I am not an electrician so take my answer with a grain a salt, but maybe an electrician can back me up or correct me. The simple answer is that your breaker box is bonded neutral to ground. There should only be one bond in a system. If you have a second bond (like on a generator) then current will flow not only on the neutral, but also on the ground wire (between the bonded breaker box and bonded generator). The ground should not normally carry any current unless there is a fault. Also the flow of current is split now on the neutral and ground and there could be a potential voltage difference between the wires and an increased risk for a shock. Related, the generator should be bonded when not connected to the house. Otherwise a short of the live wire to the frame will not trip the breaker on the generator but the generator will be live!
@@jcondon1 I saw a multi-ground/multi-bond computer network installed in a large building that employed me for designing & troubleshooting its network. A low-bid contractor won the rights to install network wiring between multiple computer lab and new network rooms in three areas of the building that were spread across two city blocks. The contractor installed local and unique building grounds in each of those network rooms. When I came to test the finished products I found current flow between the network rooms caused by differing ground potentials from each different section of the building. I was happy to have found it with a meter instead of trying to discover the flakiness and equipment damage and/or data corruption that multiple grounds were causing. The solution was tying each of the network rooms to a common ground across the entire building, and the contractor was required to correct their problems. Sadly, this contractor had violated many other low-voltage electrical rules, as well as our own in-house cable wiring standards (which were provided to all bidders prior to the initial walk-through for scope of project), and we had to pull his performance bond and have a different vendor come in and clean up all the violations when he refused to do the job right. Your description was spot-on, and you did a perfect job diagnosing & identifying & correcting the issue in this video. Kudos to you!
Requiring the receipt is just a cop out. What good would the receipt do? It's a Champion. They made it. Whoever they got to sell it for them does not matter. Oh wait I think I have a guess. They want the receipt to prove that you actually possess a Champion generator. Sending the whole heavy thing back would be perfect proof but the shipping costs... etc. So the cheapest thing for them to do is to send you a whole new generator and you can just throw the broken one away. BUT they could easily have you take the broken generator to a local store that carries Champion and can confirm it's a Champion. And that store would take possession of the broken generator for it's destruction.
I thought the exact same thing. If Jim sent them the video they should send him an engine. Especially now that SO many people will see this video and likely be hesitant to get a Champion with the newer and larger engine. 6000 watts better than none for sure, but would be nice to get it back to factory output.
@@jcondon1is the 458 made to a lower standard, or was this one just unlucky? Remains to be seen I suppose, we need more data points. Excellent attempt to compare gas and propane. Again, data so far was not as expected and we need more datapoints. But very interesting to geeks like me. Thank you James, excellent content, as always. Someday maybe parts will come your way to try to rebuild the 458.
I love the fact that his videos are on the longer side too. He doesn't leave anything out which has help me a couple times and it help me understand whatever the problems is in more detail. He also never has any filler crap in his videos, everything he shows needs to be in the video. Long live the long videos!!
Perhaps a copy of the seller's supplier's invoice would have been a good way to have the generator repaired under warranty. The seller no longer had the bill, but the store that sold it did
You never know when it comes to engines. I had an engine lock up on one of my riding mowers while I was using it. The starter had failed to disengage and the starter gear was jammed in the flywheel. I recently had a riding mower given to me as a parts machine. The owner said it locked up while he was using it, and the engine did not turn at all when I got it. Two of the magnets on the flywheel had let loose and gotten jammed in the alternator. One of the first machines ever given to me supposedly had a locked up engine, and it was just building too much compression. A valve adjustment fixed the problem. You never know until you look. I have learned not to make assumptions based on what someone is telling me.
Agreed. I had a brand new 212cc predator and it would turn over but i heard something scraping. It turns out the fan shroud was bent in rubbing against the fan. It must of been damaged when it was shipped to my local harbor freight.
If you have any fix-it knowledge, it's always worth an investigation. Thankfully, there are folks like James and others who share the know-how to others who may be rookies, or located somewhere that quality help is hard to find.
Yep I always remember and teach others - the person giving it away or selling it broken couldn't fix it, so there is a good chance also misdiagnosed it
When I was around 12, I had a knack ( trial & error) and love for fixing small engines and lawnmowers. My uncle was always amazed how I could take several mowers he had laying around and cannibalize the parts to create one running mower. Now fast forward 55 years and I am retiring at 67 next month. Your channel has given me a great spark to go back to my youth and repair mowers, generators, etc in my retirement for fun and some extra cash. You should take great pride in what you have accomplished here, by sharing and helping others save money.
I worked on small engines in my uncles shop as a kid 46 years ago or more. Back then you couldnt buy clone carbs. If you had a shop you could get catalogs to buy after market parts but they was usually better than oem honestly. One place contacted my uncle was power lawnmower products. Great parts. There spark plugs was better than champions, not as good as ngk but close and you could buy a case for $15. A new carb oem was a deal breaker. Any carb was very expensive. But a crank was only $10. A short block was $50. Back then carb cleaner worked. Only reason to replace a carb was it was missing or physically damaged. I remember only having to buy one carb. Was for a big troy built tiller. They dropped it off a truck and broke it. I also remember it was over $100 my uncles cost. Back then that was alot of money. I was only 15 and had NEVER seen a $100 dollar bill. That was a weeks pay. Lol
Yeah I actually said "that head's fine James" while watching this. His shopping list for it should be connecting rod, piston and rings, 2 new valves and keepers and a gasket set. A good cleaning and valve lapping will take care of any little nicks that might be in the seats, and a little ding here or there is no biggie as long as there's no cracks.
@@offshack Exactly my thoughts. I've fitted heads that have looked a damn site worse than that over the decades in a professional capacity without any problems.🙂
The guy already called on the unit and stated to them he didn't have the receipt, which made it traceable to them to give you the shove-off. Offering a warranty is like gambling, they know there's certain odds on failures that they accept, putting their thumb on the scales to boost profit, while playing on the fact that most civilized folks try to avoid confrontation, is icing on the cake.
Don't accept no for an answer. It might take 20 phone calls but keep annoying them till they give in. A few years back I did this with Briggs and Stratton on a lawn mower that blew up. It took close to 20 phone calls but they eventually gave in and replaced the engine on my mower.
@@jeffclark2725 I have an electric greenworks polesaw, they sent out a recall about a known problem that was just outside my serial #, of course it was the same problem/failure .. so I got very expensive skeeter smoker now.
Ho. Lee. Cow. That is a serious amount of carnage! I haven't actually seen that amount of damage in a small engine. This was definitely a learning experience for me...thank you :) @1:53:25 I noticed that the ammeter on the generator panel does not show anything even while under load.
We lost due to the fires we had here in Northern Calif. And after a week of no power, Home Depot will selling these! PROBLEM: Were located just 1 mile inland from the Pacific Ocean, so we have winds flowing most of the time, These come with a CO2 Sensor, and it randomly shuts down! If we don't angle it just right, that's what happens. I want to disconnect that sensor if possible. I also wonder why the RPM is so high. I know some will say: So you get the 60hZ, but it runs crazy fast! Excellent work Jim. 👍 --- Yes, they won't accept the warranty without the receipt! I start ours every 3 months for 5 minutes. I do like the big know that has the 4 positions. 1) run on gas 2) run until carb. is empty. 3) run on propane 4) run until carb. is empty.
It is a nice design. The CO2 sensor is a good idea, but in practice they are an issue. Some brands now have a bypass switch for the sensor. Also they are only good for about 10 years.
