Kohler sucks!

timemachine

timemachine

Member
Jul 11, 2009
403
Watch Hill, RI
Boat Info
2005 48 Sundancer
Engines
Cummins 530HO
I think the title is appropriate and it's true!

so last Sept 15th after being plagued buy gen issues all summer I spent over 1300.00 to get it fixed. The biggest expense was a brand new $940.00 control board. After I got the boat back it quit a again while running and dealer said I must have sucked something up. I ended the year with under 2 hours on the gen.

Skip forward to this summer. Obviously with the weather we got a late start but Gen was shutting down from day 1. I called the dealer and ended up having a new water pressure switch overnighted. Gen seemed to run longer and I thought it was ok. Went on a week long 4 th of July trip and it would not stay running longer than 25-30 minutes at which point I would get the EC62 or UU codes. Called dealer from vacation and brought it to him the day after I got back and guess what the $940.00 controller with 14 hours on it (11 of which I put on in 30 minute increments cause the gen would run longer than that) and they admit it was most likely bad from day one but they refuse to replace it under warranty.

Ive called and called and they obviously care more about the $940.00 then the customer. I ended up calling the regional dealer and he felt bad for me and gave me a decent discount on the part but still sucks that Kohler won't stand behind their parts especially when their own certified tech stated it was most likely bad from day 1.

End of rant.
 
I am having a similar issue same code; it would run for 1 min or less then shut down. After the third attempt it locks out and had to be reset by the tech. He discovered a failure to prime. They replaced the impellar (which was shot). Now it starts (water pumping) runs for about 2 minutes ten shuts down, on the second start it seems to continue to run. The tech thinks it has a bad sensor; the plan it to replace the sensor. Keep me posted on your resolution and I will do the same. NOTE: our boat was purchased used with 10 hours on the gen.
 
Is it still in the 5 year warranty period? My controller went out last year on a new, one year old boat. Went out after only 35 hours of use. I got a new one after my dealer pressed the company. I understand the "fancy" control board has been a problem from the start. I prefer the plain old on or off Benny. Had one on my prior Boston Whaler Conquest. Ran it for 7 years with no problems. Wish I had a simple one now.
 
Is it still in the 5 year warranty period? My controller went out last year on a new, one year old boat. Went out after only 35 hours of use. I got a new one after my dealer pressed the company. I understand the "fancy" control board has been a problem from the start. I prefer the plain old on or off unit. Had one on my prior Boston Whaler Conquest. Ran it for 7 years with no problems. Wish I had a simple one now.
 
Mine should still be under warranty; a used 2011 so it's only a couple years old. The dealer we bought it from is paying for any out of pocket.
 
A friend of ours had the same problems with his Kohler on a 2007 340DA. He raised enough hell after 2 years of those problems. Kohler actually replaced the entire generator at no charge. Good luck
 
So 3 days now and for all 3 days been told by Kohler that someone would call be back. See at Kohler the rule is no one ever gets to talk to anyone in a decision making capacity that way no one can make a decision whether good or bad! Win win for Kohler!
 
I had a similar experience, but I found the source of my problems. You might want to read this.

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/42283-Kohler-5CE-Problem/page3

2nd problem:

After fixing that problem, I had a new one. The unit would run and then shut down within a few minutes. Sounded like it was starving for fuel. Turns out I was right. I had a cracked fuel line. The line cracked right on the head of the connection. My guess is that it got stepped on when crawling around the bilge.

Now it works fine.
 
I thought maybe fuel initially and changed both inline Kohler filter and spin off Merc one and put on brand new ones. The Kohler Tech stated it was definitely the main control panel ADC2100.
 
Was at my local Kohler dealer last week talking to the tech about the 5ECD vs 5E. He said the "CD" is purely for California emissions. He is working on a dumb down to get rid of everything except oil,water,and electric protection.
 
Just received a call from Wil at Kohler. He said "the problem here is the warranty and you are past 90 days" I said the problem here is "not the warranty but the faulty part with 14 hours on it" When I said " I understand warranties as I am in the electronics business but sometimes you have to look at things on a case by case basis" he said that would be the case if it were under 90 days. I asked who was above him and he said no one. So apparently Wil is the President of Kohler.
 
What a f*#kin joke! Talk about customer service. Ultimately though, I would place more fault with the end service company because they never fixed the problem & should have swapped the board last year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
 
I think Kohler is over-engineered - and I was ONE technician visit from kicking mine overboard (5ECD) - the engineer then finally replaced the part I had been asking to be replaced for 6 months - and then my generator worked. Now it runs "okay" but if something happens again - I'm going to Hybrid Inverter/Generator solution. Takes less space total - gives same or more power - and has batteries and inverter + genny in combi.
 
