Just a quick question to see how often you change oil on the generator? It is a pretty quick and cheap process–so I suppose doing it sooner than needed isnt a horrible thing.
Anything else you do to keep her running smoothly?
Thanks
Just a quick question to see how often you change oil on the generator? It is a pretty quick and cheap process–so I suppose doing it sooner than needed isnt a horrible thing.
Anything else you do to keep her running smoothly?
Thanks
Every other weekend when we run it alot. Takes 5 minutes and about 8 bucks. That’s on the wen 2000. On my Honda 5600 I change it once a month
I change the oil about every 100 hours. I rarely use mine in the summer so once ice fishing starts I change it to start with fresh oil and then dump it once during the season (actually doing it today at work), I use full synthetic 5w30. No other maintenance needed really. Mine has the option to shut the fuel off so the carb gets drained at the end of the weekend or use.
We try to change it every 150 hours. We don’t have a wheelhouse or anything, but rely on it for power outages or at the hunting land where the cabin is off the grid.
Be sure to run Schaeffer in it. There’s nothing better out there in the lubrication industry. We run it in everything that requires oil now.
Every 100 hours +/- 20 hours or so. Mine only gets Mobil 1 5-30 and I don’t stress if it hits 120-ish hours between changes, just depends on how long the trips are in the wheelhouse. Other than that I’ll usually change the plug every other year and will check the spark arrestor. Besides that, fill her with premium and let her go.
I also use Mobil 1 5W30. Change it every spring. Probably at worst case about 200 hours on the engine. Because it is mostly run on Eco mode it doesn’t see the load and RPM’s of it set on standard operating mode. I know the manual says every 100 hours but I assume that is worse case. I am always surprised how clean the oil is when I change it. This year it is 10 years old and still runs great.
Thanks guys–Im in the same ballpark…100hrs or so.
Check out Project Farm on YouTube, he just did a Honda and some knock-offs to see what one was best. You would not believe how much oil those engines use in the 24 hour test he did.
I just watched that. The oil use over 24 hours for the bad ones was pretty terrible.
Get yourself a Tiny Tach.
A wire just wraps around the plug wire and when the engine runs it turns on to log hours ran.
Cheap and easy way to perform maintenance on a regular basis.
I change mine about every 20-30 hours. Honda recommends 100 hours but it only cost me about $5 for Honda oil so why not do it more often. With the newer Bluetooth Hondas it’s easy to keep track of the hours and all the maint.
Well I feel really irresponsible now. I have a Honda 2000 and and a predator 3500. I change them about every 500 hours.
Honestly I go till the low oil light comes on and then I change it. I have no idea how old my generators are but they’ve been around quite a while. No issues. I do run them a lot though. Anywhere from 50 to 100 hours a week all winter.
Well I feel really irresponsible now.
It’s ok Joe, we all have areas were we fall off a bit on the care of things. Don’t ask me often I clean my guns. 
Check out Project Farm on YouTube, he just did a Honda and some knock-offs to see what one was best. You would not believe how much oil those engines use in the 24 hour test he did.
Love the Project Farm videos, but IMO he did not give those engines the best start in life.
– Never dry start a new engine. When you fill it with oil, add a few drops of motor oil or fogging oil to the cylinder through the spark plug hole and pull the engine over to distribute it. This will provide critical lubrication until the crankcase oil gets completely to the cylinder.
– I’m not a fan of going straight to synthetic oil in a new engine. Running one change of conventional oil allows the rings and other sealing surfaces to bed in properly. Some engines will constantly use oil because synthetic doesn’t allow them to break in properly. On engine sawps, I’ve always run one change of conventional Mobil 5W30 or 10W30 before converting to Mobil 1. Never had an engine continue to use oil after that process.
I have 2 of the Predator 160 engines and I have used Predators for engine swaps on Honda GX series engines. They are almost always completely plug and play for Honda swap-outs and their reliability has been amazing, especially at the price point. On equipment where the original Honda engine is shot, the Predator will outlast the rest of the equipment’s lifespan.
Some complain about the cold weather starting of Predator engines, but this is fixed with a simple change of the carb jetting. $7 on eBay and 10 minutes to install.
Don’t ask me often I clean my guns.
Until it starts catching 3″ shells all that dirt road dust is fine 
I have a champion generator and just change it in the spring and fall. I doubt I hit 100 hours in those periods but oil still looks brand new when I change it.
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