As you said, it should become more affordable over time to rebuild that original engine… but given all the qc issues you observed, I can’t help but wonder if the poor assembly process might have introduced other failure points that would only show up once you addressed the first failure. I don’t really have a strong opinion, but certainly something to consider. Another great video! You’re one of only a few content creators that I’ll invest the time to watch the long form, ‘cause it’s all worth watching! 👍
Hah! As Eric at "I Do Cars" would say, "That's malice in the combustion palace!" I think you nailed it. Someone forgot to heat treat the retainers, and they wore. What a shame. I guess the warranty must have been non-transferable, else what good is a receipt? Or maybe they have a bunch of these failures and they're finding ways to wiggle out of replacements.
Oh, I wait all week for Thursday! James with an almost repaired irreparable generator, Kurtis with a multi-ton-heavy dozer hub and soon Josh with an amazing machining job. We need more Thursdays in a week! Thanks for another very interesting video, James. Sorry it didn't turn out better. Have a good weekend nonetheless.
I had a '72 Chevy PU with the 350 engine. Cracked piston like your generator. I must have put 10,000 miles on it (TX-VA-NY-VA-TX-VA) before I decided to tear it down and rebuild the engine. I guess I was lucky that the engine didn't come apart. I had to rebuid it again after 3 years when I got it back from being stolen. Thieves didn't maintain the oil level.
I love a good autopsy. I got a 98 cc for a mini bike project. When I first started it I didn’t know that the head bolts and side cover bolts were so over torqued from the factory that they stripped out right away. I used a heli coil kit to rethread. Works fine now with proper torque.
I thought of you today......... A big high wind thunderstorm came though our region. We got by without problems.........unlike many others not to far from us. My mom's house has the same model Generator, and she's going to need it for up to a full week beyond today, as her neighborhood really got it bad. It's been helping for 2 days now. I went to her home to check on it, and I was a bit amazed at what I found. It's been running the 50hrs or so that Briggs says it's time to do the maintenance.......... BUT we opted to use a very tough oil that goes an easy 10k miles on your car and still likely has more to give...plus I've got a Baldwin premium filter on it. The engine was running like a watch when I arrived to check it... super smooth with no ticks or sputters. (Natural Gas Fueled) The oil was still YELLOW.. it hasn't even made it to amber yet. I topped it off, as it was half-way in the safe zone.. (1/5th quart to FULL)... Fortunately, it's been 75deg F during the day... so the air cooled motor isn't really cooking itself. I suppose I'll check it each day and change the oil/filter half way... Seems that these super synthetic oils are indeed tough... and can hang in there above and beyond what I expected. Generators are like hospitals......... you hope you don't need them, but when you do, you appreciate them even more.
Natural gas is really good for the oil (and for the engine) doesnt make any carbon so the oil doesn't go black. Everything stays clean and shiny when it's powered by natural gas or proppane
@@vx-iidu I'll just say, I'm glad that that generator did a good job.......and held its own through the outage. Five days later there was a failed transformer on our street, and our generator (same setup) got a half day's exercise (overnight) until they got it fixed. I sometimes feel guilty changing the oil on them yearly........as it still looks really good. I must say I LIKE the NG powered setup, since I don't have to concern myself with the fuel. Often your neighborhood gas station may have no power, so you're not getting any fresh fuel... and stored fuel is.... stored fuel.
Thanks for the video. Glad to learn Champion doesn't honor their warranty without the thermal paper receipt. Saved me from recommending Champions to friends.
Glad to see you didn’t try to pawn it off as an 8000 watt generator, which you could have easily done. I’ve alway shied away from repair generators with power output issues. What I’ve learned from you, I’m now confident in diagnosing problems.
Somebody didn't use a torque wrench when they built that generator, judging by how tight many of the bolts were. Great video as always James, thank you.
I envy your skills and opportunities to apply them in such useful ways. Thank you for sharing your expertise with such concise comments and explanations during such clear video. Keep up the excellent work, James!
In Quebec, Canada. We have a law that say even that you dont need any receipt to ask for a waranty repair. If the Manufacturer have a fabrication date and the device is covered under the time of the warranty under that time frame, they have no reason to refuse the repair.
@ericvaughn1126 we even have what we call the legal warranty. If you pay for something it need to at least give a normal service life. Like a 800$ tv should last at least 8 years with out problem. If it breaks we can as the store or the manufacturer to fix it at there expense. If they dont want to fix it we can sue them at small claim court for the repair price or if we cannot make it repaired for the whole price of replacing the device with an equivalent one.
@@magilla9792 Bought a Mitsubishi Cross Eclipse yesterday because my American built Ford Fusion Titanium Energy have a recal on the damn battery and since I dont trust Ford for fixing by plugable hybrid I took a fuel only new car. My freedom of speech is enclosed in the right and freedom act of Canada. You should read it.We also have the right to ask for diyng with dignity do american have this? My 12kW generator is also running on gaz, It can also run on propane or natural gaz. Got it 1.5 year ago. All legally. Where do you get your information?
Unless (being extraordinarily kind to Champion) they’d already paid out on that engine and this is the written-off remains. Then again … what awful rotters!
The champion warranty is to the original purchaser and is not transferable according to their website. It is, unfortunately, how many warranties are these days. Proof of purchase shows you are the original purchaser.
From the rust on the flywheel, it is clean that this machine was out in the weather or was stored outdoors. This was not a cheap machine. I guess those people have a lot more money than i do.
The color and uniformity of the rust tells that is is flash rusting from moisture in the air. The flywheel is an unprotected cast iron part, its going to rust if there's any moisture in the air. Every small engine I've ever owned had the flywheel rust like that, even when stored in the garage due to the high humidity in the air. If you don't like the rust, you'd have to paint the flywheel, and that can be problematic. Paint has enough weight that it can throw the flywheel out of balance at the ~3600 RPM it runs at, so you'd most likely have to rebalance the flywheel.
@@dwaynesimons-d2c Florida's air is so saturated with humidity that you have to chew it to breathe it. Things will flash rust in no time. Same with most anywhere in the gulf coast states.
James best wishes from Galway Ireland I have to say one thing you are a true genius at making machines work with the generator it is a great machine cheers Declan 🖐️🖐️👍👍👍
I commend you on your patients , and your consistent thought process in tracking down and solving the problems thanks for great videos on showing the correct way to fix / repair items that others just see as junk.
I concur with all those who felt Champion should have serviced or replaced the problem components once they had the serial number & knew the date of purchase was within the warranty period. It's unfortunate the original purchaser didn't keep the receipt. Typically I don't need to keep receipts any longer because the places I buy from keep an electronic record that's associated with my credit card or cell phone number. I can give them either one and they can print out a fresh copy of the original receipt, which can then be used for warranty service. Although folks still use cash or checks, it would have been interesting to ask the original buyer if they'd used a credit card, and then check if the seller could duplicate the receipt for warranty work.
Great video. Lots of work. I see the original engine being repaired and reinstalled, as a matter of fact I'm looking forward to seeing that. See you next week.
Lets see; James has another mystery generator, but also a box a parts, a drill, a screwdriver, a hammer and a flashlight. Sure why not, it shouldn't be a problem-lets power up the neighborhood. Great content as always.
