DuroMax Generator Will Not Start | Surging | Troubleshooting & Fix
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- čas přidán 27. 02. 2019
- This DuroMax would not start. Once running the engine was surging and throttle and governor were not set correctly and the engine with overrevving.
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I can’t believe I hadn’t watched this video. Very helpful for troubleshooting wierd surging issue.
Follow-Up on the Duro-Max 12000EH: I switched the dial to 120-240V before plugging into the transfer switch, and now all outlets in the house work!! Yeah!! I am thrilled that it's working (and we are now ready for the power outages)...and thankful for the help and great information James provides on this channel!
Glad to hear. I have made the same mistake. My Honda has a similar switch.
Nice work and another great video! This looks like a bigger version of my cheap little Nikota 3500 watt generator that I bought at Pep Boys about 20 years ago. I keep it clean and dry, never store it with fuel in it and exercise it once in a while. It always starts right up and has saved the basement from flooding / freezing numerous times.
My dad still have Tiger TG 3700G. It’s old China made, easy to maintain.
I have a smaller Duromax 2800/3300 that was refusing to start when brand new. My solution, was to squirt some WD40 in the cylinder to get some upper lubrication, and after some run-in time, it starts on the first pull (most of the time) and is now some 20 years old. Never left outside, and runs with alcohol free gas only (E-0, 91 octane), never an issue.
thanks to your video I was able to get my same brand generator to start thank you sir.
Great video! Thanks.
Everyone should also watch this video about generator safety czcams.com/video/I1jT3ANENvI/video.html
hi james nice little gene, good to see one which as be looked after, if i was local too you i would have had it off you i like this one
Great vid! Thanks...
Yes that helped a lot, thanks
Thanks! I just cleaned up a generator I bought used. It was idling high after I cleaned it up. I had put the idle screw in too far after cleaning the carb. Your video helped me identify the problem. Two second silly fix. Thanks.
It is a common mistake. I have picked up a few that had the same issue. Do not even need the idle screw in a generator since it never idles. Its only purpose is to hold down the idle jet.
@@jcondon1 kkkllkl lol lllm lol0
I have the same issue with surging with an EH4850 model. Never been ran for almost six months. Will try the same methods.
Totally agree, Get it up on a bench please ,Your giving me back ache
very helpful video, thx.
I have a Durostar DS4000S which is really the same generator. It simply stopped running one evening. Thought it was low oil but that wasn't it, changed plug, tested spark...same dead nothing on pulling the cord.
Thought it might be the carb & ethanol water thing. But had not info on troubleshooting the carb or adjusting the throttle and idle screws.
I did find something is odd with choke lever. It's totally loose and won't stay open/closed position. Again really had idea how to check it out... now I do thanks to your video. Heading out now to take it apart. This is a great how-to on servicing these little beasties. I have used my DS4000S at least 8hrs/day for 18mo with no issues, it's been solid, until the other day. I'm hoping you saved me from coughing up a bucket of cash for a new Champion...darn it!
Let me know how you make out
Great videos
Thanks for the super thanks
The carbs are junk on these things. Good work
James... A Duro Max 12000 puzzle worthy of your expertise and experience! It's new, and I got it started and seems to run well...puts out 118V and 62HZ with no load; down to 61Hz with 13AMP load. To begin to test our house transfer switch, I first plugged a Westinghouse 9500 watt generator into our house transfer switch...and it ran 2 freezers, refrigerator and lights perfectly--so transfer switch is fine. Plugged in the DuroMax 12000 and all but 2 outlets power up fine... (and these are the two that run the refrigerator/freezer and stand alone freezer...for some reason those outlets are dead, and I have no power at all from them... but it's not the appliances...the outlets are dead) Switch back to PGE power and and everything fine. Use Westinghouse generator and all fine. As an experiment, ran an extension cord from an outlet that IS powered by the DuroMax through transfer switch, to freezer and now works fine...so, basically, I have two outlets that this DuroMax won't power, but a different generator will, through same transfer switch. No GFCIs appear to be tripped, and outlets come back on without resetting any GFCI when switch to city power (PGE) or Westinghouse generator....It's a mystery! Any thoughts would be welcome!! Many Thanks!!
Would suspect that only 120v is feeding your transfer switch. Do you have a duromax XP12000E? If so, there is a knob on the right labeled AC120V/AC120-240V. Make sure it is in the AC120-240V position.
@@jcondon1 First, thank you for replying! I do have that switch and will try moving it over to 120-240v in the morning...however, please note that the two outlets that won't power up are both 120/20A outlets....just unclear to me why these two are not being powered by the DuroMax...again, many thanks for your very informative and clear videos, and your response to my issue.
