Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I know this is off topic, and I apologize in advance. I couldn't find a heading for generators so I'm hoping to get some help here. I have a Honda EG2500 generator that is about 6 years old. I run it every month or so, loaded for about 30 minuets. It starts on the first pull every time and puts out good clean power. The problem is that after it warms up a few minuets it will intermittantly put out a cloud of smoke without any change in load. It doesn't sound like it's lugging down. The govenor sounds steady. It last less than a minuet and then runs clean and clear for about 10 minuets, then does it again. The oil level is fine and does not seem to be going down. The oil is fresh and the gas is fresh. I always use sta-bil in the gas and run it empty at least once a year to keep the gas fresh.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Tom

Thanks borat. It's a blue smoke so I guess I'll go after the seals. Is it doing damage to run this way?

ttt1953 wrote:

Not likely any damage will occur.  I had an air cooled engine 1987 Suzuki ATV for twenty years. It's seals leaked for the last ten. I sold it to a buddy and it's still running fine.  If the machine had been run and left to sit overnight, the cloud of smoke that came from it upon start up the next day was much worse than a two stroke.  The best thing to do was to start it then move up wind from it for a minute or so.   Once it's warmed up, the smoking  would stop.   If it is your seals, they might just be dry from the machine sitting unused for extended periods of time.  If you were to run it for a couple of hours under load, the hot oil might rejuvenate the seals. 

Well if it ain't really broke, I probably won't try to fix it. I do run it under load every month or two for about 30 min. I'll try loading it up and running a full tank through it.

Thanks for all the info.

Tom