Methodical, informative and as usual a great video. Thanks James for your continued delve into the world of generators and small engines. Looking forward to the resurrection of the failed one.👌
James, Lots of fun video. Swapping and experimenting is who I am. One of my girl friends used to say sarcastically to me "Let's run a test" because I did it for GM for 36yrs. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that you cannot expect the A/F ratio to be the same when you are at part throttle with the choke on as it is with the throttle open full or even some more. You will have to go back and adjust the choke to compensate for the greater amount of air pulling thru the carb. And in that vein: The difference between the two carbs that you tried to just swap the jet between is in the engineering of the airflow thru each carb, the venturi design, fuel type, discharge point and range of air flow quantity. It all has an effect, in effect doing the same thing as I described above with repositioning the choke butterfly. I wonder if you could use a wide range O2 sensor to actually look at the A/F ratio. You may not be able to read the ratio directly, but you certainly could read the voltage it makes to make correlations from. The richer the mixture the higher the voltage and vv for lean. As you know now, the more tools you have the more you can learn about any given problem. At GM the number of tools was awesome. We even put a window into a combustion chamber to watch the flame effects from changes in A/F, EGR, RPM, Compression Ratio, Fuel Composition, Cam Timing, Spark timing etc. Thank you for another entertaining video. Stay safe, and keep up the good work. ben/ michigan
Had three of these engines in my shop since July with the exact same issue. Two different manufacturers using the same engines. The valve keepers on the exhaust valve were worn smooth and no longer provided retention. This allowed the valve drop with similar results. The valve was broken off and in the cylinder. Two of the three were warranty. The third became a spare parts machine after customer declined repairs.
I love the methodical way you go about figuring whats wrong and what happened Also find it ammusing the balance of care and gentle vs hit it with a big hammer. That has to be satisfying to pop the rotor off the shaft with that big sledge
I like your videos. I like to watch them. I got lost in this video for the first time and couldn't follow which part, from which generator, you put where. Don't take this as criticism. More like a story of what can happen while watching. Have a nice day and greetings from the Czech Republic.
I think you should get back to Champion and press them again to replace that engine. Many jurisdictions require the manufacturer to honor their warranty with or without the receipt. I know here in Canada, many provinces have such a law. If you have a lawyer on retainer, ask him to write to them. It's worth a try. The cost to Champion in good will is worth more than this engine, which is a small price to pay. Great video, as always. Thank you.
They could have went by the serial# and or manufacture date and made it right. Should have just photoshopped a reciept. Probably just a hoop the customer service need to jump through to trigger the paperwork to process..
I tried to fix a pressure washer pump once. That was a big fail. This one I consider a partial fail because of the missing HP when running on gasoline and the bad oil switch.
James, please don't ever be tempted to shorten your videos while editing the final product. I have learned "more" how an internal combustion engine works by watching the repair of a non-functioning unit. It is easier to see how each piece of the engine is supposed to interact with all of the other pieces and what happens when don't. The cut-away of a working engine is not as helpful for my feeble brain to learn the processes. It's moving too fast maybe! Weird, isn't it? Thanks so much for these "complete" repair videos. Leave nothing out.
Great video! I have a 7500W Champion dual fuel. I have to manually tickle the carb when starting on propane too. I think even Champion considers their engines disposable. When I bought it new, I did order a spare propane regulator and hose from them. Bought a knockoff carb from eBay.
I tend to look at James’ length of video first, just out of curiosity. At 2 hours and 8 minutes I exclaimed, “Oh, WOW”! 😂 Before you know it we’ll be setting new UA-cam records at 5 hours! 😉👍
Hi James. Really enjoy your channel. I agree demand regulators without primers can be a pain to start. However there is a fairly easy and free work around for that especially since that particular generator has easy access. Simply remove the cover where the primer button should be. Drill a hole in the center. Clean up the metal chips and reinstall. Then use a small screwdriver or tool of you choice to push in on the diaphragm to prime. Wa la you have a demand regulator with primer. Doesn’t affect it at all because that’s the atmosphereic side and needs to be vented anyway. Won’t hurt the diaphragm because there’s a metal disc attached. Done it many times.
Very nice work James. I own two Champion generators and have worked on several others. I have had zero issues with mine. The ones I worked on were usually bad gas and one was full of very sticky stuff, I think was chain and bar oil. I wonder if someone over revved the engine and caused the valve keepers to fail. Because he did not try to get a warrantee makes me kind of suspicious. One of my own machines in very similar to the one you just repaired. I have to choke it to start on a cold start on propane. The oversized carb may give the new engine a little more HP on both gas and propane. Thanks for a great video.
that last sticker you peeled off, you could have used the 9000 part, cut off the 9 and turned it round and re-applied as 6000 and then used the watt part of that sticker in order to advertise the rating. you produce great interesting videos. i am across the pond and am now tempted to attack the carb on my non-starting mower having watched a number of your episodes. thank you.
That is total BS by Champion. No receipt should be necessary as the warranty obviously transfers to subsequent owners and is only time limited. No matter how it was acquired ..... the warranty should apply to the manufacturer fixing or replacing the unit. Champion should be able to refer to their own records... the distribution to a wholesaler then a retailer then first owner (who probably filled out an on line warranty card)?
Agree, apparent.y they have a confuse and obfuscate department. Their bonuses are based on how many customers they convince that the warranty is with the purchaser and not the equipment.
May I add another situation that no one else touched on? Perhaps the reason is this generator was heisted at the retail level to never be seen again? Remember this is two years old. Major retailers were not as proactive as they are now with shop lifting. Then resold to the last owner either suspecting on not suspecting? That would be a stretch Ofcourse. We like to think everyone is on the up & up. I have found in my life that is not always so. However I do agree with all the extra labor & trouble that Champion make good on their warranty. If they don’t? Well, then that would speak volumes who Champion is as a reliable company to honor all warranties. I personally am biased. I only buy Honda Generators. I’m willing to spend the extra to buy a premium generator all the way around.
I agree the warranty should follow the machine IREGARDLESS of who is in possession of it during warranty period! Sounds like Champion trying to worm out of honoring their warranty eh?
The fact that Champion wanted a receipt for their product to honor their warranty tells me all I needed to know about their customer service. I am buying a Honda generator next week. Champion just lost a sale!!!!
Save your Honda receipt, I believe most warranties require proof of purchase and only the original buyer is covered. But I don't blame James for trying. Some companies Customer service personnel let some things pass by. 😮
Hi, I have one for you. My brother has a generator home made on a metal frame using a Sears Alternator and a Honda engine with a belt connecting the two. I wish I knew what engine to tell you, it was a flat head, valves in the block, and it had an angle to the block and piston, not horizontal, and not vertical. Had a Red Honda gas tank. Anyway I was first to Deer Camp, so I brought the generator. It was early afternoon when I arrived a our rustic Log Cabin on 80 acres of swamp 30 miles North of Marquette in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The cabin is in the middle of a Hemlock stand so it's dark inside even on sunny days. The first thing I did was get the generator out, check the oil and gas it up. I gave the recoil a pull and it rolled about 1/2 turn and stopped. I grabbed the pully and rolled it backward and it stopped going the other way too. I took the spark plug out to look but I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Something Black and oily was all I could make out. So I took the head off and found that over all the years of using this generator it had been building up a solid mass of oily Black carbon on the piston top about 1/8" thick and for some reason it had become loosened from the piston top and got in the way of the piston and the head. I removed it and put the head back on and it ran like always. I have always figured it was caused by using Mobil 1 synthetic oil. I figured maybe that engine did not run hot enough to burn the oil that got on the top of the piston all the way up, but hot enough to cause a build up of good old Blacky Carbon. If someone knows more I'd like to know what you know. I always try to figure root cause of problems. Like the holding ridges in James' keepers not being there. Were they defective from the start? Did they get sheared off? If so how? Only the valve spring is pulling against them. It's not like the piston hit the valve and sheared them. Even if the valve head broke off first, the keepers would not have a reason to shear off. OK, BTW my brother was not happy when I told him I had to remove the cylinder head from his "prized" Honda engine. To him it was the Holy Grail of small engines and he didn't authorize me to open it up. ben/ michigan
I am buying this exact model used tomorrow and kinda wish I didn't watch this video right now 😂...it's way too interesting to stop now though. Great content! I appreciate you making it
Nice work once again James. Re the load bank cooling: Perhaps rig up a modest capacity uninterruptible power supply unit for the load bank cooling fan (e.g. the sort you might use for a home computer or a home internet/router)? They should have enough capacity to run a cooling fan for long enough should the test power source fail during power test (handy if test is unsupervised for a while). Or perhaps have it so you can independently switch the fan's power supply to an alternative power source, e.g. use one of those portable battery power stations and a break before make transfer switch?
