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An Extra Measure of Blessings

2K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Sawdust 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well, sometimes the good Lord answers prayers in a special way.

We've been wanting to get a genset for backup power for quite some time, but could never quite get pass the hefty price tag.

I have a portable 4,000 watt B&S genset that works well, but being gas driven it has all the challenges associated with storing gas for long periods, etc.

Anyway, last week I was over at a local recycling yard looking for some steel for my trailer. I noticed an offgreen colored item and moseyed over to look at it.

Turned out to be an Onan 4.0 KW diesel powered genset, with a 20 gallon fuel tank and a manual transfer switch. I looked it over good---I wasn't sure what engine it was--looked a lot like the D750 Kubota I had in my B7100 Kubota tractor--but no tag, etc. But the oil was full and didn't smell like fuel, radiator had good coolant---no floating oil or black specs... but, I couldn't turn it over as the fan was completely enclosed in a steel mesh guard.

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Still if the hour meter wasn't lying it had hardly been used:

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I asked one of the workers what they knew--they called the boss who said he didn't know if it ran or not, but it was probably okay, and that he wanted $150 for it... I was DEFINITELY interested then.

We tried to crank it over with jumper cables at the yard, but I forgot that I needed to have the jumper cables on the large nut on the solenoid, and then put 12 volts on the solenoid terminal, so all I got was the starter spinning.

I decided to buy it anyway--it came with a 20 gallon fuel tank full of fuel, and I figured I could sell the parts off it and come out ahead if nothing else.

It is a HEAVY beast... I used my cherry picker to get it out of my truck, and it was hard to pump the ram... I've pulled Chevy small blocks with the tranny attached, and this thing seems to weigh about the same...

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Tonight my work on my trailer was interrupted by thunderstorms, so I figured I'd see if I could get the genset to run.

It apparently had been used on a boat in the Great Salt Lake, as there was a lot of rust and corrosion on the outside. I had my neighbor--who's a Journeyman Electrician-- take a look under the electrical panel. He recommend I disconnect the heavy gage leads in case there was a short somewhere. So, I disconnected them and color coded them with tape.

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Then, on to the engine. The return fuel line had been cut, but no biggie-- a piece of hose running to a gallon jug will suffice for now. The fuel inlet line was also cut off, but I used the fuel line form the tank, which also had an inline siphon bulb... I pumped some of the fuel from the tank into a clear jug to see if there was any water or contamination, but it looked fine and smelled like fresh diesel.

Although the three glow plugs were connected together, there wasn't an electrical line leading from it to energize it... a 12 gage jumper wire solved that problem.

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I cranked it without fuel several times for about 15 seconds each--want to make sure it has oil pressure when it starts.

I then primed the injection pump, and cracked the nuts loose on the fuel line at the injectors and cranked away. After about 5 seconds the injectors starting bleeding fuel so I knew I was good to go there.

I tightened the nuts, hooked up the glow plug jumper, waited 30 seconds and cranked... did it twice, with only some white smoke coming out the muffler, but on the third try she popped over then started with a big cloud of black smoke, but soon settled down to a smooth run... Sure is quiet... I think Onan called this the Quiet 4.0 or Silent 4.0 or something like that, but the little Kubota D650 engine just purrs-- no blue smoke, no stumbling, no unusual knocking other than the standard Diesel rattle.

I found manuals for it online... turns our the engine is a Kubota D650, which puts out about 13-15 hp, but these gensets run at only 1,800 rpm, so it only produces 4,000 watts. There are two similar gensets with higher wattages--they run a D-750, with the highest one running a little more fuel to get the extra hp.

Here's a couple videos of it running:





I don't know for sure if the generator itself is good--my neighbor came to see it run and said he'd check it out in the next few days... even so, I'm excited... $150 for a good running Kubota D650 with a radiator by itself is a great buy, with the genset it's an answer to prayer...

Smitty
 

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#2 ·
That came out of a motor home or fish wheel camper! I have worked on many of them! They are wonderful little gen. sets and should serve you well. This was why the glow plugs had no wire it is part of the remote ignition inside the camper.
 
#3 ·
That's good to know... there's a start switch on the electrical panel, but also a couple cut wires leading inside the box, plus a Cannon plug with several other light gage wires.

The mechanical link to the throttle is missing, but that can be fabricated easily.

A question, though-- the exhaust pipe is full of black soot--it's dry, not wet. And, it sends out a large puff of black smoke when it starts. Is that normal?

Also, I'm sure this was built to run on sulphured diesel--I always put Sea Foam in my fuel, but is there something else I should use now that all the diesel is low sulphur???

Thanks again,

Smitty
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
That is a great little engine. Have one in my Cub Cadet 1512. It usually has a puff of black smoke when it starts but clear up right away. .Great little work horse that don't know that 50" deck is even there. Good thing you went scrap yard diving !
 
#9 ·
Don't worry about the ultralow sulfur diesel. It works in everything. ULSD applies to emissions. It's not like having lead for valve lubrication in gasoline.
That's good to know as I heard the ultralow sulfur diesel was hard on injection pumps and unit injectors.

Smitty
 
#11 ·
Good story Smitty glad it worked out for you. Looking forward to hearing good news on the generator too. My local scrap yard before we moved wanted a fortune for their junk. Sad thing was I could go back weeks or months later & the stuff would still be sitting there wasted.
 
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