Generator Fix – Skruffy Update

While we were facing Skruffy’s Illness in Alaska, our Generator went out.  When you try to start it, it would just click once, and house lights would dim.  Last year we faced something similar, except there were multiple clicks, no lights dimming. 

So on Thursday I took it back to Holley Generator, thinking the worse…a frozen generator engine, and hoping for the next to worse, needing a new starter.  Last year I wrote about how great we liked Holley Generator, and how Brian was able to fix it very quickly, did a oil change and he checked the spark plug and air filter and tuned it up a bit. 

I arrived at 9:45 for my 10 am appointment.  Before 10 am Brian has pulled the RV into place, and started to work on it.  I told him about how it stopped working in Alaska, and how I tried to shake it (starter) loose in case it was engaged into the flywheel like it was last year…and commented that even the bumpy roads of Alaska and Yukon were unable to loosen it.  I went back to the drivers seat and let him do his magic.

Now I did not get pictures of Brian at work…but this is what he did.  He removed the “out” line from the starter solenoid.  This would typically be a “positive” line…the red line below the arrow is the positive line coming from the house battery.  He wheeled up a “starter battery” like one would see at an automotive store, or on a tow truck, when they need to jump your batteries.  He hooked the NEGATIVE line up to the loosened line leading to the starter.

Brian then took the positive line and touched the outside of the engine, creating a reverse polarity to the starter, which fired up and spun backwards, which causes it to disengage with the flywheel.  He let it run for about 8 seconds to listen to it.  He told me it sounded fine, no unusual rattles or sounds that concerned him.  He then hooked everything up and the generator fired right up.  Now when I was at the shop last year he tried to tell me how to do this…and this time I listened and understood more.  I nearly tried to do this up in Alaska, but I just did not feel comfortable.  Now I understand it better, and if this happens again I will bring up my car, use its battery with jumper cables.  It is important to realize that you HAVE to use a battery outside of your house batteries since the generator engine is grounded to your house battery, and although you can use your motorhome engine batteries, isolated batteries like off of another car is best…or take your engine battery out of the engine compartment and place near the generator. 

Above is a picture of Brian working on it last year.  He is a very good RV Generator man.  While working on our motorhome, a fellow worker was asking him questions about another motorhome that had pulled up…and without going over to look at it, he answered and guided the other tech on how to fix that one too.  After getting our running and testing voltage, he again gave it a tune up, changing oil, spark plug, air filter and making adjustments.  All for $150.  All in one hours of work.  I was back on the road again around 11:15…it took the office staff longer to get the bill written up than it took Brian to get the generator going again.  He advised me to be sure that the motorhome engine is running, providing full power to the house batteries, giving the starter full strength to turn the engine over.  He said the every once in awhile, a generator engine, which can have a very high compression, could be at the bottom of the compression mode when it is turned off…and when you go to start it, it will take all the power available for the starter to move the flywheel and start the engine. 

For the SECOND time, Holley Generator fixed our generator at a minimum cost when other, not so reputable shops could have said it needed a new starter, which would have cost about $500 in labor (or more) and another $140 for the starter (and they might have just pretended to put a new one in and left you with the old one!)  I think someone is going to take some donuts down to Holley Generator on Tuesday after they get back from their 3 day holiday.   

A few people have asked about how Skruffy is doing.  It has been nearly 2 months since we left the Soldotna area.  She has been doing very well.  I test her blood sugar about every three days, and she is getting 2 1/2 units of insulin twice per day, although I have had to increase or decrease by a 1/2 unit a few times.  While here at my Sister’s house, Skruffy is a very active dog, chasing squirrels and birds and running around the backyard barking at neighboring dogs.  Her food intake has been greater to compensate for all of her activity.

 

During her illness she lost around 4 1/2 pounds, maybe even 5.  She has maintained her lower weight, which is real good.  I had worries about her not letting me give her the insulin shot…but she comes over when I call her and lets me give it to her without any problems.  Every once in awhile she will have a slight jerk when I inject her…but most of the time she acts like she can’t even feel it.  Only twice has she made a slight sound when she jerks…so my fears about giving her the shot,  thank goodness, have been eased.   I will get some shots of her and Bubba running around outside to share with you all soon.  Those squirrels have to be at the top of her game because she is a little faster than she use to be.

Above is a picture of our latest project…this one has Arny involved very heavily.  It is a picture of the driver’s entry door…can you see what is missing????

Generator - Easy Fix

I called McColloch’s RV repair and found out that they do not do generator work…but they do have a fantastic referral. Nick McColloch told me that they recommend everyone who needs generator work to Holley Generator & Equipment,  7945 14th Ave in Sacramento.  A call to Holley and I talked to Lanie Nizuk, and told him my problem.  He said, “Bring it on down.”  So we loaded up and arrived at Holley shortly after 10 am.  Not knowing what all this would entail, I towed the car, and unhooked the car at a park nearby, Granite Park, which is a no-leash dog park too, and Marcia followed me the less than a quarter of a mile to Holley’s. 

Brian, who is looking at the Generator in the picture above, quickly diagnosed our problem, taught me more about the generator, and showed me how to fix it if it does it again.

Holley Generator & Equipment is located in this building, and there is ample parking in the rear after you check in.  You can see the white “Snap on Tools” truck, we were parked right behind it.  In my phone conversation with Lanie I told him how we lived in the motorhome while we travel, and asked him if the generator repair was going to take a long time, could they remove it and let us drive away until they got it fixed.  He said, “Certainly.”   

Thank goodness our repair did not take very long, and was not real serious.  While I was in the office checking in and describing our problem, Brian grabs a starter and explains to me that when you activate it, the solenoid provides power to push this gear up against the flywheel and turn it, providing the “oomph” to get the engine running.  However, if the batteries are drained a bit, if they are old, etc., the solenoid sometimes does not have the power to pull the gear back away from the flywheel.  But when I told him the batteries were less than a year old, and in good condition, he looked a bit perplexed.

I left to quickly get us some breakfast, and by the time I came back Brian had pulled our motorhome, with Marcia and Skruffy inside, behind the "Snap Tool Van", and had already got the generator running.  He said that he was right in a sense…it was a battery problem.  One of my red cable connectors to one of our two house batteries had become very loose…he said it took three full turns and then some to lock it down tight.  He was able to giggle the generator real hard and that loosened the gear, along with having more power from the batteries.  He also showed me how one could do a “reverse polarity” on the solenoid as a last resort.  I feel more confident that I will know how to fix it “if” this happens again…but our fingers are crossed that we won’t face it again.

A little over an hour after we pulled in, and $130 shorter, our generator was fixed, including new oil, and Brian made a few adjustments which has it starting easier and quicker.  He told me that he felt the generator was in pretty good condition for having around 550 hours on it and being ten years old.  He assured me that using it at least once per month is ample to keep the generator going.

It is nice to know that we now have a good reliable place to work and look at the generator if we ever need it.  I wish it was closer to our home in Florida, but we come to the Sacramento area so often that it like our second home.  I called McColloch’s RV repair as I was returning to the park, Marcia following, in order to hook up the HHR again, and thanked Kerry for the good referral to Holley Generator. 

Last night we decided we needed one more item, and did a 2 day order with Amazon.  Once it comes on Wednesday, we will drive away again.  Depending upon what time of the day it comes, we might go a long ways, or just a short trip.  A two day set-back is not anything to worry about, after all, Alaska awaits the mighty squirrel hunters!