch.

How's the compression?

Modern engines don't consume much oil.
 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Thank you to everyone for welcoming me back.

Yeah, there are some real decent people here at Bob's and I did enjoy much of the discussions we had.

Just didn't like being spanked for talking straight. My butt's cooled off now. Let's see how long I can go without another warming.....



I didn't think you were coming back. You were rude as heck to me, but I din't complain
Steve
 
Thanks for the reply Cujet.

My scope won't fit in the spark plug hole and even if it did, all I'd be able to see would be the top of the piston.

I took your advice and did what you said. Filled it with 30 weight non-detergent and ran it hard with intermittent lighter loads for a solid 9 hours (two tanks of fuel). I ran loads between a continuous high of 1450 watts and low loads of 500 watts. About 80% heavy loading with the balance at 500 watts.

The next day, I filled it with recommended 10W40 (Quaker State conventional) and went back to running it in eco mode with very light loading. Less than 500 watts. I ran it for 17.2 hours over a two day period. Approx. 8.5 hrs./day. I closed down the camp for the season and hauled the machine into town. I have it in the garage on a perfectly level bench and noticed that the oil level was down. To top it off, I measured exactly 100 ml. in a container and added oil into the generator until it was at the correct level. It took exactly 50 ml. to fill.

Sooooooo, I'd say that mathematically, there appears to be a considerable improvement. 50 ml. over 17 hrs. is certainly better than 100 ml. in 22 hrs. However, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. I might try another ten hours of so of hard operation to see if I can improve on it. If it doesn't I'll just bring it in to have it checked out, that is, if Yamaha actually acknowledges oil consumption as a problem and will cover it under warranty.

By the way, after the nine hours of hard break in operation, I measured the oil consumed and it appeared to be minimal. It was down a little but just barely. Which I find unusual considering how hard it worked. The oil was considerably discolored however. The 30 weight I put in was almost clear and it came out brownish.

Regarding break-in. From what I've read lately, many say break-in isn't supposed to be a necessity with modern engines? Not sure if I'm eating that. In addition, nowhere in any of Yamaha's literature does it state that proper break-in is required, nor does it provided instructions for same.

The last manual that I owned that specified the requirement for break-in and break-in instructions was for my 2006 Kawasaki KLR650.

I bought a new Hyundai 2000SI Inverter generator and put 170 hrs. on it before the inverter and AC rotor failed. Engine ran perfect and never used a drop of oil. Break in was varied loading for maybe a couple hours or so and not nearly as hard as the recent Yamaha break in effort. Before that, I bought a 2010? Champion 3000 watt standard Generator for home emergency and gave it a similar break in as the Hyundai. It doesn't burn a drop of oil either. And they're both cheap Chinese built engines.

This is the first new machine that I've ever purchased that consumed excessive oil. I'll be keeping an eye on it. Problem is that it will be put away for the winter and not needed until next spring unless I need it for an emergency.

Thanks again for your help.




Originally Posted By: Cujet
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Hey Cujet:

Just curious. Why the use of non-detergent oil?


Additives in modern oils actually do inhibit ring seating in some engines. Hence the "old school" advice.

Honestly, I'm wanting to see you pull the spark plug and borescope the cylinder. I'm worried that there is a score or other obvious fault. Such as an out of round cylinder, or areas of the cylinder where the rings don't touch.

How's the compression?

Modern engines don't consume much oil.
 
Well, I'm not sure we've proven that the oil consumption has improved with just one (and a half) data point. However, if real, the trend is good.

I'd continue to use non synthetic in it until oil consumption stabilizes.

As for oil consumption being lower at full load, that's not unusual. The rings are pressed harder against the cylinder walls.

Since these are designed to last nearly forever, I'd consider a lengthy break in normal for slightly less than perfect parts.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I've been wanting one of these units too. I'd prefer the Yamaha over the Honda due to conventional components. And the fact that I've heard of a number of Honda inverter board failures.
 
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