Interesting thread. I'm not as interested in the technical problems with the unit as I am in the warranty & repair issues.

I hope I am not jumping the gun here. We only have this thread as information but...
Apparently it was not under warranty "last Sept. 15th". If this is true then the problem (if it were me), would not be with the repair costs, but the fact that the money spent to repair it only yielded 30 minute run times. You were quoted a price & paid to have it fixed, and it is not fixed. Doesn't matter to me what the "tech" said it needed or which guy said this or that. Bottom line....Sounds to me like someone threw some parts at it and it didn't solve the problem. Have you tried to find someone that will guarantee their work?

It also sounds to me like you have exhausted any options on a local level. If this is true I would document the history of the unit & get it in the hands of Wil's boss. Wil is either full of crap or an arrogant snot if he thinks that no one is over him.
 
I had the same problem on my new 350DA. At 10hs of use got error 62, generator running only for 30 seconds. They changed the impeller and it was Ok for a while. Now almost one year later I'm at 40hs (don't use it much) and getting the same problem. I agree, Kohler sucks!
 
First thing to learn about any Genny - use it ALWAYS - else they break. Impellers should be changed EVERY year if you are in salt water. It takes 10 minutes - and is better than hunting for impeller blades around the cooling system (takes HOURS)

But here is my take on my problems

The fuel system on the Kohler is quite simple. Fuel comes in through the line mounted filter. Then it goes through the fuel pump. From there it goes to the fuel cooler (which has a small pump as well?) - and then from there - into the fuel nozzle.

But what I found out from cleaning my nozzle (after a 10+ hours running with a new inline fuel filter) - is I got small black deposits in the fuel nozzle. Since my other filter was "new" the only other things it could come from was the fuel pump or the "boost pump" in the fuel cooler. I had asked to have my fuel cooler replaced since the beginning - but the tech's did not think that was the cause. I thought it was vapour lock as I was getting on my SB engine.

But after changing the Fuel Cooler - all my problems went away. So either it was Vapour lock - or it was a disintegrating impeller somewhere in the fuel system. My bet is now on the disintegrating impeller - possibly due to ethanol usage in the US. It cost me 6 months of generator downtime where the technicians was scratching their heads - and almost made me take it to the junk yard.

So if your Kohler stops running after a while - giving UU error or other "non" related error codes - first thing to check is the fuel nozzle. It is very easy to take out - and clean. If you have small black particles in there - that can be the cause of your problems.

But I will say the ADC2100 controller is designed by a moron. It will spit out error codes left and right and when you look them up - the service manual has so far for me - NEVER EVER been right. It has always been an "unrelated" error that caused the "dud" error code to show in the display - and the service manual points you in the WRONG direction.

And my PO had the boat serviced by MarineMax, Venice FL. So as a warning to you all - NO FULL SERVICE WAS EVER PERFORMED ON THE GENERATOR when I got it despite claims of the opposite. It had ORIGINAL fuel filter, ORIGINAL anode - and possibly only had the oil filter exchanged. (Anode - every year - fuel filter - every 3 years minimum as far as I remember) - so despite being maintained by "so-called professionals" it had never had the RIGHT service.

Reading the MANUAL is IMPORTANT and doing the service the manual suggest is even more important. It is a $7000 POS that gets very expensive it is not maintained and used on a regular basis.
 
Update. Boats still >£}]^!! Broke. Runs 20-30 minutes then dies. Called Kohler dealer and he's saying fuel. This is the same problem since last year. These things really suck.
 
Wow. I had no issues with my 5E and none with my 5ECD so far. With all the ECD issues, I'm surprised some haven't pulled the ECD and replaced it with the E....
 
So I was able to speak to the manager at the dealer doing the work on the gen yesterday. To my surprise he started saying I was reporting a new issue and the gen shutting down was never the issue initially. I did get some very disturbing information while talking to him in that his mechanic reported that my control board was completely dead when I brought the boat to them however both last year and this year the board was operating fine and I was able to use the arrows to check temp, run time, etc... I find it really strange that in both cases he went straight for my controller and it was dead. How could 2 controllers be dead when they work on it and working fine for me?

I also find it disappointing the way I was talked to. You would think I leave their business and smash the thing with a hammer the way I was talked to. Like I have nothing better to do? I have yet to talk about the dealer as I looked at this as a Kohler issue however I am beginning to think the dealer working on the unit is where the issue lies.
 
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