Generator starts but then shuts down

[mrsrobinson]

1995 Sea Ray 330 DA with a 6.5 Kohler generator.

Genny tuned up February this year, not run since. Ran fine last season.

We ran it for 2 hours last night. We were on the boat next to ours when it quit running. Never heard it shut down. I can press the start\run button on the panel in the cabin and it starts. However as soon as I let go of the button is shuts down.

I removed and drained the fuel\water seperator and did not see any water. A few folks say it's the plugs but they were replaced during the recent tune up.

Any suggestions?

 

[estebanj]

Let it cool down completely and restart. How long before it quits? Can you see water flowing through the exhaust? Is the seacock valve open?

Esteban

 

[PlayDate]

The Potomac is filled with debris. Three times last year my generator sucked up respectively a rubber glove, pine needles and a "feminine product". This cut off the water supply to the generator and heated it up to the point that the safety shut it down.

The start/run bypasses the safety and the minute you release it the safety shuts it down. It could be a couple of other things but this is the most common issue on this river. Let's start with that.

1) Open and check the generator strainer for debris.
2) Open the seacock and water should overflow the strainer equivalent to a garden hose.
3) If you don't have that flow, close the strainer and disconnect the raw water hose feeding the generator.
4) Take a dockside water hose (the onboard fresh water pump does not have enough pressure) and "backflush" the hose. (The seacock must be open and the strainer must be closed.) A couple of minutes of that and the water should flow.
5) The last clog I had would not blow out and required me to disconnect the hose at the seacock and push a long screwdriver thru to clear it.

If you have great water flow and the system still shuts down, then we will move on to checking the other safetys.

-John

 

[MLauman]

If it dies as soon as you let go of the starter switch, then it could very likely be a bad exciter capacitor. About $25 and usually easy to replace.

If a sensor was bad then it probably wouldn't start at all. If it's cooling-system or oil-pressure related then it should run at least a few seconds or more before shutting down.

Fouled plugs would cause it run rough and bog down on a load, but would not likely cause it to kill abruptly.

 

[Coram Deo]

I was told and have since verified, that if the battery for the gen is bad or has a low charge the gen will run for a short period of time and then die. I have had this happen to me 2 different times and both times with a battery replacement the issue has gone away. All else with the gen has checked out fine.
With my boat there is a single battery for the gen and the starting of the port engine.

 

[teekster]

I am experiencing the same symptoms with mine. It is warranted, so I'm getting it checked out. It will be interestig to see if it is a batery.