Kohler generator overheating

[jcmace59]

-Greg,
I'd be looking real hard for that excess oil. That may be what's
causing the overheating. It could damage the engine. I'd take a
small piece of stiff wire and poke it into the drain plug hole in the
oil pan. There must be something blocking the oil from coming out.
You don't need to have the filter off, nor the filler cap off to have
oil running out of the plug when it's out. If there is something
blocking the drain hole, than you can assume that the entire motor is
coated with whatever you find. It's possible that a "onetime"
something is plugging the drain, but that's pretty rare. If it's
sludge, or something similar; you probably need to clean the motor
our some. The easiest way to do this will be in several steps.
First, get the old oil out. Second, remove the cable to the starter
or wire the fuel solenoid in the off position- you must ensure the
engine won't start for the next little bit. Then fill the engine
with diesel, kerosene or some other oil based solvent. You want to
try and break up the sludge that's accumulated. You can take the
coach for a drive with the solvent in the generator engine. This
will slosh it around and help to clean it. 15 miles or so should be
good. If the engine is already hot prior to doing this, that helps
soften the sludge as well, making it easier for the solvent to break
it up. Back to the shop and drain out the solvent. Depending on how
bad it looks, I might consider repeating this process again. Then
refill the engine with clean oil, ensuring it's not overfull. Run it
for about a half hour or so. Shut it down and drain it. Refill it
with clean oil again (replace the filter both times). Then use as
usual, but figure on changing it early, at maybe 50 hours or so.
Then you should have a failry clean system and be able to go back to
normal service intervals. This would be a good time to replace the
drain plug with a quarter turn valve and enough piping to get the oil
to drain to an easy spot to catch it. Often it's draining onto an
pan which then drains out a hole in the pan. With a
little "engineering" you can get the oil drain to line up over the
pan drain hole, eliminating most of the mess that goes with servicing
the generator. You should be able to take you drain plug with you to
Home Depot or Lowe's and get everything you need to do this.

I hope this is clear enough to understand. If not, let me know and
we'll get in touch to square it away.

