Toller wrote:
I have a 4 year old Honda EU2000i with about 200 hours of use. I have done
the proper maintenance on it.
I leave it with gas and gas stabilizer, and start it up for 5 minutes once a
month. When it gets hard to start I change the gas; that is about once a
year.

Tonight we had 2 brief power losses, and since it is 5 degrees out, I
thought it would be a good idea to warm up the generator. It wouldn't
start. I brought it in the house for a half hour, but that didn't help. I
changed the gas; that did the trick. As I understand it, the most volatile
parts of the gas evaporate, leaving something behind that is inadequate to
start the engine; is that correct? Is there anything I could add to the old
gas to revive it? Everything worked out fine (no outage so far, and the
generator finally started) but I would hate to have to do this in the dark
during a real outage. (I mean, besides changing the gas more often...)

Thanks.



Try keeping a can of WD40 near the generator. When it won't start,
remove the air filter and spray the WD40 directly into the carburetor
throat. Full choke and it should start, leave the choke on until the
engine starts to flood out, and it should continue to run after that.

The WD40 will not "wash away" the oil on the cylinder wall as badly as
will ether or starting fluid. Also, the WD is slightly oily, helping
replace any oil it does displace. Lastly, even the reformulated WD40 is
highly flammable, it just doesn't have the flammable gas propellants any
more. Where they used to use butane and propane, they now use carbon
dioxide.

The fuel stabilizer isn't the problem, the evaporation in the carburetor
itself most likely is the problem. The gas in the bowl and main jet dry
up leaving a film of varnish (and even stabilizer). Running the engine
regularly will keep this film flushed out, but starting it and then
shutting it off right away will in turn foul the spark plug, making it
hard to start for different reasons. Start the engine and run it for at
least 10 to 15 minutes to reach full operating temperature.

Hondas have always had precise carburetors, and although they don't
normally require warm up on choke, they will still do better on "old"
fuel if given a chance to warm up on part choke. Other engines may
require more or less choke, depending on the condition of the carb,
engine overall, and fuel.