Craftsman Generator - No-Start FIXED! (SAME as Generac)

[@Jane17458]

I have a garage full of “stuff” that needs fixed! It’s never ending! Thankfully my sons help. Wheel on my mower deck broke off… the grass catcher fell apart mid mow, and I had parts all over my front yard! A kid was crossing the street and heard some very colorful language from this grey haired old lady last week! Thinking back on it, it could have been a $10,000 video! Son welded wheel back in the deck… and Mimi is back in action. Have a great week.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

That is awesome! KZbin does love a big falling-apart, whether it's of the mechanical, or human variety...even better when it's both! Haha, hope you're having an awesome weekend!

[@briankinnear7461]

Looks like it works. Nobody needs to know you don't know how!! Nice work. Love the old 60/70s vintage cruisers. Be safe and stay well.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Thanks, you too!

[@twobabejinkins1736]

Nice work shop kat ! Thanks for sharing the parade looks like top tech had a blast ! Cheers !

[@rescuedandrestoredgarage]

Thats awesome. Have a great weekend, brother.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Thanks, you too!

[@timwindsor03]

Awesome video brother. Thanks for sharing. Keep the videos coming. Hope you have an incredible weekend. Much love and RESPECT brother

[@OlysGarage]

They have these newer small gas engines, especially units that are designed to run long term, sooooo pinched down for "emissions" and fuel efficiency, they can barely run... No surprise of a piece of dust jammed it up! ...lol Good work! At least it's running again. We run Honda 1100s at work, great units, but they struggle like crazy in ECO mode.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

The Hondas really are great! I worked for an outfit that had a couple 1300s and they were really nice. Wouldn't it be nice if they gave us a mixture screw to give them a fighting chance of running happily?

[@dailybikingcommute1132]

Failing forward never hurts 😆👍

[@ShopKatIndustries]

I've based my whole life on the principle, lol!

[@oldmanintheshopbuiltnotbou8726]

those small engines can be a pain to get parts for does that gen. have a govenor on it

[@ShopKatIndustries]

It has an electronic governor, a little tiny stepper motor on top of the throttle.

[@FourthWayRanch]

Watch the charcoal can vent system on this thing too. Open the fuel cap to check if venting is tge issue.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Good info there, thanks!

[@FourthWayRanch]

@ShopKatIndustries I found the choke cable adjustment is hard to get right too. Make sure you get full choke but also make sure it's fully off in run position

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Right on! It's back in the hands of the owner but it's always good to tuck such little tidbits in a dusty unused corner of my brain. I have quite a few such places to choose from, haha!!

[@alan6832]

Everyone seems to remove carburetors but me. I usually avoid fooling with the linkages and clean the jets with the carb in place, though I also usually don't fool with side holes in emulsion tubes, just cleaning bowl, needle valve, main and idle jets, and sometimes the shutoff valve and screens, throw in fuel detergent, and that is nearly always good enough.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Well, we've discussed that before, but I really quite enjoy actually seeing what's going on with it, and especially when it's a customer's unit. Plus, access was totally limited so pulling it was by far the quickest and easiest option.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

6:15....that darn on/off switch....

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Lol!!

[@johnkerr09]

When mine is low on gas it never starts. I think it prefers to start with a full tank. I got the Craftsman 2500i. Good luck to you and everyone troubleshooting.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

That does make sense, since it's just a gravity-feed fuel system. More fuel, more "pressure", I suppose! Unfortunately all the new small engines are choked up so tightly for emissions controls that they just don't always run happily.

[@KlepsGarage]

Nice carb bath. I have found on old cars 95% of carburetor problems are electrical. 😂

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Ha, so true! Half the Sahara in the fuel bowl, no problem. Points aren't mirror-polished? Dead in the water. Lol!

[@shedbythetracks]

Sometimes it's best not to ask questions. Cheers

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Right? Just shout "Fixed it!" and run away!

[@shedbythetracks]

😆😆@@ShopKatIndustries

[@dodgetruck67]

Check the oil sensor! It seems to be the single black wire, going to a bullet plug, behind the red panel on the pull cord side of the generator (have to remove four screws). EXPLANATION: I have the same Craftsman 3000i Generator (same as Generac GP3000i). While I was camping last Labor Day Weekend (2023) in Tahoe, this same generator would run for a little while, and then shut down on its own, sometimes after only like 5 minutes. It seems that heat bothers the low oil sensors on these units and can cause the to shut down. To remedy this, today I was testing checking for oil, fuel and spark. All were good. I even took apart and cleaned the carb like the video above suggested. BUT, this didn't fix the problem and with a heat gun load after only 5 minutes or so the generator shut off on its own again (I did notice it was also intermittently misfiring, even with no load). I let the unit cool and it started up again on one pull of the rip cord... so this time I wanted to try removing the removed the single wire going from the pull start rip cord side of the engine black wire coming from between the two casings near the rear of the engine, about half way up. Using two sets of needle nose pliers, I held each end of the bullet type connectors and was able to release the plug (male end) from the receptacle (female end). Started the genset back up and ran it for far longer like 20-30 minutes with no shutoff (until I shut it off). Just keep your oil full and unplug the sensor - no problem! (also oil level is 0.6 qts on these and full is to the H-mark on the stick when the generator is placed on level ground).

[@ShopKatIndustries]

GREAT info, thank you for sharing!!

[@ShopKatIndustries]

GREAT info, thank you for sharing!!

[@Ace96x10]

Wow, you have a great channel happening! Nice work!)

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Thank you very much!

