[blueturbofly]

now with no snow on the ground, or any forecasted, snowblower season has dropped right off…only did one snowblower this last week, and a small handful last few weeks…a couple of mowers and lawntractors, large gen -sets this last week. some stuff has been waiting for parts since NOVEMBER…

and its really hard for people to understand that
#1- your generator is burnt out
#2- your generator is burnt out, and they dont make parts for it anymore
#3- your generator is burnt out, no, i cant '‘ just make it work ’'
#4- your generator is burnt out, its worth nothing to us, i dont care if you paid $2000 for it, we can salvage/ recycle it to cover your diagnostic fees….
the engines on generators have a tapered no key-way shaft, so they are useless for anything else, unless you get a matching tapered adapter made ….
oh, and ice drills (augers)…..noisy unsilenced 2-strokes…. must wear earmuffs when tuning the carbs on those things….i am surprised the fish hang around with all that noise!!

[blueturbofly]

had a farmer bring in two 16 hp kohler engines in pieces, looks like they came from the dump, '‘make one from two’' let the fun begin. chopped up farmer wiring, rodent destroyed wiring, and filthy with grease/ oil/ poop….

first glance, coil on one destroyed by mice…..ok, pull the fan cover on the second, high tension lead from coil chewed off as well….
parts man looks up new coil, $225….call customer, they agree to a max of $500 for all repairs….

swap wiring harness, ignition switch, new fuel line, clean out fuel pump, flush out fuel tank, soak carb before actually cleaning it, install starter, install and adjust coil air gap, install tinwork, add oil, change starter cables, new spark plug….
i fired it up just before quitting time ….almost 4 hours steady working on it…
still needs throttle linkage parts and a air filter element.

other than that, its been slow. its that time of year, no grass to cut, no snow to remove, so people are just leaving stuff until the last minute…
cleaning up that shop, some stuff been there 13+ years, jammed in a corner or under a shelf…
oh and the one bosses kid is there doing '‘work experience’' for school…i have him doing the greasy scrap engine teardowns.. he isnt the brightest crayon in the box…
have told the boss that there isnt anything else for him to do, i wanted him on the broom but his daddy pretty much said no….i want him to sweep and clean the bathroom, but i dont think daddy wants him doing '‘poor mans jobs’'
yet i have only seen the boss sweep once, he has never cleaned the bathroom (it gets pretty gross in there) he brags about having a maid clean his bathroom at home, and i told him to bring her to the shop, he claims its too expensive….
i dont understand why some guys are such pigs. i guess they are just lazy.

i finally cleaned the bathroom last week, it was almost a month since it was last '‘water mopped’' by the other employee….
full out bleaching floors walls toilet sink. on their time. then the office girl gave the boss what for, for not cleaning the bathroom himself….he has excuses for everything….

your old boss was an asshole , until you meet your new boss…

[blueturbofly]

i was so bored on friday. nothing came in for me to fix, no parts came in to fix anything…so i fixed a broken mechanics creeper , then i swept, vacuumed and moped the ENTIRE shop…..sorted some parts, found some other parts, found MORE junk engines on a shelf, then left early for the day. hey, the boss said i could leave early and still mark down for 8 hours, so i did !!

oh, and i am getting more parts, to try and fix those STUPID HYUNDAI GENERATORS
now its complete motherboards….i already tried new starter control boards twice , on both, 2 times…
if its not the main inverter board, then i dont know what it is….i have followed their diagnostic flow chart, and the last step is to contact authorized repair depot for repair…. thats me…

[blueturbofly]

spent almost 7 hrs fixing an ancient generator……called owner about the repairs needed, and he said go ahead, i really like the generator…..new points & condenser, used coil, carb kit, spark plug, muffler, random bolts and screws…had to drill out broken muffler bolts from the head, then tap new threads, repair recoil, then tune carb…..his bill was almost $600 and he didnt complain at all…

…and the parts arrived for those stupid hyundai generators…..i guess thats tomorrows job….

