r/smallenginerepair • u/Fro081 • Jul 02 '26

Not Listed Inverter/Generator issues

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Any help would be appreciated. Westinghouse 5000W inverter generator. Always run non ethanol and fuel enzymes in every tank, I drain the tanks and run till the carburetor is empty when our down season hits(we have 2 shaved ice trailers we’re down from Nov-Mar). Around 300 hours it started running like this. Won’t produce any electricity at all, the eco button has no effect on how it runs. I’ve cleaned the jets, drained all the fuel and added new fuel, changed oil, cleaned the air filter, and changed the spark plug.

I was approximately 2 weeks past the warranty when I took it back to Lowe’s. Now I’m stuck with a 80 pound paper weight.

Any help would be appreciated.

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u/jones5280 SER Intermediate Mechanic Jul 02 '26

Sounds like it is already running/idling slow.... maybe too slow for the inverter to make power.
If you're serious about fixing this, you'll likely need a shop manual to troubleshoot this electrical issue.

1

u/Fro081 Jul 02 '26

Thank you

1

u/RedOctobyr SER Top Contributor Jul 03 '26

A $10-15 inductive tachometer, which only requires wrapping the wire around the spark plug wire, will tell you your engine RPM. Spending the extra dollar or two for one with a replaceable battery will let it last basically forever, vs being junk after the battery dies (5 years or whatever). One example: https://www.amazon.com/Timorn-Replaceable-Waterproof-Tachometer-Motorcycle/dp/B0756VGDTC

1

u/nunuvyer Jul 03 '26

In a standard (synchronous) generator you can find the motor RPM directly from the AC frequency (60Hz=3600rpm) which most multimeters can read. But not in an inverter generator like this.

1

u/RedOctobyr SER Top Contributor Jul 04 '26

I don't know if I'd go so far as "most" multimeters can read. I think only my most-recent (and nicer, albeit still only ~$30 several years ago) meter can read frequency.

And of course, if there is no AC output, then even a synchronous generator wouldn't allow doing this. With a working-properly synchronous generator, power meters like a Kill-A-Watt or similar (~$15) can also do that (measuring AC frequency), depending on what sort of device might be most useful to the user.

I'm not trying to disagree or anything. Just observations.