Israel Charo your fuse box is powered by 2 120v circuits. Normally one of the 120 circuits powers the odd fuses and the other the even. If the knob is on 120v then the generator will usually send all 12000 watts to one 120v circuit and not power to the other. Guessing that is the issue here.
Thats funny adding oil to the filter element would certainly plug up the free air flow so that would choke it just enough to rich the mixture. It does two things. It restricts the airflow cleaning it much better and pulling that tiny bit more vacuum pulls the fuel in also at a slightly richer condition. To get the full horsepower the less manifold vacuum the higher the airflow for higher compression the more horsepower in case it wasn't pulling it's total rated wattage.
I’m curious which jet you replaced, the one in the emulsion tube or the pilot jet?
I have a gen with a 10 hp Briggs and I can’t get the jet down the emulsion tube out because it’s so stuck the material is starting to break up. And I can’t find a pilot jet like I’ve seen you pull on a lot of your videos. This thing runs good under a load with the choke halfway but no load it hunts and surges a lot. I think it’s the pilot jet but I don’t know where to find it. When I run it without the air filter I can see two holes in the entry of the carb and I think gas sprays out a little from the front so I’m wondering if one of those are pilot jets.
goodstuff...just did a similar job on my Cat RP6500...hadn't run it since 2017-2018 and it was dead ..wouldn't roll over at all even after a hit with carb cleaner and starter fuel spray
I decided to pull the carb off competely and ran a paperclip through that screw ( I saw light but it still has gunk it in so paperclip all the holes anyway is my advice) I then ran the paper clip up the middle of the carb to the air intake at the top of it to clean that out also....washed everything down with carb cleaner and a rag.
It started on a half a pull like new.
James you need a lift for your work,save your back.Ask me how i know,keep making good videos.
I’m surprised he works on the ground myself
@@claddagh1000 maybe in a few years when I hit 50, will get a list table.
I'll donate when We finish getting a parts washer first
after watching about 10 of your videos, I have a hard time understanding why ANYONE. would do a thumbs down???.. Your videos are wicked awesome. I am wishing you would do a HONEYWELL Generator.. i have a 7500e Honeywell.. and would love to watch you do a repair or clean of one.. Cheers!!
You help me allot, I have a new one generator it's like good clone of Honda, named Fogo f3000r with Rato 210cc engine. Under load, like 1000 watt, start crazy surging , as you said it was main jet which is was too small I made it bigger with medicine syringe needle(do not have micro drill set), start working way more better. It's really strange from me how it's not tested on the factory. Thank you
Having the same problem with my Duromax 4500. Hardly used for 3-4 hours in 5 years ! It starts and runs for 10-15 mins and surges after governor comes off. I have to manually switch it off before it gets blown into pieces. Bad product experience overall. What could be the issue ?
I wish you were my neighbor to fix mine.
Clean the low idle jet to stop surging.
Where is the low idle jet
@@strikegoldshave On top of the carburetor. Mostly plastic nowadays. Unscrew the plastic screw making sure that you note how many turns to get it out. Pop out the jet and clean it. I use a .013 drill bit and ream it out.
@@tedwilczynski2073 ah okay I did that step already still surging I forgot to count the turns out lol
Good job, question - is the Duromax 13,000 hx, a quality generator? Thanks
Honda makes quality generators. Most others are very similar. The Duromax and Ryobi are a great value for the money. Ryobi supplies part so I give them the upper hand.
I HAVE A DUROSTAR4000 SAME THING AND 20 PULLS IT WILL START? NEW DUROMAX 4000 SAME THING?
Hey James great video. I have a surging ds4400. Carb is cleaned, fresh gas, oil is good. Won’t start cold, Starts on starter fluid.
The larger jet from other carb - is this the threaded part? May drill mine out with micro bit before ordering new carb. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Yes the larger threaded jet is the main. Hard staring though is usually a clogged pilot jet on top. Check that one too.
@@jcondon1 awesome will check again thanks. Would you reccomend possibly drilling out the pilot jet a hair bigger as well? I changed fuel lines,emptied gas and put new in, going to change oil this afternoon. Other thing, is maybe the ports that feed the pilot jet are clogged where they meet the side holes in the pilot jet itself.
Thanks again you are a life saver. Love troubleshooting. Gives my brain some good exercise 😭
@@wgpo4 I would start with the pilot jet a little for the hard starting. If still not right then go up a little on the main. Worst case you can buy a clone carb.