Don't feel bad about the warranty. My 2500 was less than a year old, was registered online and won't start. They used the receipt thing against me too and claimed they had no record of me registering it or calling to get help with it the first week I owned it, which I did. I should have taken it back to the store after it wouldn't start at first. I've had it almost a year now with less time on it than it takes to break it in.
in your previous video, the go-cart, might be a wise idea to put 2 sets each of 3 point seat belts. As you mentioned, with no suspension, driver & passenger could be thrown off or colide with something. The seatbelt i prefer is the usual 'lap belt' but it has a hook or nob to that the shoulder straps can hook onto - simple but effective system
My brother n law bought a boat a couple months ago. He's showing me videos of that thing outrunning a 60mph drone flying over it. Dual engines = 800 HP!! That is insane! I'm sure he loves it...damn!! 800HP!!
Sir I have a both valves and springs that I'll give you if I can mail them to you. I just did scrap the complete engine like that not a month ago and I honestly don't think anything was wrong with it. The power head went bad and it wouldn't run so I took the engine apart to make sure it was ok and as far as I could tell it was, I just couldn't find parts to put it back together. But I still have the valves if you think you'll be able to use them.
Always amazed and impressed with what you know and can do, fun to watch, always learn a little. Wonder if the game was worth the powder on that generator, tho'. Can see why a lot of people would have trashed it.
I bought the same generator the second half of 22 and made sure to keep the receipt and took a photo of the front and back. I could send it to you if it would help. I had my first engine die on mine due to the cylinder being over bored and the rings not sealing. They had me send my whole unit back to them (on their dime) and that's what they told me in the email I got from them 3 weeks later. They also told me that they had a batch go out with this problem and that they have just been replacing the unit. Sounds like they know they had a problem and are just trying to cover it up.
I found on my propane generator if you open the propane tank valve to quickly you trip the safety valve in the propane tank. Open slowly for the first 1/4 turn and then you can open quickly. Works every time.
I've seen that happen. Where it basically washes out the keepers. Thats due to excessive valve clearance. I got a brand new generator, not only was the drain plug a bit wonky (i had to basically cross thread it into it to make it sit correctly) and after 5 hours i was noticing that the engine was clanking. Called the manufacturer, they gave me the valve clearance spec, 0.15mm exhaust 0.12mm Intake Yeah well, it was more like 0.46mm exhaust 0.37mm intake Adjusted it, runs nice and quiet now. I also run Aspen 4 fuel in it, it cant gum up the carb and can sit in rhe carb and tank for 5 years and it will still fire like its brand new fuel. Also what i did, was replaced the factory fuel line.... Now its running like it should. (158F with Hemi head, 1000W inverter 230V single Phase)
Since I see a Dual fuel situation here theres a good chance you are right about manufacture defect. When running Propane on any engine you MUST use sidium filled valve stems or they will get hot and break same with the valve seats They MUST BE Sodium Filled. How I know is back during the Gasoline Crunch in late 70s We changed all our truck engines to Propane at flowers baking company and Immediately started having trouble with the heads and had to change all our valves and seats so Bet that engine was run on ptopane and the defect would be the valves were not sodium filled. and in cleaning sodium filled valves you bette not peck on them because you could case them to explode
As always another great video of a Job well done, as I mentioned before you always do awesome work and we can never wait for the next video to come out and another generator gets to live another life.
Another brilliant and in-depth video, James. Did you share your findings with champion? I'd definitely say it suffered a critical failure based on the valve collet defect. Greetings from the UK
Hey! Can you please explain why the generator should have a floating neutral when connecting it to a house?
I am not an electrician so take my answer with a grain a salt, but maybe an electrician can back me up or correct me. The simple answer is that your breaker box is bonded neutral to ground. There should only be one bond in a system. If you have a second bond (like on a generator) then current will flow not only on the neutral, but also on the ground wire (between the bonded breaker box and bonded generator). The ground should not normally carry any current unless there is a fault. Also the flow of current is split now on the neutral and ground and there could be a potential voltage difference between the wires and an increased risk for a shock.
Related, the generator should be bonded when not connected to the house. Otherwise a short of the live wire to the frame will not trip the breaker on the generator but the generator will be live!
@@jcondon1okayy thankss, btw love your content!
Electrical engineer that previously held an electrician license. This comment is 100% correct and well explained.
@@jcondon1 I saw a multi-ground/multi-bond computer network installed in a large building that employed me for designing & troubleshooting its network. A low-bid contractor won the rights to install network wiring between multiple computer lab and new network rooms in three areas of the building that were spread across two city blocks. The contractor installed local and unique building grounds in each of those network rooms. When I came to test the finished products I found current flow between the network rooms caused by differing ground potentials from each different section of the building. I was happy to have found it with a meter instead of trying to discover the flakiness and equipment damage and/or data corruption that multiple grounds were causing. The solution was tying each of the network rooms to a common ground across the entire building, and the contractor was required to correct their problems. Sadly, this contractor had violated many other low-voltage electrical rules, as well as our own in-house cable wiring standards (which were provided to all bidders prior to the initial walk-through for scope of project), and we had to pull his performance bond and have a different vendor come in and clean up all the violations when he refused to do the job right. Your description was spot-on, and you did a perfect job diagnosing & identifying & correcting the issue in this video. Kudos to you!
James as a journeyman electrician of 25 yrs you are 100 percent correct
I think Champion needs to send James a new engine! Who is with me?😃
At least the internal parts he’d need to repair. Piston, head etc
At least the parts that their defects destroyed--the head with valves, the piston and rings, the connecting rod and bearing, the oil slinger.
I agree proof or not stand behind your warranty
Requiring the receipt is just a cop out. What good would the receipt do? It's a Champion. They made it. Whoever they got to sell it for them does not matter.
Oh wait I think I have a guess. They want the receipt to prove that you actually possess a Champion generator. Sending the whole heavy thing back would be perfect proof but the shipping costs... etc. So the cheapest thing for them to do is to send you a whole new generator and you can just throw the broken one away.
BUT they could easily have you take the broken generator to a local store that carries Champion and can confirm it's a Champion. And that store would take possession of the broken generator for it's destruction.
Yeah if they think about it itd be good PR for them. Get james the parts and he revives the engine and all is well
After watching your inspection methods and your diagnostics, Champion should send you a new engine free of charge!
I would welcome it
Time for a cruise on the cart..ha
I thought the exact same thing. If Jim sent them the video they should send him an engine. Especially now that SO many people will see this video and likely be hesitant to get a Champion with the newer and larger engine. 6000 watts better than none for sure, but would be nice to get it back to factory output.
This is the first and only 458cc engine I have come across. It does make me think twice about it. The 390cc and 420cc engines are much more common.
