My Latest Diesel Generator Issue

I was traveling for a couple of weeks in early December for work. One day after I left, the girlfriend texted me with a picture of a puddle of diesel fuel that was accumulating under the new generator we just bought two months ago. Insert profanity-laced, sarcastic tirade here.

Luckily, I was able to repair the old generator after the problems we had in early November. So, I still have a reliable diesel generator for power outages. Also, we still have the whole house battery bank available in emergencies as well. So, we are covered if the power goes out.

Diesel fuel leaked all over the thermal insulation around the exhaust system, the battery, and various wiring harnesses. Luckily, it isn’t gasoline. One spark from the battery would have turned it into the image at the top of this blog post.

This was my first opportunity to tear the new generator apart; I was actually kind of excited about that. Cue sarcastic commentary from the Filipina girlfriend.

This is the new generator the day we bought it:

Not knowing where the leak was exactly, I set out to remove all the panels from the exterior of the generator that can be removed so that I could get inside and poke around.

You can see the diesel-soaked thermal insulation in this photo. This is the exhaust pipe after several parts of the mufler have been removed.

After some poking around, I narrowed down that the diesel fuel was coming from the fuel line leading out of the tank to the fuel injector assembly. The hose and clip that holds it on had slipped off its nozzle on the under side of the fuel tank just a bit. There is a small drop (10cm) between our porch and the car port surface; I think this hose may have come loose when the generator rolled off the patio just a bit to fast and I didn’t catch it in time for a soft landing (it’s 150+kg). So, after some pushing, the hose and clamp appeared to be back in the correct position. I wiped everything down and waited to see if diesel kept leaking. Meanwhile, I ordered new thermal insulation to replace the original insulation that is soaked with diesel.

That was four days ago.

The new insulation should be here early next week.

There hasn’t been any new diesel leaks except for what I caused by “pushing” diesel out of the thermal insulation.

Earlier today, I put all the panels back on the generator except for the side with the mufffler and thermal insulation that needs to be replaced.

When I disassembled the muffler and exhaust pipe, I was able to see that the gaskets there are still in good condition. I’m replacing gaskets now on the older generator.

The thermal insulation that needs to be replaced seems to be glued in place. So, I may need to just push / sequeeze the diesel out of it as best as I can and then put the new thermal insulation over it.

If I waited for the local engine guy to be available to look at this, it would be weeks before he’d be able to stop by. Or, I’d have to take the generator over to his house (who knows what happens to it there) so that he can look at it in his spare time. I decided to figure out how to do basic generator repair and maintenance myself.

Locals who live in the rural provinces have to know a little bit of everything to get by. The same thing goes for expats who want to live in the rural provinces. If this doesn’t appeal to you, then you’d probably be happier living in an urban area.

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