@@jcondon1 well good news! Got her running great. Turns out the gaskets between the airbox/carb/governor were out of order. Started on first pull after that. Thanks again!
I have the DuroMax 12000; brand new, and it either runs very rough, or backfires badly when I try to start it. Clearly not running well, or powering devices. I'm concerned that making any adjustments to make the engine run properly may change the Hertz or voltage...can you tell me the name/source of the device you used to monitor these parameters? Thank you-
The meter I use is called KILL-A-WATT. It is available from Amazon.
Harbor Freight: www.harborfreight.com/kill-a-watt-electric-monitor-93519.html
Amazon: P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor www.amazon.com/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8qxvFbYSDHW51
Having the same problem with mine. Same brand and model. It sat over winter and wouldn’t start. Pulled carb off and cleaned it up. It starts now but surges. It runs better at about half choke.
Always run the gas out, then put in truefuel there's no ethanol in truefuel, you can leave truefuel in for years with no problems, ethanol is a fuel system killer. And now there thinking about putting 15% ethanol in our fuel most people don't even know it's in our gas, crazy.
@@starrvalley12 I store everything with TruFuel
It last 2 years after you open. It tho
Hecht sells a nearly identical generator in Europe and I found your video today, because mine was surging. I had used it only once before and it was fine, then a couple of months go by, now it surges. Still haven't fixed it.
It is a common setup on many different brands. The carb most likely needs a little cleaning. Also new carbs are not that expensive since this is a Honda clone.
Thanks y did u oil the filter good job what kind of oil
Alexander Mendoza I just used motor oil, but their is oil you can buy that is meant for foam filters.
my duro max xp4400e gets so hot the rubber mounts are melting has plenty of oil and its new has about 4 total hours on it.
Would guess it is running lean. This one was also very lean. Might try a new carburetor.
How do you know if the emulsion tubes are removable or not?
They are, unscrew the main jet and it'll fall out
We just purchased Duromax XP10000DX, which is dual fuel. Husband said started right up with propane, but would not start with gasoline. We did read the instructions, checked fuel line, etc. Returned and reordered, same issue. Is there a known issue with this particular model? Are we missing something?
Nothing that I am aware of. But have not worked on one of those yet. Probably a good thing.
U sooooo need a work bench. How can u work on the ground all tge time? Love the videos thou
I do have one now. But find myself crawling around on the floor still.
I have a similar but smaller generator it's only 2000watt powered by lt168f engine. And i realized that thing runs quite fast at 62hz it should be at 50hz when i went to slow it down i found that the governor spring already loose(if i'm not mistaken it should be running slow if the spring is loose.) And also i noticed the voltage is way too high 285v where it should be at is 220v i think the AVR is shorted out and the fact that the voltage drops in relation to the rpm further prove that the AVR is bad
Would swap the AVR. As far as the speed goes, check to make sure the throttle plate can close all the way. Sometimes it can get hung up on varnish. Also check the idle set screw. If driven all the was in, then under no load it will run close to 65 hertz and cannot slow down since the idle set is holding it open.
@@jcondon1 well, sure enough the idle set screw was driven all the way in, i did check the governor arm and the shaft to make sure it's connected properly and it is. So i'll try to replace the spring and back that idle screw all the way out since that engine doesn't need to idle and see if that fixes the engine problem
@@depressedbread6893 that should fix it. Let me know.
@@jcondon1 so here's an update. The governor spring actually isn't bad. So i tried to back the idle screw out and set the speed using the governor screw. At first i thought the engine would surge so maybe that's the reason the previous owner used that idle set screw, and to my surprise it actually ran fine. I set the speed to 3100rpm(we're using 50hz here) and it held up well. I also replace the AVR and try to put a 1200watts load on it and it still maintains 50hz at exactly 220vac
All of that for a air sucking problem , made it to lean.
Generator and throttle look just like the Champion versions. As Ted Wilczynski below said, at 7:05 of your video, under the black screw ( Econo idle adjustment) is a black plug that contains pilot jet. Just pulls out, and if clogged that is most likely your original surge problem. That's the problem I had. Great vid, thanks. czcams.com/video/DxfARNdqgFw/video.html
Some people need to have there tools taken away LOL
Failure to start seems to be a feature of these products
Very basic, small-engine woes - and yet?
Nope, swapping out a carb is not fixing it and only a "solution" in The Land of Plenty. Still at a loss to explain the initial problem. If we have to rely on things "working themselves out", we don't need this kind of help.