@@jcondon1is the 458 made to a lower standard, or was this one just unlucky? Remains to be seen I suppose, we need more data points.
Excellent attempt to compare gas and propane. Again, data so far was not as expected and we need more datapoints. But very interesting to geeks like me. Thank you James, excellent content, as always.
Someday maybe parts will come your way to try to rebuild the 458.
James, no one should ever complain about the length of your videos -- They're Worth Every Second ! -- Thanks For Your Diligence
I love the fact that his videos are on the longer side too. He doesn't leave anything out which has help me a couple times and it help me understand whatever the problems is in more detail. He also never has any filler crap in his videos, everything he shows needs to be in the video. Long live the long videos!!
@@scottsmall9898 Agreed !
@@scottsmall9898 💯% agree
All RIGHT! James is back on a hopeless generator! This should be great!
Oh yes, this channel is my "fidget" fix, cheers Jim 😁
Perhaps a copy of the seller's supplier's invoice would have been a good way to have the generator repaired under warranty. The seller no longer had the bill, but the store that sold it did
@@iandennis7836 This channel and Mustie1
Like a good murder mystery
@@richardpena7275 Yeah! “Who Murdered The Generator”. A mystery series starring Jim Condon and a cast of hundreds of mistreated generators.
You never know when it comes to engines. I had an engine lock up on one of my riding mowers while I was using it. The starter had failed to disengage and the starter gear was jammed in the flywheel. I recently had a riding mower given to me as a parts machine. The owner said it locked up while he was using it, and the engine did not turn at all when I got it. Two of the magnets on the flywheel had let loose and gotten jammed in the alternator. One of the first machines ever given to me supposedly had a locked up engine, and it was just building too much compression. A valve adjustment fixed the problem. You never know until you look. I have learned not to make assumptions based on what someone is telling me.
Agreed. I had a brand new 212cc predator and it would turn over but i heard something scraping. It turns out the fan shroud was bent in rubbing against the fan. It must of been damaged when it was shipped to my local harbor freight.
If you have any fix-it knowledge, it's always worth an investigation. Thankfully, there are folks like James and others who share the know-how to others who may be rookies, or located somewhere that quality help is hard to find.
Yep I always remember and teach others - the person giving it away or selling it broken couldn't fix it, so there is a good chance also misdiagnosed it
ABSOLUTLY RIGHT!!!
When I was around 12, I had a knack ( trial & error) and love for fixing small engines and lawnmowers. My uncle was always amazed how I could take several mowers he had laying around and cannibalize the parts to create one running mower. Now fast forward 55 years and I am retiring at 67 next month. Your channel has given me a great spark to go back to my youth and repair mowers, generators, etc in my retirement for fun and some extra cash. You should take great pride in what you have accomplished here, by sharing and helping others save money.
I worked on small engines in my uncles shop as a kid 46 years ago or more. Back then you couldnt buy clone carbs. If you had a shop you could get catalogs to buy after market parts but they was usually better than oem honestly. One place contacted my uncle was power lawnmower products. Great parts. There spark plugs was better than champions, not as good as ngk but close and you could buy a case for $15. A new carb oem was a deal breaker. Any carb was very expensive. But a crank was only $10. A short block was $50. Back then carb cleaner worked. Only reason to replace a carb was it was missing or physically damaged. I remember only having to buy one carb. Was for a big troy built tiller. They dropped it off a truck and broke it. I also remember it was over $100 my uncles cost. Back then that was alot of money. I was only 15 and had NEVER seen a $100 dollar bill. That was a weeks pay. Lol
No way in a million years would I be throwing that head away. That head will work perfectly well with new valves and collets in my opinion James.
Yeah I actually said "that head's fine James" while watching this. His shopping list for it should be connecting rod, piston and rings, 2 new valves and keepers and a gasket set. A good cleaning and valve lapping will take care of any little nicks that might be in the seats, and a little ding here or there is no biggie as long as there's no cracks.
@@offshack Exactly my thoughts. I've fitted heads that have looked a damn site worse than that over the decades in a professional capacity without any problems.🙂
Depends on whether the valve hit the seat at some time. It wouldn't take much of a ding there for it not to be able to be lapped out.
@@robertbackhaus8911 All you do is face the seat with a stone Robert and it won't face, you just replace the seat.
Send the link to this video to Champion. This is obviously a manufacturing defect. They should step up.
The guy already called on the unit and stated to them he didn't have the receipt, which made it traceable to them to give you the shove-off.
Offering a warranty is like gambling, they know there's certain odds on failures that they accept, putting their thumb on the scales to boost profit, while playing on the fact that most civilized folks try to avoid confrontation, is icing on the cake.
It could have helped if the generator was registered, then the paper trail would be there in times like this
@@jeffclark2725
Which company holds the "registration"?
That's right....Champion.
Don't accept no for an answer. It might take 20 phone calls but keep annoying them till they give in. A few years back I did this with Briggs and Stratton on a lawn mower that blew up. It took close to 20 phone calls but they eventually gave in and replaced the engine on my mower.
@@elviraraff6809 Their policy if you dont have a recipt, to go off the date on the engine, or they authorize it
@@jeffclark2725 I have an electric greenworks polesaw, they sent out a recall about a known problem that was just outside my serial #, of course it was the same problem/failure .. so I got very expensive skeeter smoker now.
Ho. Lee. Cow. That is a serious amount of carnage! I haven't actually seen that amount of damage in a small engine. This was definitely a learning experience for me...thank you :)
@1:53:25 I noticed that the ammeter on the generator panel does not show anything even while under load.
I missed that
Always great to see a surgeon at work! I look forward to learning something new every week!
We lost due to the fires we had here in Northern Calif. And after a week of no power, Home Depot will selling these!
PROBLEM: Were located just 1 mile inland from the Pacific Ocean, so we have winds flowing most of the time,
These come with a CO2 Sensor, and it randomly shuts down! If we don't angle it just right, that's
what happens. I want to disconnect that sensor if possible. I also wonder why the RPM is so high.
I know some will say: So you get the 60hZ, but it runs crazy fast! Excellent work Jim. 👍
---
Yes, they won't accept the warranty without the receipt! I start ours every 3 months for 5 minutes. I do like the big
know that has the 4 positions. 1) run on gas 2) run until carb. is empty. 3) run on propane 4) run until carb. is empty.
It is a nice design. The CO2 sensor is a good idea, but in practice they are an issue. Some brands now have a bypass switch for the sensor. Also they are only good for about 10 years.
As you said, it should become more affordable over time to rebuild that original engine… but given all the qc issues you observed, I can’t help but wonder if the poor assembly process might have introduced other failure points that would only show up once you addressed the first failure. I don’t really have a strong opinion, but certainly something to consider. Another great video! You’re one of only a few content creators that I’ll invest the time to watch the long form, ‘cause it’s all worth watching! 👍
Hah! As Eric at "I Do Cars" would say, "That's malice in the combustion palace!" I think you nailed it. Someone forgot to heat treat the retainers, and they wore. What a shame. I guess the warranty must have been non-transferable, else what good is a receipt? Or maybe they have a bunch of these failures and they're finding ways to wiggle out of replacements.
Oh, I wait all week for Thursday! James with an almost repaired irreparable generator, Kurtis with a multi-ton-heavy dozer hub and soon Josh with an amazing machining job. We need more Thursdays in a week! Thanks for another very interesting video, James. Sorry it didn't turn out better. Have a good weekend nonetheless.
Cool, I watch Kurtis and Josh as well.
