Carver Owners Forum

Yup , I have seen green oil , purple oil...used em... but have to say never red at any point in service life, again over 60 some odd years of playing with/building engines. I will say though , that would not include some of the recent newer higher tech synthetics though, just not enough experience/sample size to comment on them.

As I pour over manuals and forums I keep seeing references to the primary and some auxiliary gauges for the genset including the original manual from Kohler but for the life of me I can’t find these gauges. Seems like I’m supposed to have at least oil pressure and engine temp gauges. Where the H E Double Hockey sticks are they? Not on the DC or AC breaker panels nor on or near the genny. Any thoughts/suggestions? Did some models not have them? If I don’t have them, how hard to add?

You don't see generator gauges very often in recreational applications until you get into the larger vessels. I wouldn't imagine it would be that difficult to add some though. It's a matter of finding ports in the right locations on the block of your particular model to add temp and pressure senders, then wiring them up to gauges. Most engines over a certain horsepower have a means to monitor their vitals. On most marine generators, there are temp and pressure detecting switches that will shut down the unit automatically when parameters are exceeded or aren't met to prevent damage. It's then up to the operator or technician to determine what caused the shutdown. Newer units have digital displays that will indicate an error code to point you in the right direction.