[@tracymathis8855]

My craftsman 2200 cut off and now pull string won’t pull out, it’s only couple months old. I drained the oil and replaced it was a little dark looking to me but I’m no mechanic if you have any suggestions please let me know? Thanks

[@ShopKatIndustries]

That's not good! It could be as simple as a jammed-up cord, but it could also be as bad as internal engine damage. I'd start by removing the recoil starter and seeing if I can turn the crankshaft with a wrench or something. Keep us posted! Of course, if it's pretty new, the best bet might just be to take it back for warranty. Cheers!

[@NathansMoparGarage]

A little dirt is all it takes

[@jimwhittemore1610]

Whatever you did, it’s fixed for now👍

[@alan6832]

My 1500 watt generator will start my mini fridge, but not my friend's chest freezer. but my other friend says chest freezers need less starting power than mini-fridges. I will be checking the labels on the back of both, but do you have any ideas about that?

[@ShopKatIndustries]

No idea!

[@alan6832]

@@ShopKatIndustries I checked the labels and the chest freezer draws more, 5 amps at 115 volts. So starting amps is something like 3 times what the label says, or even more.

[@margieschwartz6757]

Was kind of cleaning machine was that you used?

[@ShopKatIndustries]

It's an ultrasonic cleaner, much like the smaller ones that are often used to clean jewellery.

[@margieschwartz6757]

@@ShopKatIndustries Thought so but wasn't sure. Thanks for that!

[@Jane17458]

Have you found cussing under your breath is a great tool in the garage? 😂

[@ShopKatIndustries]

It's one of my very most important tools, lol!!

[@byronhudson799]

So, what did you do?

[@ShopKatIndustries]

I suspect the throttle stepper motor was sticking, but this job is most likely one to file under "Took Apart, Put Back Together, and it Worked." Which is ok when it's your own stuff, but when it belongs to a customer, it's a lot harder to explain and/or justify! Happens a lot where I work too, though. Thanks for watching, and cheers!

[@ronsutton6826]

Where is the oil sensor on a 2300 craftsman generator

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Well, that will depend on the exact model number, but it should be around the base of the engine somewhere! If you can find the model number you can put it in at the "Jack's Small Engine Repair" website and find the parts diagrams!

[@Joe.Doucette]

"Just a really quick little project". Oh, young and naive one.... when will you learn that there is no such a thing. Someone recently gave me a small generator. I don't need it so I'm thinking of pawning it off to an owner of one of those e-lek-trick cars. They seem eager to spend money to save money. It's small enough to sit in the trunk for emergencies. Maybe they could heat up some coffee while waiting for a tow truck when their batteries run out. Awww hopefully Lawson has a great life with them. Do you have to re-home them all?

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Haha, that's a good idea, Joe! As things stand, only Lauson has had to find a new home. Briggs & Stratton will come along with us. As for Clyde and Chichi, well, we'll suggest they are part of the property. Sort of live-in rodent control! I don't think they'd appreciate being rehomed, so hopefully any buyer of this property will be happy to keep them here!

[@Joe.Doucette]

@@ShopKatIndustries Gee.. I hope you can find new owners who would appreciate them.

[@glenmiller3783]

They can be so annoying 😂

[@anthonyr2319]

Hey man.. I have the same generator and let me tell you it is the absolute worst thing I've ever owned. I had a moped sitting outside for 4 years, never touched and a flat bowl drain and she fired right up.. this onnthe other hand, always let me down. I tried cleaning the carb 10 times, to pulling the motor apart grinding the valves down (they were extremely bad even for less than 50h on it) and still runs like crap. I came across your video, same problems. Popping and can't handle what it's rated for loadwise. Also impossible to find anything for this. So I'm just wondering if you found out any carbs that'll work

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Ahhh, that sucks! Truthfully I gave it back to my buddy and I didn't hear anything about it since! But it didn't seem like a very sturdy machine. The ancient Honda that another friend grabbed for me from the curbside trash is a much nicer unit, albeit smaller.

[@alan6832]

Those were the same classic police cars that Scott worked on and featured, weren't they? In the US, I think it's illegal to restore them that well. Not that I have ever much liked cop cars.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Similar, at least. I don't think these ones belong to Dan & Ash, I think they may actually belong to the RCMP!

[@byronmccall1554]

But you didn't actually say what you did. I don't have anything that makes that noise and bathes my generator and it's doing exactly the same thing yours was doing.

[@ShopKatIndustries]

That's sometimes the nature of fixing things, unfortunately. I can't quite say which was the magic bullet that got it going. I suspect one of the carb passages had a blockage.

[@byronmccall1554]

@@ShopKatIndustries Would using an add-in injector/fuel system cleaner work to unclog it?

[@ShopKatIndustries]

@@byronmccall1554 it certainly couldn't hurt to try!

[@duaneglaze7229]

If you actually said what you were doing or showed what you were doing this might be a good video

[@ShopKatIndustries]

@@duaneglaze7229 if you're a mechanic you know that sometimes stuff gets fixed and you don't really know why. If you aren't, now you know. Outside of that please forward comments and concerns to [e-mail]. Cheers!

[@frankfarmer4397]

you cant see you working on it

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Yeah, sorry...I'm trying to do better as I go along! Anyone can record stuff, but making it GOOD is much harder than I expected. Thanks for watching, though!

[@glennnickerson8438]

Do you make house calls S K?😆

[@ShopKatIndustries]

Haha, you bet! I'll hop on EBH right away!

[@michaelvalencia3885]

Don't really know what you did at certain points, wasn't very helpful 😕

[@ShopKatIndustries]

@@michaelvalencia3885 that makes two of us!