I had a '72 Chevy PU with the 350 engine. Cracked piston like your generator. I must have put 10,000 miles on it (TX-VA-NY-VA-TX-VA) before I decided to tear it down and rebuild the engine. I guess I was lucky that the engine didn't come apart. I had to rebuid it again after 3 years when I got it back from being stolen. Thieves didn't maintain the oil level.
I love a good autopsy. I got a 98 cc for a mini bike project. When I first started it I didn’t know that the head bolts and side cover bolts were so over torqued from the factory that they stripped out right away. I used a heli coil kit to rethread. Works fine now with proper torque.
Don’t think I’ll be running out to buy a Champion generator anytime soon.
I thought of you today......... A big high wind thunderstorm came though our region. We got by without problems.........unlike many others not to far from us. My mom's house has the same model Generator, and she's going to need it for up to a full week beyond today, as her neighborhood really got it bad. It's been helping for 2 days now. I went to her home to check on it, and I was a bit amazed at what I found. It's been running the 50hrs or so that Briggs says it's time to do the maintenance.......... BUT we opted to use a very tough oil that goes an easy 10k miles on your car and still likely has more to give...plus I've got a Baldwin premium filter on it. The engine was running like a watch when I arrived to check it... super smooth with no ticks or sputters. (Natural Gas Fueled)
The oil was still YELLOW.. it hasn't even made it to amber yet. I topped it off, as it was half-way in the safe zone.. (1/5th quart to FULL)...
Fortunately, it's been 75deg F during the day... so the air cooled motor isn't really cooking itself. I suppose I'll check it each day and change the oil/filter half way... Seems that these super synthetic oils are indeed tough... and can hang in there above and beyond what I expected.
Generators are like hospitals......... you hope you don't need them, but when you do, you appreciate them even more.
The answer is the full flow good quality oil filter...
Natural gas is really good for the oil (and for the engine) doesnt make any carbon so the oil doesn't go black. Everything stays clean and shiny when it's powered by natural gas or proppane
@@vx-iidu I'll just say, I'm glad that that generator did a good job.......and held its own through the outage. Five days later there was a failed transformer on our street, and our generator (same setup) got a half day's exercise (overnight) until they got it fixed. I sometimes feel guilty changing the oil on them yearly........as it still looks really good. I must say I LIKE the NG powered setup, since I don't have to concern myself with the fuel. Often your neighborhood gas station may have no power, so you're not getting any fresh fuel... and stored fuel is.... stored fuel.
Is it my imagination or are James’s videos getting better every week?
Thanks for the video. Glad to learn Champion doesn't honor their warranty without the thermal paper receipt. Saved me from recommending Champions to friends.
Glad to see you didn’t try to pawn it off as an 8000 watt generator, which you could have easily done. I’ve alway shied away from repair generators with power output issues. What I’ve learned from you, I’m now confident in diagnosing problems.
Somebody didn't use a torque wrench when they built that generator, judging by how tight many of the bolts were. Great video as always James, thank you.
A monkey assembled that thing in the factory and there is no quality control to catch it. I wonder how many warranty claims that person cost Champion?
I envy your skills and opportunities to apply them in such useful ways. Thank you for sharing your expertise with such concise comments and explanations during such clear video. Keep up the excellent work, James!
In Quebec, Canada. We have a law that say even that you dont need any receipt to ask for a waranty repair. If the Manufacturer have a fabrication date and the device is covered under the time of the warranty under that time frame, they have no reason to refuse the repair.
And this machine has the date of manufacture and the serial number on it.
Must be nice!
@ericvaughn1126 we even have what we call the legal warranty. If you pay for something it need to at least give a normal service life. Like a 800$ tv should last at least 8 years with out problem. If it breaks we can as the store or the manufacturer to fix it at there expense. If they dont want to fix it we can sue them at small claim court for the repair price or if we cannot make it repaired for the whole price of replacing the device with an equivalent one.
Canada also has laws about freedom of speech, you probably not allowed to have a gas machine, because global warming.
@@magilla9792 Bought a Mitsubishi Cross Eclipse yesterday because my American built Ford Fusion Titanium Energy have a recal on the damn battery and since I dont trust Ford for fixing by plugable hybrid I took a fuel only new car. My freedom of speech is enclosed in the right and freedom act of Canada. You should read it.We also have the right to ask for diyng with dignity do american have this? My 12kW generator is also running on gaz, It can also run on propane or natural gaz. Got it 1.5 year ago. All legally. Where do you get your information?
It’s unfortunate how Champion weaseled themselves our of warrantying it. No receipt should always default to the manufacture date
Yes
Unless (being extraordinarily kind to Champion) they’d already paid out on that engine and this is the written-off remains.
Then again … what awful rotters!
The champion warranty is to the original purchaser and is not transferable according to their website. It is, unfortunately, how many warranties are these days. Proof of purchase shows you are the original purchaser.
James, win some lose some. Any working unit from a dead one is a WIN
From the rust on the flywheel, it is clean that this machine was out in the weather or was stored outdoors. This was not a cheap machine. I guess those people have a lot more money than i do.
The color and uniformity of the rust tells that is is flash rusting from moisture in the air. The flywheel is an unprotected cast iron part, its going to rust if there's any moisture in the air.
Every small engine I've ever owned had the flywheel rust like that, even when stored in the garage due to the high humidity in the air. If you don't like the rust, you'd have to paint the flywheel, and that can be problematic. Paint has enough weight that it can throw the flywheel out of balance at the ~3600 RPM it runs at, so you'd most likely have to rebalance the flywheel.
Florida won't cause weather flash on bare metal parts??
@@dwaynesimons-d2c Florida's air is so saturated with humidity that you have to chew it to breathe it.
Things will flash rust in no time. Same with most anywhere in the gulf coast states.
If you use a generator for emergency backup power it is going to be outside in bad weather. That’s when they’re used.
James best wishes from Galway Ireland I have to say one thing you are a true genius at making machines work with the generator it is a great machine cheers Declan 🖐️🖐️👍👍👍
I commend you on your patients , and your consistent thought process in tracking down and solving the problems thanks for great videos on showing the correct way to fix / repair items that others just see as junk.
The connecting rod can be cut in half using a small reciprocating saw. Luck was on your side because you didn’t score the cylinder. Great job.
I concur with all those who felt Champion should have serviced or replaced the problem components once they had the serial number & knew the date of purchase was within the warranty period. It's unfortunate the original purchaser didn't keep the receipt. Typically I don't need to keep receipts any longer because the places I buy from keep an electronic record that's associated with my credit card or cell phone number. I can give them either one and they can print out a fresh copy of the original receipt, which can then be used for warranty service. Although folks still use cash or checks, it would have been interesting to ask the original buyer if they'd used a credit card, and then check if the seller could duplicate the receipt for warranty work.
Great video. Lots of work. I see the original engine being repaired and reinstalled, as a matter of fact I'm looking forward to seeing that. See you next week.
Great video and very nice work bringing this generator with a dead engine back to life with a transplant James!
Lets see; James has another mystery generator, but also a box a parts, a drill, a screwdriver, a hammer and a flashlight.
Sure why not, it shouldn't be a problem-lets power up the neighborhood. Great content as always.
Methodical, informative and as usual a great video. Thanks James for your continued delve into the world of generators and small engines. Looking forward to the resurrection of the failed one.👌
I like it when you put the torque specs in your videos as you use the torque wrench.
I like that he uses a torque wrench.
