First, let’s establish what is meant by “surging.” It’s when your generator fails to maintain a steady and smooth speed either in normal mode or in eco-mode. It’s also when the engine either choke or struggles under load.
And if you experience any of these symptoms this article will help you with troubleshooting and fixing your issue.
Requirements:
Make sure that you’re following all the precautionary, safety measures when working with flammable materials, electricity and machinery. If that’s the case, let’s proceed further.
Find out if you are caught up with basic maintenance.
Have some latex gloves to protect your skin from the gasoline and protective goggles to insure your eye safety.
You will also need a Philips head as well as flat head screwdriver.
And don’t be shy to look for the location of components you’re not familiar with on the web.
What are the possible causes of the engine surging?
We will go in order from easier possible issues to problems that are a bit harder.
- Bad gasoline. The fuel starts breaking down after 30 days and loses its effectiveness. If the gas was sitting in the tank for over one month, and you didn’t use any stabilizer fuel additives, it can lead to problems.
- Your air filter. Generally speaking, timely maintenance is the key in preventing a lot of the problems with your equipment and air filters aren’t an exception. It’s okay if you haven’t changed for one more season, but if it has been sitting in your generator since the dawn of time; chances are that it may become so clogged up that it won’t pass any air into the engine, resulting in extremely bad performance.
- Faulty spark plug or a spark plug that is covered in debris. A spark plug is a very important part of the system as its job is to ignite fuel and start the combustion. It also bears the most load in this system due to insane operating temperatures and build up processes that erode the electrodes over time, no wonder they are the weakest link in the ignition system. Bad gasoline and engine problems that let oil inside the combustion chamber will contribute to premature wear of your spark plugs, so it’s critical to take good care of your equipment all around.
- Bad eco mode idle setting. Your generator has a screw that regulates eco idle. It is located near the carburetor, If you have worked on your generator in recent time, you could accidentally break the setting, It also can get messed up due to rapid temperature changes and general wearing process.
- Fuel supply system. Modern gasoline contains ethanol in it, which draws condensate to it, and the situation worsens dramatically during prolonged storage with this type of gasoline in the system. The worst thing is, this condensate contributes to a fuel system clogging up. Ethanol also dries up your rubber/plastic fuel lines which contributes to cracks and breakages in them.
- The carburetor. Again, the usual suspects are ethanol rich fuel that draws moisture and contributes to clogging and improper storage. It can contribute to oxidative/chemical damage to your carburetor and damage little solenoids, rubber plugs and gaskets. Any damage that old gasoline makes to the fuel system in form of chipped or eroder parts as well as rust particles can and additionally clog up the carburetor.
Checking the gas
First, check if there is any gas in your tank by looking at the fuel gauge or shaking your lawn tractor “side to side” and listening for the gasoline splashing inside.
Now, if the gas was sitting in the tank for over one month, and you didn’t use any stabilizer fuel additives, you might want to change it by pumping the old one out with a fuel siphon pump or leaking it out through inlet fuel line, previously disconnecting it from the inlet port of the vacuum fuel pump, and putting fresh gas in. A good way to test the fuel is to smell it through the gas cap; if it has a sweet vinegar odor to it, the fuel definitely went bad.
Checking the air filter:
To evaluate your air filter, you will have to get to it first, but the filter is enclosed behind the plastic sight panel.
So you would have to remove a left plastic panel (the one that is opposite to the pull starter sight, the one that has oil filler door in it) by unscrewing two #2 Phillips screws that are holding it in place.
Now you can open the air filter box and check your air filter. If it’s dirty, replace it.
Checking the spark plug
As it was stated above, a spark is practically the most important part of the ignition system because it is responsible for creating the spark. But as it is located in extremely close proximity to the combustion chamber, it bears the most load.
And just like with other aspects of your equipment, timely maintenance is the key in problem prevention. So make sure that you’ve changed your spark plug in time.
However, the spark plug can also perform poorly when it gets wet (with oil or gasoline), when there’s too much carbon buildup on it or when it’s out of gab. In this case you’ll just have to clean it up and set its gap.
Either way, you will have to remove your spark plug first by carefully taking the spark plug boot out (not to damage the fixating metal ring) and unscrewing the spark plug with the spark plug wrench.
Then, inspect the spark plug visually, look for debris and dirt on its body. Clean it up with a paper tower, check its gap with a gapping tool and set the gap to OEM spec if needed.
Although, if your spark plug has gotten old, it’s better to replace it.
Your generator uses an AlveyTech A7RTC spark plug. You can also use Champion 889 or NGK CR7HSA.
But in case the spark plug can’t produce any spark, and you cannot start your engine, you should seat your whole ignition system.
Setting the eco-mode idle
If the problem appears when you put your generator in eco-mode. Chances are that your eco idle setting is out of whack.
This setting is regulated by a Phillips head screw atop your carburetor.
In order to get to it. You will have to get to the carburetor first, which is enclosed behind the plastic sight panel and covered with air filter assembly.
So you would have to remove a left plastic panel (the one that is opposite to the pull starter sight, the one that has oil filler door in it) by unscrewing two #2 Phillips screws that are holding it in place.
To tune your idle in eco-mode, you’ll need to first locate your eco idle screw. It is located atop of the and its head is facing the valve cover. it sits above the idle jet. And it all is berried behind the black bracing of your generator frame.
