Coleman Powermate Generator

Hdonly

Member
Had good response on my WEN generator topic, I thought I would ask about a Coleman Powermate 2250 generator that was given to me. It would run on ether so I pulled the carb and tank and cleaned them out and replaced the rubber parts in the carb. It fired up on gasoline and ran great. Power output was good. Though I had a winner. The very next time I went to start it up, no compression at all. It didn't make any funny noises the last time it ran. Well, I got a head gasket and was going to pull the head and take a look. I pulled the starter rope one more time and it turned about a round and locked up. Tight. Now it will not move at all. I have never had a small engine act like this without making some kind of odd noises. Guess it's time to tear it all apart. I hate to trash it as the generator section worked so well.
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I read on a small engine forum that some of these models used a plastic camshaft over a metal shaft. Can't seem to find any cam related parts for this engine. Won't really know till I tear it apart though. It's on the list of things to do.
 
And yet my 46 year old Homelite 5000 still runs. It's noisey , heavy , hard on gas but it does what I want
it to do. I had to mount it on a 3 wheeled cart with pneumatic 8 inch tires to move it and added a Delco
belt starter/generator, but it starts and runs when I need it. I was looking at more modern genny's but
their construction turned me off. I have a neighbor that has a whole house genny that the engine went out
on twice in 5 years. Planned obsolescence I guess.. My next one will be a diesel as it would use 1/3 the
fuel the old cast iron Briggs engine uses. I have 250 gallons of heating oil for my barn furnace that
would run in the diesel generator. Sorry about the Coleman.
 
I would pull the head , sounds like maybe a stock valve , caused by varnish on the stem .


Azpeapicker

John ( 480-250-3864 ) if you want to call
 
I have had that same generator since about 1991. Mine did that once and it was a stuck valve. Pulled the head and was able to unstick the valve. I used mine when I was dragracing to recharge the battery and cool down between rounds. Later I used it on the farm to run tractor engine heaters and provide barn lights. After not being run for a few months mine needed some gas in the air cleaner.
 
I dont think that engine uses plastic cams. Those were always my favorite engine. I find them in the junk all the time. The only thing wrong with them is the exhaust valve is worn a little and needs clearance. They wont start with a valve partially open.
Grind a little off the stem and check the clearance and lap it in with valve grinding compound and it will run and start good. Diaphragms for the carbs are about $2 at Orielys and easy to put in. 5 screws and the diaphragm cover comes off and put a new one in.That one maybe new enough to have the electronic coil on it instead of points. According to your code on the cover it is a 1993 engine.
 
HDonly,
Check and see how much oil is in it, it might be over full with gas.

Remove the spark then plugs, and see if it turns. If not, remove the flywheel cover and
see if the magneto coil came loose.

Who knows, you might get lucky,

Guido.
 
We have a Coleman powemate 2250, but it's the vertical shaft style, bought it new about 22 years ago. Remember the Y2K scare??!! I had some
problems with it after a couple of years, sludge in carb. Since then when I'm done using it I dump out the straight gas and put some 40-1
mixed gas in it, run it out, and put it away. That has worked well for me for 20 years, 2 years ago we used it for a 31 hour outage, that's
by far the longest power outage we've ever had. It has a real small gas tank, that's kind of a problem, but we didn't run it steady anyhow.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I am going to go ahead and start tearing it apart. The way it acted, I don't think too much can be wrong with it. I'll know soon.
 
A lot of the older engines had stuck valves
after they took the lead out of gasoline.
It happened to me on a car and a generator.
Take the valves out and Chuck in a drill
and take emery paper and sand a little more
clearance.
 

Played with it some more today as I was walking by it. I noticed that as I put pressure on the starting rope, it moved ever so slightly. I kept pulling and kept pressure on the pull starter. It started moving a little at a time an then rolled a full round. Now it will pull through again, but no compression. I think the sticky valve suggestion is the problem. Head will come off tomorrow and I will pull the valves and clean up the stems. See if I can find my "Clover" valve compound.
 
I'd fill the cylinder with ATF and let it sit over night then in the morning see if you can pull it over with the plug in. Doing that will tell you which valve it stuck open of it maybe it has closed due to the ATF
 

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