James, Lots of fun video. Swapping and experimenting is who I am. One of my girl friends used to say sarcastically to me "Let's run a test" because I did it for GM for 36yrs. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that you cannot expect the A/F ratio to be the same when you are at part throttle with the choke on as it is with the throttle open full or even some more. You will have to go back and adjust the choke to compensate for the greater amount of air pulling thru the carb. And in that vein: The difference between the two carbs that you tried to just swap the jet between is in the engineering of the airflow thru each carb, the venturi design, fuel type, discharge point and range of air flow quantity. It all has an effect, in effect doing the same thing as I described above with repositioning the choke butterfly. I wonder if you could use a wide range O2 sensor to actually look at the A/F ratio. You may not be able to read the ratio directly, but you certainly could read the voltage it makes to make correlations from. The richer the mixture the higher the voltage and vv for lean. As you know now, the more tools you have the more you can learn about any given problem. At GM the number of tools was awesome. We even put a window into a combustion chamber to watch the flame effects from changes in A/F, EGR, RPM, Compression Ratio, Fuel Composition, Cam Timing, Spark timing etc. Thank you for another entertaining video. Stay safe, and keep up the good work. ben/ michigan
You worked your butt off on this one. Nice going, James
Had three of these engines in my shop since July with the exact same issue. Two different manufacturers using the same engines. The valve keepers on the exhaust valve were worn smooth and no longer provided retention. This allowed the valve drop with similar results. The valve was broken off and in the cylinder. Two of the three were warranty. The third became a spare parts machine after customer declined repairs.
I love the methodical way you go about figuring whats wrong and what happened
Also find it ammusing the balance of care and gentle vs hit it with a big hammer. That has to be satisfying to pop the rotor off the shaft with that big sledge
It is, as long as I don’t miss.
Lol, when you said, "y'know, before we take this thing apart..." I thought you were going to say let's try to start it. 😂
I like your videos. I like to watch them. I got lost in this video for the first time and couldn't follow which part, from which generator, you put where. Don't take this as criticism. More like a story of what can happen while watching. Have a nice day and greetings from the Czech Republic.
A pedantic pratt I know I am Jim, but your attention to detail is always so good. Please straighten the bent air vents on the recoil starter cover!
The James Condon movie night, bring on the popcorn and snacks.
I think you should get back to Champion and press them again to replace that engine. Many jurisdictions require the manufacturer to honor their warranty with or without the receipt. I know here in Canada, many provinces have such a law. If you have a lawyer on retainer, ask him to write to them. It's worth a try. The cost to Champion in good will is worth more than this engine, which is a small price to pay. Great video, as always. Thank you.
They could have went by the serial# and or manufacture date and made it right. Should have just photoshopped a reciept. Probably just a hoop the customer service need to jump through to trigger the paperwork to process..
Jim, you are the GOAT! You are Superman!. Do you EVER fail and just not show us?? ;)
I tried to fix a pressure washer pump once. That was a big fail. This one I consider a partial fail because of the missing HP when running on gasoline and the bad oil switch.
Yes! been waiting for a new upload, thanks James
I love murder/mysteries. This was a good one James. I'm hopeful we get to see that original block make it to another revival.
The right color is always the most important reason for choosing spare parts.
😁
I had to laugh when that was his primary consideration!
Thank's James this was a two cup coffee video .
James, you are essentially building a hot rod generator! Good work, very entertaining.
Great video James. I do like the way you work through issues and possible issues.
James, please don't ever be tempted to shorten your videos while editing the final product. I have learned "more" how an internal combustion engine works by watching the repair of a non-functioning unit. It is easier to see how each piece of the engine is supposed to interact with all of the other pieces and what happens when don't. The cut-away of a working engine is not as helpful for my feeble brain to learn the processes. It's moving too fast maybe! Weird, isn't it? Thanks so much for these "complete" repair videos. Leave nothing out.
Great video! I have a 7500W Champion dual fuel. I have to manually tickle the carb when starting on propane too. I think even Champion considers their engines disposable. When I bought it new, I did order a spare propane regulator and hose from them. Bought a knockoff carb from eBay.
I tend to look at James’ length of video first, just out of curiosity. At 2 hours and 8 minutes I exclaimed, “Oh, WOW”! 😂
Before you know it we’ll be setting new UA-cam records at 5 hours! 😉👍
Hi James. Really enjoy your channel. I agree demand regulators without primers can be a pain to start. However there is a fairly easy and free work around for that especially since that particular generator has easy access. Simply remove the cover where the primer button should be. Drill a hole in the center. Clean up the metal chips and reinstall. Then use a small screwdriver or tool of you choice to push in on the diaphragm to prime. Wa la you have a demand regulator with primer. Doesn’t affect it at all because that’s the atmosphereic side and needs to be vented anyway. Won’t hurt the diaphragm because there’s a metal disc attached. Done it many times.
“Wa la”? I think you mean voila.
Very nice work James. I own two Champion generators and have worked on several others. I have had zero issues with mine. The ones I worked on were usually bad gas and one was full of very sticky stuff, I think was chain and bar oil. I wonder if someone over revved the engine and caused the valve keepers to fail. Because he did not try to get a warrantee makes me kind of suspicious. One of my own machines in very similar to the one you just repaired. I have to choke it to start on a cold start on propane. The oversized carb may give the new engine a little more HP on both gas and propane. Thanks for a great video.
that last sticker you peeled off, you could have used the 9000 part, cut off the 9 and turned it round and re-applied as 6000 and then used the watt part of that sticker in order to advertise the rating. you produce great interesting videos. i am across the pond and am now tempted to attack the carb on my non-starting mower having watched a number of your episodes. thank you.
Good to see you, James! Another great revival generator!
That is total BS by Champion.
No receipt should be necessary as the warranty obviously transfers to subsequent owners and is only time limited.
No matter how it was acquired .....
the warranty should apply to the manufacturer fixing or replacing the unit.
Champion should be able to refer to their own records...
the distribution to a wholesaler
then a retailer
then first owner (who probably filled out an on line warranty card)?
I agree. The generator had a serial number and a date of manufacture on it.
Agree, apparent.y they have a confuse and obfuscate department. Their bonuses are based on how many customers they convince that the warranty is with the purchaser and not the equipment.
May I add another situation that no one else touched on? Perhaps the reason is this generator was heisted at the retail level to never be seen again? Remember this is two years old. Major retailers were not as proactive as they are now with shop lifting. Then resold to the last owner either suspecting on not suspecting? That would be a stretch Ofcourse. We like to think everyone is on the up & up. I have found in my life that is not always so. However I do agree with all the extra labor & trouble that Champion make good on their warranty. If they don’t? Well, then that would speak volumes who Champion is as a reliable company to honor all warranties. I personally am biased. I only buy Honda Generators. I’m willing to spend the extra to buy a premium generator all the way around.
I agree the warranty should follow the machine IREGARDLESS of who is in possession of it during warranty period!
Sounds like Champion trying to worm out of honoring their warranty eh?
Thumbs up, really saved that machine, yea you probobly have a lot of time in on it, thanks for bringing us along
The fact that Champion wanted a receipt for their product to honor their warranty tells me all I needed to know about their customer service. I am buying a Honda generator next week. Champion just lost a sale!!!!