John


-- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Leroy Eckert
wrote:
>
> Ok. Disregard.
> Leroy Eckert
> 1990 WB-40 Smoke N Mirrors
> Dahlonega, GA
> Royale Conversion
>
> --- On Thu, 8/14/08, Scott Forman <scottforman75@...> wrote:
> From: Scott Forman <scottforman75@...>
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Kohler generator overheating
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008, 10:39 PM
>
>
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>
>
>
> This is not a squirrel cage. The pre-87 units are old-
fashioned fan
>
> units.
>
>
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com, Leroy Eckert
>
> wrote:
>
> >
>
> > If you look closely, there is an arrow on the squirrel cage
housing
>
> showing direction. At least there is on mine. The motor on mine is
>
> 208v. I have a typical wiring diagram from the box to the fan motor
>
> if anyone needs it.
>
> > Leroy Eckert
>
> > 1990 WB-40 Smoke N Mirrors
>
> > Dahlonega, GA
>
> > Royale Conversion
>
> >
>
> > --- On Thu, 8/14/08, Bryan Altier wrote:
>
> > From: Bryan Altier
>
> > Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Kohler generator overheating
>
> > To: WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com
>
> > Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008, 9:05 PM
>
> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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> > Greg,
>
> > Looking at the motor at the end of the fan, mine
>
> > had two wires coming out of the winding and wrapped up before
going
>
> back into
>
> > the winding. I removed the wrapping and found that there were
two
>
> > connectors that I swapped causing the motor to run in the proper
>
> > direction. Look and see if there is a sticker on the end of the
>
> fan
>
> > housing with an arrow "direction". Since I got mine blowing out
>
> the bottom
>
> > of the fan my overheating problems are apparently gone.
>
> >
>
> > Bryan Altier
>
> > 88 WLWB 40
>
> > Greenville, SC
>
> >
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
>
> > From:
>
> > Greg Young
>
> > To: WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com
>
> >
>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:36
>
> > PM
>
> > Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Re:
>
> > Kohler generator overheating
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
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> >
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> >
>
> > Hi Bryan & Scott and everybody
>
> >
>
> > Follow up to our generator
>
> > issues. I had the radiator serviced and it was only 20%
blocked,
>
> so the
>
> > guess is that was not the problem. However, I was wrong about
>
> the
>
> > fan. Ours appeared to be sucking air in rather than blowing
>
> out.
>
> > There is a junction box leading to the fan motor, which was
wired
>
> normally -
>
> > Hot (black) to black, neutral (white) to white. I reversed
these
>
> and the
>
> > motor continues to suck in. So how does one reverse the wiring
>
> and
>
> > actually make it change direction?
>
> >
>
> > I'm also a little baffled about oil
>
> > levels and think we may have a plug somewhere - the dipstick
>
> showed oil level
>
> > above max, yet when I opened the plug, with the filter off and
>
> the oil filler
>
> > cap off, no oil came out. Putting in more resulted in oil
>
> spilling out
>
> > the breather hose.
>
> >
>
> > Sorry, I'm not a gearhead like so many of you, but I
>
> > can follow instructions if they're detailed enough...
>
> >
>
> > Thanks!
>
> > Greg
>
> > Young
>
> > 1986 PT40
>
> > Escondido, CA
>
> > (760) 807-1727
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > -----
>
> > Original Message ----
>
> > From: Greg Young
>
> > To:
>
> > WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com
>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2008
>
> > 7:17:51 PM
>
> > Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Kohler generator
>
> > overheating
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Hi Scott - Thanks for the info. We have the standard vertical,
>
> so I
>
> > think the fan's OK. Time to flush, and if that doesn't improve
>
> it, I'll
>
> > probably take it in for "professional" (i.e. expensive)
>
> > assessment.
>
> >
>
> > Greg Young
>
> > 1986 PT40
>
> > Escondido CA
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > -----
>
> > Original Message ----
>
> > From: Scott Forman
>
> > <scottforman75@ gmail.com>
>
> > To:
>
> > WanderlodgeForum@ yahoogroups. com
>
> > Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2008
>
> > 5:54:06 PM
>
> > Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Kohler generator
>
> > overheating
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Greg,
>
> >
>
> > If you bus has the stock vertical radiator with traditional
>
> > fan, it
>
> > should blow out...or at least that is what mine does.
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Later models...and some retro-fitted earlier ones...have a
>
> horizontal
>
> >
>
> > radiator with squirrel's cage fan blowing down and out.
>
> >
>
> > I ran my
>
> > Yanmar this past weekend at heavy load in 104 degree heat
>
> > and it never
>
> > went above 180.
>
> >
>
> > Scott Forman
>
> > 86 PT38
>
> > Memphis
>
> >
>
> > --- In WanderlodgeForum@
>
> > yahoogroups. com, Greg Young
>
> > wrote:
>
> > >
>
> > >
>
> > Hi Bryan - Thanks for the idea. Which way is it supposed to
turn -
>
>
>
> >
>
> > exhausting air through the radiator, or pulling it in? I would
>
> think
>
> >
>
> > out, which is what ours is doing.
>
> > > -Greg
>
> > > 86 PT40
>
> > >
>
> >
>
> > >
>
> > >
>
> > > ----- Original Message ----
>
> > > From: Bryan
>
> > Altier
>
> > > To: WanderlodgeForum@
>
> > yahoogroups. com
>
> > > Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2008 3:45:08 PM
>
> > >
>
> > Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Kohler generator overheating
>
> > >
>
> > >
>
> >
>
> > > Greg, We had some problems with ours overheating
>
> > > just at
>
> > times, (hot weather) and I discovered that the cooling fan
>
> > on the
>
> > >
>
> > radiator was turning backwards. Reversed two wires and problem
>
> > >
>
> > solved.
>
> > >
>
> > > Bryan Altier
>
> > > 88WLWB 40
>
> > > Greenville,
>
> > SC
>
> > > ----- Original Message -----
>
> > > From: Greg Young
>
> > > To:
>
> > Wanderlodge Forum
>
> > > Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 4:09 PM
>
> > >
>
> > Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Kohler generator overheating
>
> > >
>
> > > Hi
>
> > -
>
> > >
>
> > > Our Kohler generator is overheating under load. So far I've
>
> >
>
> > replaced the thermostat, and so I guess that flushing the system
is
>
> >
>
> > the next step.
>
> > >
>
> > > Details:
>
> > > 86 PT-40
>
> > > Kohler
>
> > 12.5CCO67-RV
>
> > > Yanmar 4-cyl engine
>
> > > with no load ran cool.
>
> > Started adding load at around 180 degrees
>
> > > Added load up to 20A leg
>
> > one, 30A leg two - all three cruise-air
>
> > AC's running plus some other
>
> > appliances. Maintained about 115V all
>
> > the time.
>
> > > Temp slowly
>
> > climbed up to about 215 before I took the load off. In
>
> > the past it
>
> > actually tripped the high temp switch, but I didn't see
>
> > any point in doing
>
> > that again.
>
> > > After I took the load off it slowly dropped to around 200.
>
> > Stopped
>
> > it then.
>
> > >
>
> > > We've got two weeks before we head to
>
> > the desert and 100+ heat.
>
> > Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> > >
>
> >
>
> > > Thanks!
>
> > > Greg Young
>
> > > 1986 PT40
>
> > > Escondido,
>
> > CA
>
> > > (760)
>
> > 807-1727
>
> > >
>
> >
>