It’s my time to ask for help.

SamB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Threads
11
Messages
269
Well I found more (less) about this unit than I would have thought. First, I still don’t know who is actually owns the naming rights to this unit. I’ve contacted PowerMate, Coleman/PowerMate, Generac, and one other company Generac pointed me to. I’ve got 9 different phone numbers and no one can help me with owners, service or parts manuals for this unit. I contacted Kawasaki about the engine with model and serial numbers, but they say they have no info on this engine, that I need to go through one of their authorized dealers. I found out my contact at Kawasaki has retired. I contacted three different dealers and none of them could help me find a parts diagram. One even contacted his authorized distributor, but no help, I’m on my own. I’ve been doing this for over 50 years and have never run into so many brick walls or people who didn’t really want to help me, just said “can’t help try this number”. Talk about frustrating.
Monday I went to see my buddy to test the condenser and found that it would no hold a charge and was shorted out. Found a medium capacity (.20mfd) condenser that I could fit in the engine, cleaned the points and set the point gap to .014”, reassembled everything and the unit started on the second pull. Inline tester now showed a good steady spark and after adjusting the carb and governor to proper voltage and hertz (110VDC and 50 hz) I feel everything is set to go. I hope that I’ve installed the right size condenser, so the points do not burn up and want to say thank you to everyone who has tried to help me in this project. Have a great holiday season. Rivets.
This is good news! As I have a similar generator with a Kawasaki engine I am relieved that issues CAN be resolved. A big thumbs up to you, Rivets for your success!!
 

txmowman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Threads
0
Messages
240
Well I found more (less) about this unit than I would have thought. First, I still don’t know who is actually owns the naming rights to this unit. I’ve contacted PowerMate, Coleman/PowerMate, Generac, and one other company Generac pointed me to. I’ve got 9 different phone numbers and no one can help me with owners, service or parts manuals for this unit. I contacted Kawasaki about the engine with model and serial numbers, but they say they have no info on this engine, that I need to go through one of their authorized dealers. I found out my contact at Kawasaki has retired. I contacted three different dealers and none of them could help me find a parts diagram. One even contacted his authorized distributor, but no help, I’m on my own. I’ve been doing this for over 50 years and have never run into so many brick walls or people who didn’t really want to help me, just said “can’t help try this number”. Talk about frustrating.
Monday I went to see my buddy to test the condenser and found that it would no hold a charge and was shorted out. Found a medium capacity (.20mfd) condenser that I could fit in the engine, cleaned the points and set the point gap to .014”, reassembled everything and the unit started on the second pull. Inline tester now showed a good steady spark and after adjusting the carb and governor to proper voltage and hertz (110VDC and 50 hz) I feel everything is set to go. I hope that I’ve installed the right size condenser, so the points do not burn up and want to say thank you to everyone who has tried to help me in this project. Have a great holiday season. Rivets.
Don't take it personal. Remember, you are dealing with a unit that is at least 25 years old. A lot of people have probably purged any information. I will get you and part number you want and any specs you want. Just ask.
 

Rivets

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Threads
55
Messages
14,681
Tx I’ll mark this thread so I’ll have to available if needed, thank you for the offer. I’ve worked on engines over 50 years old ( hit N miss, Maytag, Jacobsen, B&S Letter models, etc.) so I know that sometimes things can get tough. What gets me no one at Kawasaki could even find the model and serial numbers in any of their data bases. The individuals I spoke with had no clue what I was talking about, if it’s no on their computer, it would be to much work to try and find it. Individual at Generac even sent me a parts breakdown of a unit with a clone overhead valve engine. Weren’t smart enough to know clone engines and OHV‘s weren’t around 30 years ago. Just hope my fix outlasts me.
 
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