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  #1  
Unread 07-26-2011, 03:32 PM
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Default ETQ Diesel Generator Repair / Troubleshooting

Well a friend of mine sold me a diesel generator he had no desire to use anymore. Why would anyone want a lightweight gasoline powered generator? I don't know why but he just wasn't interested in trying to fix this ETQ generator or interested in moving the 200lb weight around anymore to his jobsites. My gain! Who wouldn't want this gem? How fun would it be to play around with a diesel generator and possible try to make a hydrogen or LPG kit for it? It already will run 10+ hours on a tank of diesel fuel but we can do better than that!

It was a real wreck and pretty dirty when I got it.

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Unread 07-26-2011, 03:37 PM
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FIRST and foremost you gotta clean the sucker up like it was new. No use taking anything apart if dirt just falls into what you are trying to fix and create more problems for you. I just soaked the thing in degreaser for a while and then turned the hose to it. Keep your machine clean and it will last longer and it will be much easier to work on. Clean clean clean.

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Unread 07-26-2011, 03:41 PM
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You might as well get familiar with the parts and components around your generator so you know what you are doing and how it works. If you have any problem with a generator the first thing to do it to take the fuel tank off and dump it out. This gets any water out of it and gives you a chance to put some nice fresh diesel in it. I know diesel lasts up to 5 years without going bad but you will most likely find water and dirt in the tank if it's been left outside or neglected by it's owner.




Here is the panel and as you can see this thing has some power. We got 240 or 120 as well as a DC output terminal! Sweet. So you just start the thing up and once it's going you can choose when to throw the breaker and activate the generator functionality.

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Unread 07-26-2011, 03:45 PM
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Now to start the troubleshooting because I didn't get this generator because it ran well! First check for fuel. I took the hard fuel line off the engine to make sure fuel was being pumped by the fuel pump. It surely pumped fuel and I ran compressed air through it as well just to make sure it was clear. Then I took the injector out of the cylinder head. It is held down by a retaining plate and two 10mm nuts. Once the plate is off you then twist the injector a few degrees counter clockwise and pull it straight up and out. Here is a video I took of the injector pumping fuel and making it mist out of the 4 holes in the top. This sucker sure does squirt a lot of diesel!!

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Here is the link if you want to go to my Youtube page and watch other videos I have uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DowgtNFGD4
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Unread 07-26-2011, 03:51 PM
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Now that the fuel system isn't the problem its time to check for ignition or "fire". I cranked on the engine a few times and it would kinda fire off a couple times and just die down and come to a stop. Since I couldn't find a "glow plug" in the parts diagrams and no mention of it in the starting procedure outlined in the owners manual I ruled that out. There must not be one - engine must run off of detonation alone or something. What's next?

So here's the video of me this morning when I was wondering what to do next. I took a short video before I got on the phone calling around asking for help. That way I could ask for the persons email and send it to them.

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I then called the "TuffEquip" company that sold this machine originally. I had a feeling I wouldn't get any help or an answer since their website hadn't been updated since 2006 and was incomplete to begin with, shame! Don't even bother calling those guys. I think they rebranded the Easter Tool & Equipment machine and sold it for twice the price. Good thing Eastern Tool deals with these models of machines and the ETQ engines that power them!
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Unread 07-26-2011, 04:00 PM
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So I called Eastern Tool and Equipment and I was completely shocked that the phone didn't even ring before someone on the other line was asking if they could help me. :0 wow that was the fastest pick up of all time by a company help line! Here is Eastern Tools website link to their contact information. What a great company! http://easterntools.com/contact_us.html

I'm going to have to email them tomorrow telling them how impressed I was by their customer service.

I was promptly redirected to a department that dealt with warrenty work on these machines and I told the gentleman what my situation was. I even told him I bough the machine from another company but it was one of their models that had been relabelled. Here is the model that ETQ produces that best matches what I have. Even though mine isn't a welder it does use the exact same engine as this model. http://easterntools.com/product_generator_dwg6le.html

For the record my "Tuff Equip" model is DG7250.

The man had no problem helping me work through my troubleshooting as I had studied all the terminology associated with this machine and that made the conversation fly right by without a hitch. Since I had fuel and some sputter he asked how many hours it had been used for and I also told him it was operated by someone who never bothered to have it serviced. He immediately pointed me in the direction of adjusting the valves. I thanked him for his help and went back to my computer. The service manual I have shows every adjustment you could need and a complete break down of the parts. The service manual also shows the recommended valve service should be done at 500 hours. Woops! Mine was at 3000 hours and it had never been serviced I'm sure. The manual suggests changing out the piston rings at 1000 hours... yeah right! Who are they trying to keep in business with crazy piston ring change intervals like that!!

The valve clearance with engine cold should be between 0.010 and 0.015 for the intake and exhuast. Easy enough.
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Unread 07-26-2011, 04:04 PM
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Just for reference the only website I was able to find that discussed troubleshooting of the ETQ diesel engines was Practical Machinist.com. They really dove into all sorts of possible problems with a members generator engine that wouldn't start. I had a good time reading all the things they threw out for the guy to check out. It came down to the fuel pump unit in the engine being frozen up for some reason. The fuel pump is simply bolted to the engine and it is connected to the hard line that you can follow down the side from the top. It is actuated by an internal cam that presses the pump in and a spring pushes it back out until the cam pushes back etc. His spring and pump was seized up for some reason but once he shot it with a heavy dose of WD-40 it freed up and worked just fine. He has some nice pictures which have the components labelled which helped me out a little since my labels aren't so easy to read anymore.
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Unread 07-26-2011, 04:06 PM
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Next it's time to get into the valve area of my ETQ engine. All it takes is a simple 10mm wrench to take the cover off for inspection! I'll continue this thread tomorrow.

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Unread 07-27-2011, 12:05 PM
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Once the cover was removed you can see something is obviously wrong here. The rockers weren't even resting on the pushrods. The valve lash must have been out of adjustment so bad that they simply fell to the side. It's not that the valves were too loose but they might have been so tight that the rocker arm assembly bolt might have became loose and backed out. The main bolt on the top of the assembly was very loose and I backed it all the way out to make sure the threads were ok.

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Unread 07-27-2011, 12:06 PM
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Time to connect all the parts back together properly and tighten down the rocker arm assembly bolt.



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Unread 07-27-2011, 12:07 PM
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Nowww lets adjust the valves. As long as nothing was broken I was sure that the machine would start right up without a problem. First lets have a look at how loose the intake valve was initially! This diesel engine must have had a hard time trying to spin the generator drive. Look at the gap!



Now a little spin of the wrench and it's back within spec. Nice and easy. All you have to do is check this every 500hrs and your ETQ engine will run perfectly. Such an easy task but people don't ever remember or care to do so until the machine stops running. :-\


Last edited by Smithers; 07-27-2011 at 12:10 PM.
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Unread 07-27-2011, 12:13 PM
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Here is a video of the ATQ Generator working like it should. Despite having 3000 hrs of use on the timer the machine starts up super easy and works perfectly. You wouldn't even guess that it has that many hours on it by looking at it or watching it operate. Very nice little machine. It's not a Yamaha or anything but at least its an efficient diesel engine that works very well still.

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