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Honda EU3000is - maybe NOT a good idea....
Larry,
You are being advised to do this maintainence to protect the engine exhaust emission levels. Let me tell you what is going on here. (Having worked with engines most of my life and fought the emissions battle more than a few times.) Little engines fall into an emissions control catagory where emissions controls are not required at all times but to meet the emissions performance over the engines rated life, the builder has determined that decarboning the combustion chamber will maintain the required performance. Carbon fouling of the combustion chamber is a significant cause of emissions increase. Could they doing something else? Yes- They can fit the engine with computer controlled fuel system and a catalytic converter. The engine could be redesigned for liquid cooling so it can be run closer to stoichiometic (idea air/fuel ratio). Is this maintenance item absolutely required to maintain satisfactory operation of your genset? - Not likely. But, if Honda does not require this service as stipualated maintenance, they can not sell them in this country at all. If that did not answer your question, try again and I will too. Matt Colie Larry W4CSC wrote: Until I got the shop manuals from Plano Power, Plano, TX, I was one happy camper with my Honda EU3000is inverter genset that is powering my stepvan shop. Everyone who has seen it and heard it are simply amazed by how quiet this power plant is. Many boaters and RVers have mentioned getting one so I'd like to warn them of what I found out, today. In the SECOND supplement to the shop manual, Honda Power Equipment has thrown a big, double-ended, ratchet wrench into my EU3000is experience....... This genset has been made since 1998 or 9. The date on the shop manual is 1998 for EU2600i and EU3000is. It's not a new unit. The original maintenance schedule, 1998, is pretty easy and routine: Oil - Check before use, change first 20 hours and every 100 hours after that. Air Cleaner (paper) Clean at 50 hours replace at 200 hours Sediment cup in carb filter clean every 100 hours. Spark Plug - clean/adj every 100 hours, replace every 300 hours Spark Arrester in big muffler clean every 100 hours Valve Clearance (OHV engine) check/adj every 300 hours Fuel tank filter - check every 300 hours fuel line check every 2 years, replace if necessary. All this is pretty easy to get to and standard for gas, air-cooled engines. In Dec 1999, page 3-1 was modified to CLEAN the fuel tank filter every 300 hours, which means draining the tank. Not easy but doable. The rest remained the same, pretty much standard for small gas engines. Then, Supplement 61ZT700Y came out (IPC 2600.2002.02)and, once again, replaced page 3-1 in January 2002. A new, disturbing line had been added. COMBUSTION CHAMBER - CLEAN EVERY 500 HOURS. WHAT THE H___??!! EVERY 500 HOURS I GOTTA OVERHAUL IT?!! Something is wrong. Let's call Honda to make sure they didn't mean every 5000 hours. I pointed this out to my Honda dealer and he said it was crazy and probably wrong. So, I called the factory: American Honda Power Equipment Division 4900 Marconi Dr. Alpharetta, GA 30005-2519 678-339-2600 Mon. - Fri. 8:30 - 5:00 EST Customer Relations Tel: 770-497-6400 Fax: 678-339-2519 Mon. - Fri. 8:30 - 5:30 EST FOUR times, today, to talk to the talking heads in Customer Relations, the office kids. One wonders if any of them could tell the difference between the carb float and the oil level sensor float, or between the crankshaft and the valves....??? I was put on hold for a local conversation without my hearing it..... I was told, Yes, Honda Engineers want me to DISASSEMBLE THE WHOLE TOP OF THE ENGINE EVERY 500 HOURS AND CLEAN OUT THE CARBON DEPOSITS. I run this genset about 6-8 hours a work day, probably more in hot summer. This means that EVERY OTHER or THIRD MONTH I've gotta take the whole end off the cabinet, remove the entire air cooling shroud, exhaust system, unbolt the overhead valve-containing head off the engine (which will surely screw up the OHV somehow), clean the carbon off the oil-cooled head, piston top, and cylinder/rings, then reassemble it all back the way it was with NEW GASKETS, RETORQUING THE HEAD BOLTS, of course......EVERY OTHER OR THIRD MONTH? I hope Honda CARS and expensive 6-cylinder MOTORCYCLES don't suddenly fall victim to this requirement! This is a GENSET, NOT a super- high-performance, 30,000 RPM, Formula One racing machine! IT RUNS AT 1200 RPM UNTIL THE LOAD IS OVER 1800 WATTS!! "What went wrong with this engine that suddenly requires this new MAJOR maintenance item that will take longer and cost far more than all the other maintenance steps for this engine, COMBINED?", I questioned. Of course, being the office boys, they had no idea of the WHY and, to date, I cannot find the name and phone number of anyone related to the Honda ENGINEERS who made this questionable decision. Maybe they don't have phones! are slaves! Noone will answer this question, so I'm asking all of you if you know of anything like this? Somethin' ain't right with ANY 1-cyl engine you have to disassemble and clean every 500 hours!.....My dealer even agrees! If anyone at Honda Power Equipment reads this message, please answer the question for all of us! Larry ****ed off owner..... What would happen to our warranty claims if we required some off-the-wall crazy, EXPENSIVE maintenance item in the schedule everyone refused to do? Will we be able to blame any problems on NOT following the maintenance schedule, no matter how crazy it is? How crazy is too crazy? Can car manufacturers absolve themselves by requiring you to change the crankshaft every 12,000 miles?? DAMN A GOOD TORQUE WRENCH IS EXPENSIVE THESE DAYS!! |
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