Went to go change oil on my generator today and found the oil VERY milky. Honda 2200 with only 40 hours on it. It has about 20 hours on this oil. For all you guys running your generator in extreme cold is yours ever this milky?
I called northern tool where I bought it and they told me to bring it in and have it checked out so I dropped it off there tonight.
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I’ve been running the same 2200 Honda for 11 years. I change the oil every 90 hours. I’ve never had oil look like that. Did you run the generator on the ground? If you do, it will melt snow under the generator and water will get in the crankcase.
I’ve been running the same 2200 Honda for 11 years. I change the oil every 90 hours. I’ve never had oil look like that. Did you run the generator on the ground? If you do, it will melt snow under the generator and water will get in the crankcase.
Yea it’s always been ran on the ground… I did make a box for it today though to sit in
Coletrain, I had the same thing happen 2 years ago in -20 to -27 degree temps. My generator kept shutting off due to low oil, I check and the oil level was good but it did have that milky color, oil had less than 50hrs run time on it. I was told by a resort owner that 0/20w full synthetic is the only way to go in the extreme cold, -20 or colder the 5/30 synthetic when going from a normal operating temp then cooling down extremely fast will actually cause the oil to froth up, and cause the low oil fault due to the sensor not reading it and will have a milky color to it. I drained it and have ran only 0/20w in extreme cold with no more issues like that. Last two weekend on LOW I’ve changed the oil each week after getting home and had zero issues and we seen -30’s!
Your breather tube froze up.
Pretty common, but not something you want. It’s happened to me in the past, but it’s curable.
Moisture that should have gotten out of the tube and recycled back into the intake was able to collect in the oil instead of steaming out.
There’s three solutions.
1) Bypass the breather tube. Simply disconnect it from the air filter box (and plug the hole on the air cleaner)
2) Run the generator in a tote or under a tonneau cover so it stays warmer
3) Buy the fancy Honda cold weather kit. It’s basically a tiny heat tape for it (and not cheap).
Another cold weather tip, remove your air filter. Blowing snow can plug it up when you least want it to. Just make sure to put it back in for the summer months.
Hope this helps!
Thanks b-man!
I would suggest not putting your generator on the ice when running it. I have seen them melt a hole then run out of fuel and stop in the middle of the night, only to be frozen 2” down in the ice. Same goes if you make a cover or anything – it needs to have a floor or your generator will be running in a pool of water. We keep ours on the tailgate in mild weather and inside the bed with the topper door open in colder or snowy conditions.
At work we have a honda motor on are starting unit that we use to start customers trucks. It has run all day since this cold started and had the breather hose freezes up about every other day. Last Friday I unhooked the breather hose and turned it straight down and plugged the inlet of the carb. If you look at some of the older small engines that’s how they were. breather to carb is to burn the fumes from the crankcase. We haven’t had any problems since that was done.
Enclosing your generator in a box, topper or tonneau cover also helps keep snow out of the generator.
I made a wood box with hinge top yesterday. I’ll post some pics as soon as it’s done, I have some finishing touches to do on it yet. Thanks for the help
Coletrain, not oil related but, one thing I will tell you about the Hondas NT sells is that they are the California emissions models (at least they were last time I checked). They run leaner that the 49 state model.
My wife got me one there and I had to fight it to get it dialed in. Below zero the gov. would cause it to surge so you would have to slightly choke it to feed it more fuel.
I ended up buying a new needle jet and tuning the carb. Honda makes the jetting tamper proof so you have to either break the jet cap off or use a dremel and grind the limiter off the jet cap.
If you are having surging issues PM me and I can give you better instructions, part numbers and jet settings.
mark, i havent had any problems with it surging or anything like that. the breather tube freezing is the first time ive ever had a problem with it so far. if i have them problems ill get ahold of you and thanks for the help 
FWIW, I run my generator on the ice well over a 1000 hours a winter. I’ve never had an issue running the generator right on the ice… you certainly won’t get milky oil from doing this.
FWIW, I run my generator on the ice well over a 1000 hours a winter. I’ve never had an issue running the generator right on the ice… you certainly won’t get milky oil from doing this.
i was wondering about that since most people i see are running theres right on the ice. including all the resort sleeper houses on lotw. i never had milky oil before from running on the ice but b-man was correct about the breather hose freezing. i was looking online and they want $100 just for the honda heat tape kit. im sure my box will do the trick now. it was -35 on lotw last weekend when this happened.
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