Generator Problems

[BigJoel57]

I've owned my 1997 Carver 440 for 3 years now and only recently I started having issues with the generator. It's a Kohler generator. It has 1,700 hours on it and I have everything serviced annually. We are on a fresh water lake in Texas.

My generator has done a great job since I've owned the boat. In the past month, I've had issues with it shutting down. It will run for 30 minutes and then it will cut off. I've checked the breaker for the generator, down in the aft cabin closet, and it was tripped. I pushed it back in and started the generator and it cut off after a few minutes. Sometimes the breaker trips and sometimes it doesn't. I can get the generator started 3 or 4 times. It'll run for a few minutes then it won't start at all. The starter just tries to crank it but it won't start.

I did have some water in my port side fuel tank, that caused my port engine to sputter. It also runs the generator, but I've treated the fuel with HEET and the port engine runs fine now. But I still have the generator issue.

[km1125]

Based on that last paragraph, I'm guessing that this is gas and not diesel. If so, I would definitely flow a couple gallons from the tank to the nearest point on the generator to make sure all those lines and filters are flushed of an of the bad gas, OR I'd figure a way to run it from a temporary tank while troubleshooting. Bad gas is such a variable that will complicate any troubleshooting methods.

When you're having trouble starting it, you should also be aware of the possibility of water intrusion from the exhaust because there aren't enough exhaust gases flowing to flush the water out to the lake.

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum......post the generator model number and size as there was a generator guy that used to check in here the odd time.

Good advice about closing the thru hull if you have to overcrank it......that will keep water from the cylinders....I believe there may be an explanation of the procedure and why in the operators manual for your unit.