About six months ago I purchased a new Honda EU20I generator which I "ran in" and has been on Honda oil and always fresh petrol. It has done about 70 hours of work at mainly around 400W. I have run it on "Eco" for about 75% of the time but usually switched to non-eco for the other 25% in order to give the engine a variation in speed/load.
Now: if one reads the caravan/4WD internet forums one would think Honda generators had an approval sticker from God on them or, at the least, one of his angels and this is especially so from the "You get what you pay for" brigade.
Whilst I agree that "You don't get what you don't pay for" simply buying the most expensive product on the market is no guarantee that item is a better product than one at, say, 50% of its price.
My reason for posting is that my Honda generator is currently back at the suppliers for warranty repair; it will run for anything from 20 minutes to two hours then begin to cough and splutter, drop the 240V output and repeat this behaviour a few times until it cuts out. I changed the plug for an identical NGK plug, made no difference.
This is not a bitch about my Honda generator: I have spent a working lifetime designing complex products and I fully understand that if you make X number of products there *will* be Y number of failures and maybe I just got a Y product, I'm sure Honda will fix it without issue.
What I am trying to say is... let's not elevate products to divine status simply because they are expensive and we have both money and self esteem invested in our ownership of them.
Even Honda fail sometimes.
iana said
02:24 PM May 6, 2018
Gee I hope you opened the vent on the fuel cap!
aussie_paul said
02:54 PM May 6, 2018
iana wrote:
Gee I hope you opened the vent on the fuel cap!
As I have made that mistake iana, it was my first thought.
Aussie Paul.
Aus-Kiwi said
02:56 PM May 6, 2018
Yes
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Sunday 6th of May 2018 02:58:21 PM
Mike Harding said
02:58 PM May 6, 2018
iana wrote:
Gee I hope you opened the vent on the fuel cap!
After 70 hours of running you pose such a question...?
Yes, I did.
oldtrack123 said
05:59 PM May 6, 2018
Mike Harding wrote:
iana wrote:
Gee I hope you opened the vent on the fuel cap!
After 70 hours of running you pose such a question...?
Yes, I did.
70 hrs of WORK , does not mean you may have forgot to open it this time
KJB said
07:58 PM May 6, 2018
Maybe an Exhaust valve clearance problem. Had one small Honda with symptoms the same as you describe . Ground a smidge off the valve stem and the motor performed faultlessly for ever after.
KB
Footprints said
02:15 PM May 8, 2018
A common cause of such problems in small engines is the accumulation of dirt or sediment in the fine gauze strainer at the fuel tap or if no tap usually where the fuel line attaches the fuel tank. Usually simple to unscrew and clean.
Tony Bev said
01:47 PM May 10, 2018
Hello Mike Harding
Can you let us all know what the problem was, after it is repaired please
Many years ago I had a Honda engine water pump
One of the tappet arms developed a crack, (they were made from pressed light gauge steel)
When the engine got hot, one of the valves was not opening enough, for the engine to pump the water, and the engine would stall
The symptoms were identical to a fuel blockage
A new tappet arm cured the problem
Mike Harding said
05:28 PM May 10, 2018
Hi Tony
I sure will.
In fact I collected the generator today and the (known) fault they diagnosed fits with the symptoms. A small part was replaced under warranty but I wish to confirm it has fixed the problem before publishing details. The weather in Melbourne is awful currently so it may take a few days before I can run the gen for enough hours but I shall let you know.
Mike Harding said
05:21 PM May 12, 2018
There is a manufacturing issue with the spark plug cap on EU10i and EU20i generators. Please see this post for full details:
About six months ago I purchased a new Honda EU20I generator which I
"ran in" and has been on Honda oil and always fresh petrol. It has
done about 70 hours of work at mainly around 400W. I have run it on
"Eco" for about 75% of the time but usually switched to non-eco for
the other 25% in order to give the engine a variation in speed/load.
Now: if one reads the caravan/4WD internet forums one would think
Honda generators had an approval sticker from God on them or, at the
least, one of his angels and this is especially so from the "You get
what you pay for" brigade.
Whilst I agree that "You don't get what you don't pay for" simply
buying the most expensive product on the market is no guarantee that
item is a better product than one at, say, 50% of its price.
My reason for posting is that my Honda generator is currently back at
the suppliers for warranty repair; it will run for anything from 20
minutes to two hours then begin to cough and splutter, drop the 240V
output and repeat this behaviour a few times until it cuts out. I
changed the plug for an identical NGK plug, made no difference.
This is not a bitch about my Honda generator: I have spent a working
lifetime designing complex products and I fully understand that if you
make X number of products there *will* be Y number of failures and
maybe I just got a Y product, I'm sure Honda will fix it without
issue.
What I am trying to say is... let's not elevate products to divine
status simply because they are expensive and we have both money and
self esteem invested in our ownership of them.
Even Honda fail sometimes.
As I have made that mistake iana, it was my first thought.
Aussie Paul.
Yes
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Sunday 6th of May 2018 02:58:21 PM
After 70 hours of running you pose such a question...?
Yes, I did.
70 hrs of WORK , does not mean you may have forgot to open it this time
Maybe an Exhaust valve clearance problem. Had one small Honda with symptoms the same as you describe . Ground a smidge off the valve stem and the motor performed faultlessly for ever after.
KB
Can you let us all know what the problem was, after it is repaired please
Many years ago I had a Honda engine water pump
One of the tappet arms developed a crack, (they were made from pressed light gauge steel)
When the engine got hot, one of the valves was not opening enough, for the engine to pump the water, and the engine would stall
The symptoms were identical to a fuel blockage
A new tappet arm cured the problem
Hi Tony
I sure will.
In fact I collected the generator today and the (known) fault they diagnosed fits with the symptoms. A small part was replaced under warranty but I wish to confirm it has fixed the problem before publishing details. The weather in Melbourne is awful currently so it may take a few days before I can run the gen for enough hours but I shall let you know.
There is a manufacturing issue with the spark plug cap on EU10i and EU20i generators. Please see this post for full details:
http://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t64629103/honda-generator-eu20i-and-eu10i-manufacturing-problem