On Jul 12, 10:35*am, PSKI wrote:
I am new to google and generators so please bear with me.

I borrowed a 20+ year old Honda generator and successfully used it at
a remote camp when all of a sudden the motor continued to run but
power to the shop vac stopped. *I let it sit for awhile and while the
engine workled fine no power was available for the shop vac or any
other small electrical appliance.

I found the owners manual for the unit online and looked for trouble
shooting tips but nothing jumps out at me. *I am not a mechanical
person and tried to bring it to a few local small engine repair shops
and while only 1 would look at it, they won't have time for 3-4 weeks
and am wondering if there are some simple tests I can do to in the
meantime. *any help is appreciated.

Is there a circuit breaker that might have popped, maybe a stuck brush
on the gen armature, if you can see the brushes see if you can push
them in. A volt meter at the head output will tell you if its the head
or downline which you can trace, its 240v + so be carefull, ground
the chassis before having a shock, often a bolt is on the chassis to
attach a wire then wrap wire around a nail and put it in the dirt. At
20 yrs anything can go bad.