Prepare a flathead screwdriver for the tuning of your idle screw.
The tuning process has to be done when the engine is running and has warmed up. So make sure that you won’t burn yourself to the engine. Use a longer screwdriver and wear heat-resisting cloth gloves.
Typically there should be a noticeable difference between the eco throttle mode and regular mode in terms of the RPM. The eco-throttle should be on the edge of the fuel mixture leanness.
To tune your idle, start the generator, let it warm up, and put in the eco mod.
Then, take your screwdriver and start finding the sweet spot. If you see that the engine is running pretty rich and at high RPMs (smooth with no vibrations).
Start turning the screw counterclockwise until you hear the rpm drop and find the sweet balance when there is just enough fuel for the engine to run on low RPMs with the minimum amount of vibration possible.
If your situation is the opposite: your engine runs away to lean on low RPMS, and vibrate. And almost dies due to the lack of fuel; start turning your tuning screw clockwise until you hear the moment when the RPMs start to rise and the engine doesn’t vibrate as much.
Again, find the sweet spot when there is just enough fuel for the engine to run on low RPMs with the minimum amount of vibration possible.
Quick carburetor cleanup:
More often than not, when you run into the carburetor problem with your generator due to improper storage, the problem lies only in the idle jet clogging up.
Typically the carburetor itself and its other components aren’t intact.
And there may be no need for the hole generator cleanup.
The good news is that the idle get can be accessed without the carburetor removal and disassembly.
But to get to it, you will have t to remove a left plastic panel (the one that is opposite to the pull starter sight, the one that has oil filler door in it) by unscrewing two #2 Phillips screws that are holding it in place.
The idle jet sits atop the carburization the black bracing of your generator frame. You can get to it from the valve cover sight, but the access is prohibited by the vacuum line and the idle tune screw.
So to get to it, you’ll have to get the carburetor vacuum line out of the way, for that slide the vacuum line from the engine block vacuum port that’s located near the valve cover, and remove the idle tune screw, by unscrewing it with the screwdriver..
But before, unscrewing the eco idle tune screw, make sure to remember its position. For that, start screwing the idle tune screw in first and count the turns (e.g. 2.5 turns). Remember the number of turners.
Now you can pry the idle jet with the flat head screwdriver.
Clean the jet with a thin sewing needle.
Put everything back in its place.
A thorough carburetor cleanup
To perform the carburetor cline up, you will have to get to the carburetor first, which is enclosed behind the plastic sight panel and covered with air filter assembly.
So you would have to remove a left plastic panel (the one that is opposite to the pull starter sight, the one that has oil filler door in it) by unscrewing two #2 Phillips screws that are holding it in place.
Then, remove the air filter assembly. First, open the air filter cover and remove the filter itself.
After that, you can start removing the main housing of the air filter which is held up by two 10 mm nuts to the carburetor, and one bolt at the bottom is holding it to the generator frame itself.
Prepare the carburetor for removal by putting the engine control switch to “off.”
It should cut off the fuel line that runs from the tank to the carburetor. It needs to be done so that the fuel wouldn’t be pouring when you disconnect the fuel line from the carburetor.
Also, to ensure that there will be no leakage from the carburetor itself and its bowl, you should drain the fuel remains that are in it.
For that, you should prepare the volume that would be sufficient enough to contain all the fuel remains and make sure that 2 pink drain pipes that run from the carburetor to the bottom of the generator body either point to the drain volume or unplug them from the bottom of the generator body and guide them manually to the drain volume.
Then, open the drain vent that sits on the bottom of your carburetor with a purge flathead screwdriver.
Let it sit like that for a while so the maximum amount of fuel will escape.
After that, remove the bracing that holds the choke butterfly actuator (later on you will see why that has to be done). First remove the gasket, and be very careful not to damage the pins that house the carburetor when removing the bracing.
Unplug the inlet (the black one that’s on top) and drain (pink one that is plugged to the bottom) fuel lines.
Then unplug the wire terminal of the electronic throttle stepper motor actuator from the control board (and let it free).
You can now begin the carburetor removal. But again, be very careful not to damage the braces that hold the carburetor.
Remove the carburetor float. Carefully unbolt the carburetor float (bowl-shaped container), making sure not to leak any gas that may still be inside the float. Note that varnish accumulation commonly occurs at this location.
Next, pull out the pin which the float pivots on and set it aside. Now, pull the float out of its housing.
Remove any other removable parts. All additional carburetor parts that you take out to get access for cleaning should be noted on their location and arrangement.
The main jet and the needle jet are located on the bowl side and the idle jet is located on the opposite side. You can spray the canned degreaser solution in them to break loose any clogs (be careful not to spray your eyes, use eye protection).
Pour your degreaser solution of choice in a big container and soak the carburetor float and other parts completely for ten minutes.
To clean all metal components, use a brass brush. A stiff nylon brush will work perfectly on all the plastic components.
Wash and soak the parts.
Make sure to clean the little vents.
Clean the small parts in the cleaning solution as well.
Rinse and dry all the components.
Then, all carburetor parts should be thoroughly cleaned in a container with fresh water before being completely dried out.
You may use a can of compressed air to blow any excess moisture out of tiny holes and vents.
Reassemble the carburetor carefully, then install it on the engine. Reattach each wire, clamp, and hose.
