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

I purchased an EU2000i about 3 years ago, don't have many hours on it, and finally got around to changing the oil this past weekend. The only downside to this is that Honda doesn't make it easy to change, since you have to remove the dipstick and then lift the generator to pour it out. While it isn't too heavy, there's no way to do this without making a mess. Doing a little searching, I found an oil hole "extender", which helps both removing oil and adding new oil. Its nicely made of light aluminum, and has a rubber gasket.

Bottom line is this does the job. It moves the oil hole away from the body of the machine, which means you can easily dump the oil out where you want it to go, and more importantly, makes refilling it a 30 second job with no mess. Highly recommended, even if it is pricey.

At the same time, the same gentleman also sells (I think he makes these things?) an aluminum dipstick with a magnet built into it to catch metal shavings in the oil. I've tried running the generator with this dipstick for about an hour, and what I could see what a fine black line of "something" clinging to the magnet. It looked like dirt, but if it stuck to the magnet, it must have iron in it. I will say that unlike what you picture of metal in the oil, you would not be able to identify this as metal from the engine. More like a fine dust.

Bottom line? Questionable. It does something, but its not clear the magnet is really doing enough to justify its cost. However, like the oil filler, its beautifully made of aluminum, and is almost a work of art. I don't see a downside, but perhaps my money would be better spent elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.com/EU2000i-EU1000i-FILLER-MAGNETIC-DIPSTICK/dp/B004D9U2E8