# oil in filter on generator



## lupy (Jan 9, 2007)

Got this in trade to run a pellet stove and a fan when the power is out. It's a Kawasaki GD550A, suitcase generator. After a little clean up, it starts nice, and runs well, but it puts out a lot of oil down the breather into the filter. Maybe half an ounce in a 3hr run with 375watt load. I pulled the breather, which is a sealed unit, everything looks clean, no carbon. Using 30 wt oil, proper fill (can't overfill without tipping the unit) 

It's a vertical shaft 4cycle side valve. My initial guess is worn oil seal, I am going to do a comp check, but it seems to run fine, and dosn't smoke. Plug is a little black, as is the piston head.

Anyone have any luck with oil treatments? I hate to do a rebuild if it's just a stuck oil ring. It looks like it's sat for long periods in it's life. 

Any guess as to what proper compression should be?

Not really looking forward to rebuilding it, I may just put a seperator on it and run as is. 

Any help, ideas??

Thanks
Ken


----------



## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

80 or higher is good on compression, but they will run with lower.
Check for loose seals (like say a dipstick seal)


----------



## lupy (Jan 9, 2007)

In my initial inspection, I found a leaky plug on the alternate dipstick location. Already sealed it, so that's not my problem. In any case, a leaky seal on the dipstick wouldn't cause oil in the crank case vent line. 
I checked the compression, and it's 95psi. The plug is running light brown, it was black when I got it. I am going to change the plug as I don't think it's the right one. 

The shop thought it might be running lean and over heating, causing thin oil to leak at the breather. I tore down an blew out the carb. It was really pretty clean, but jets are very small, so it's possible that was part of the problem. 

They didn't think it was a leaky oil ring allowing too much blow by, as it should be smoking, which it isn't. They also said that some crank case pressure is normal, and that I should be running 40wt not 30 wt, so hopefully that will help.

I will post again when I have more data.

Ken


----------



## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Tipsy!*

If your air filter is fouled its more than likely caused by tipping during transport or storage, if the motors tight, and your not overfilled. Especially as this is a suitcase unit! They are pretty easily tipped, laid on their side, or up ended and will foul the airbox/filter of you dont know better. A lot of shops make easy money cleaning airboxes, changing filters and burning out the exhaust. Seems like the old flatheads werent quite so bad but they'll still do it if tipped or inverted for a prolonged period. With the advent of OHV motors the problem seemed to get worse. Probably my imagination. Obviously if you've got more pressure than pulse at the breather then there's something up, but I really dont think so. Keep in mind that goo in the airbox is a fact of life with any air box vented, used internal cumbustion engine. Clean it all up change the filter and see. Half a fluid ounce over three hours is no great shakes. I sweat that much pulling a load in an hour and a half. LOL BH


----------



## lupy (Jan 9, 2007)

This is a follow up for anyone with the same problem, It was definetly not overfull, as when I tried to restart it the nixt time, the low oil light came on. I removed the breather line from the air box, and ran it through an old glass fuel bowl I had laying around. I initially had thought about building a trap which could then drain the oil back to the crank case, but after running it a while, I found that I was getting about 3 times as much water as oil. Definetly not something I wanted back in the case. 
I called dealers, no one really had any experiance with these, as they are pretty old, but one person said that 40wt was a good idea for these. I got some royal Purple 40 wt. $6 a qt, but it only takes a little over 1/3qt per oil change, so it's no big deal. I changed out to that and the volume of oil in the glass was much less. Still more than I wanted to dump on the ground, so I made a little brass fitting for the end of the breather line, this has a 3/32 id brass tube soldered on which re-directs anything coming out the breather line down the throat of the carb. I figure any moisture will still be vapor, and not a problem, and the small amount of oil can just burn up. I may foul plugs a little more, but I think I can live with that, at least for now. I also put a little oil absorbing mat in the bottom of the frame of the gen, just in case anything gets by. 

Ken


----------