Save your Honda receipt, I believe most warranties require proof of purchase and only the original buyer is covered. But I don't blame James for trying. Some companies Customer service personnel let some things pass by. 😮
Hi, I have one for you. My brother has a generator home made on a metal frame using a Sears Alternator and a Honda engine with a belt connecting the two. I wish I knew what engine to tell you, it was a flat head, valves in the block, and it had an angle to the block and piston, not horizontal, and not vertical. Had a Red Honda gas tank. Anyway I was first to Deer Camp, so I brought the generator. It was early afternoon when I arrived a our rustic Log Cabin on 80 acres of swamp 30 miles North of Marquette in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The cabin is in the middle of a Hemlock stand so it's dark inside even on sunny days. The first thing I did was get the generator out, check the oil and gas it up. I gave the recoil a pull and it rolled about 1/2 turn and stopped. I grabbed the pully and rolled it backward and it stopped going the other way too. I took the spark plug out to look but I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Something Black and oily was all I could make out. So I took the head off and found that over all the years of using this generator it had been building up a solid mass of oily Black carbon on the piston top about 1/8" thick and for some reason it had become loosened from the piston top and got in the way of the piston and the head. I removed it and put the head back on and it ran like always. I have always figured it was caused by using Mobil 1 synthetic oil. I figured maybe that engine did not run hot enough to burn the oil that got on the top of the piston all the way up, but hot enough to cause a build up of good old Blacky Carbon. If someone knows more I'd like to know what you know. I always try to figure root cause of problems. Like the holding ridges in James' keepers not being there. Were they defective from the start? Did they get sheared off? If so how? Only the valve spring is pulling against them. It's not like the piston hit the valve and sheared them. Even if the valve head broke off first, the keepers would not have a reason to shear off. OK, BTW my brother was not happy when I told him I had to remove the cylinder head from his "prized" Honda engine. To him it was the Holy Grail of small engines and he didn't authorize me to open it up. ben/ michigan
I am buying this exact model used tomorrow and kinda wish I didn't watch this video right now 😂...it's way too interesting to stop now though. Great content! I appreciate you making it
Nice work once again James. Re the load bank cooling:
Perhaps rig up a modest capacity uninterruptible power supply unit for the load bank cooling fan (e.g. the sort you might use for a home computer or a home internet/router)? They should have enough capacity to run a cooling fan for long enough should the test power source fail during power test (handy if test is unsupervised for a while). Or perhaps have it so you can independently switch the fan's power supply to an alternative power source, e.g. use one of those portable battery power stations and a break before make transfer switch?
It isn’t at all required. When the fan loses power the load does too. The resistors aren’t going to get any hotter so cooling is no longer required.
This is a half James Condon vid, half I Do Cars vid. "Malice in the combustion palace".
That's one warranty Champion wishes it had honored.
Class action.
James, you should encase the piston in a block of akryllic. That would make a cool paper weight!
Don't feel bad about the warranty. My 2500 was less than a year old, was registered online and won't start. They used the receipt thing against me too and claimed they had no record of me registering it or calling to get help with it the first week I owned it, which I did. I should have taken it back to the store after it wouldn't start at first. I've had it almost a year now with less time on it than it takes to break it in.
Jimmy is always here
Contact manufacturer. They won’t repair under warranty, but maybe they’ll send parts after watching your video. Consider it marketing.
I commented pretty much the same thought..send them the damaged goods in exchange..
in your previous video, the go-cart, might be a wise idea to put 2 sets each of 3 point seat belts. As you mentioned, with no suspension, driver & passenger could be thrown off or colide with something.
The seatbelt i prefer is the usual 'lap belt' but it has a hook or nob to that the shoulder straps can hook onto - simple but effective system
I am getting the feeling that these Generators are only good for about four years, maybe? Good grief....Great video thanks...
My brother n law bought a boat a couple months ago. He's showing me videos of that thing outrunning a 60mph drone flying over it. Dual engines = 800 HP!! That is insane! I'm sure he loves it...damn!! 800HP!!
he spent almost$80K on it though... bone head!! lol
Sweet a 2hr video. Perfect for watching while dealing with covid. ❤
James, thank you for this long video need something to fill the idle hours of being a truck driver
Sir I have a both valves and springs that I'll give you if I can mail them to you. I just did scrap the complete engine like that not a month ago and I honestly don't think anything was wrong with it. The power head went bad and it wouldn't run so I took the engine apart to make sure it was ok and as far as I could tell it was, I just couldn't find parts to put it back together. But I still have the valves if you think you'll be able to use them.
Always amazed and impressed with what you know and can do, fun to watch, always learn a little. Wonder if the game was worth the powder on that generator, tho'. Can see why a lot of people would have trashed it.
Great job and very interesting analysis! I guess that engine needs a new low oil sensor too.
This unit with all it's anomalies, smells like a Friday assembly job done at about 3PM ! 🤣😂🙂🙃
Great troubleshooting James, was also hoping for higher wattage 😊
I bought the same generator the second half of 22 and made sure to keep the receipt and took a photo of the front and back. I could send it to you if it would help. I had my first engine die on mine due to the cylinder being over bored and the rings not sealing. They had me send my whole unit back to them (on their dime) and that's what they told me in the email I got from them 3 weeks later. They also told me that they had a batch go out with this problem and that they have just been replacing the unit. Sounds like they know they had a problem and are just trying to cover it up.
I found on my propane generator if you open the propane tank valve to quickly you trip the safety valve in the propane tank. Open slowly for the first 1/4 turn and then you can open quickly. Works every time.
Good follow thru James👍
Morning to you, thank you for sharing video 😊
I've seen that happen.
Where it basically washes out the keepers. Thats due to excessive valve clearance.
I got a brand new generator, not only was the drain plug a bit wonky (i had to basically cross thread it into it to make it sit correctly) and after 5 hours i was noticing that the engine was clanking.
Called the manufacturer, they gave me the valve clearance spec,
0.15mm exhaust
0.12mm Intake
Yeah well, it was more like
0.46mm exhaust
0.37mm intake
Adjusted it, runs nice and quiet now.
I also run Aspen 4 fuel in it, it cant gum up the carb and can sit in rhe carb and tank for 5 years and it will still fire like its brand new fuel.
Also what i did, was replaced the factory fuel line....
Now its running like it should.
(158F with Hemi head, 1000W inverter 230V single Phase)
Great job James. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks
i have the exact same dual fuel Champion, and have had zero problems with it. Then again, I overmaintain it too.....
Do you think a possible root cause was the exhaust valve clearance got too tight and burned the valve until it failed?
The engine mounts growling at 36:00 was the last howl before it was separated from its comfy nest!
Since I see a Dual fuel situation here theres a good chance you are right about manufacture defect. When running Propane on any engine you MUST use sidium filled valve stems or they will get hot and break same with the valve seats They MUST BE Sodium Filled. How I know is back during the Gasoline Crunch in late 70s We changed all our truck engines to Propane at flowers baking company and Immediately started having trouble with the heads and had to change all our valves and seats so Bet that engine was run on ptopane and the defect would be the valves were not sodium filled. and in cleaning sodium filled valves you bette not peck on them because you could case them to explode
47:33 This video is so good I grabbed my tablet thinking it was going to fall on the floor! 😅
James: thanks for indexing your video.... stay safe....J
As always another great video of a Job well done, as I mentioned before you always do awesome work and we can never wait for the next video to come out and another generator gets to live another life.
Mate, you are an absolute Trojan!!! You have the patience of Job. Said it before, love your posts.
The chock open the diaphragm and allow propane to flow
Common system, nothing wrong
Easy start ❤
Regarding those exhaust spacers, if one had CAD capabilities, I'd think that Send Cut Send would be a great solution.
If the neighbors did not invite you move everything to the fence and test it and to multitask burn some leaves over there too.
Another brilliant and in-depth video, James. Did you share your findings with champion? I'd definitely say it suffered a critical failure based on the valve collet defect.
Greetings from the UK
That is one serious breaker bar! 😮