[fireflyse]

@blueturbofly please tell us, success with the Hyundai’s?

[blueturbofly]

fought with BOTH of those hyundai gen sets…. nither one will run, even after swapping all the circuit boards as per the senior tech from ontario….
one is completely dead, no response from installing new boards, battery is fine, re-diagnosed all the wiring, all seems fine….but no electric start, nothing…
the other only cranks for 3 seconds, has spark & fuel, but will only run if i spray carb cleaner down its intake, and while somewhat running it shows its in '‘overload protection’' mode….again, all circuit boards swapped out for new ones…..
told my boss thats enough of these two generators…send them back as '‘non-repairable- unknown failure’'
there has to be something else, that i cant figure out, wrong with these…oh wait, thats it-they are hyundai generators, not HONDA generators….

[blueturbofly]

so i talk to the guy from ontario….he wants me to email him what i have done with these 2 generators….AGAIN…
actually, this will be the 3rd or 4th time i have e-mailed him what i have tried/ replaced on these generators…they just keep giving me the run-around on these pieces of junk….its warranty work, so they most likely dont want to give out a replacement generator for free…. but really? they have been on the shelf since august and september….
maybe i will tell the parts guy to have the owners call buddy in ontario and give him grief….

worked on a '‘powertek’' 3500 generator….complete chinese unit, knock-off honda engine….customer gave it to the shop for scrap, said the crank was broken…
HMMM
had no other repairs to do, threw it on the bench….has compression…has spark…has fuel….but almost no engine oil….
remove and flush fuel tank, (purple farm fuel ) clean carb, drain& refill engine oil…..
checked valves, the intake was overtight, exhaust ok…after the valves were adjusted , the compression was even better…(intake valve hanging open)
fired up on the first pull, does not smoke or make unusual noises, makes good power….
cleaned it up good, put it out front for sale. but the boss WAY overpriced it….a new one on sale is $50 cheaper, and has a full year warranty…

the boss likes to overprice EVERYTHING. its embarrassing. i told him price the generator at $300 , cuz new ones are selling for $450…so he priced it at $500

[blueturbofly]

people shouldnt lie to the mechanic….a '‘king canada’' generator came in, suitcase style, missing covers and full of snow, he said he was going to fix it but has no garage
he argued with the parts guy '‘its canadian made!’' NOPE NOPE NOPE
main distribution warehouse for king canada is in laval, quebec….imported from….guess where? drumroll……CHINA
anyways, complaint of surging idle, give it a full tune up as well please..
electric start doesnt work. one touch start with command start. battery good. got to looking closer at it. damaged / stripped screw heads….hmm owner claimed it was only 3 months old…build date sept 2019….
so, i pull start it, after a few tugs it comes to life, sputtering and coughing then to full max rpm, the digital screen showing 458 volts ac with the overload warning light on… unit would not shut off, turned the fuel off and drained the carb to shut it down …..spark plug in separate compartment…..
anyways, pulled the front cover off, wiring tests out ok, but still no power to the start/ stop switch…then i notice a harness unplugged, deeper in the unit…pull more covers off, noting damaged screws all the way, and sure enough, the unplugged harness is for the electronically controlled carb…and there is no way that it could unplug itself…4 wire locking terminal…
plug that in, and the electric start works, unit fires up and settles into a nice low idle, making 120 power and working fine, idles up when load applied to it…..
so, change oil & spark plug, verify proper operation once again, no random surging or stalling as the owner stated….the gas tested fine as well…

boss calls customer, customer upset that bill is more than the $80 VERBALLY quoted

when the boss mentions that it looks like someone else had it apart, the customer mentions '‘MY SON-IN-LAW TOOK IT APART BEFORE I BROUGHT IT HERE’'
and thats why the boss told the customer it cost more to diagnose…plus the customer was rude, expected me to stop what i was working on, so they could use the generator for ice fishing….

[blueturbofly]

.. and right now its -27…

[fireflyse]

.. and right now its -27…

You’re not trying hard enough.