Who makes engines for Generac?

Going to look at a 5500w generator after Christmas, the owner advises it has only been used once.
Generac does not say who makes their engines. I'm just concerned about parts and service availability. Everybody tells me to run from Chinese engines due to lack of parts support.
Thanks for any assistance.

AS I UNDERSTAND; the red Generac generators were "sold" to Briggs and Stratton for parts and support. Generac only wants to hear about the orange ones.
B&S does not support Generac. MY EXPERIENCE to date.

Here's my take on the Chinese engines, I have a small one running a vacuum pump that runs almost around the clock for 6 weeks during maple season, it uses no oil and I change the oil weekly, no older Briggs I know of could do that for 5 years now. Parts are available on eBay and other places and cheap.

This is an orange one, pretty sure it is an imported engine but Generac does want to tell me who they buy it from. I really do not care as long as parts and service are available. My experience with other makes is once they have your money you are told to go to the engine supplier for parts and service.

This ones a 10 hsp. Tecumseh, although I always hated a Tecumseh motor this one will start on two pulls or less, probably has about eight hours of run time on it.

Average standby generator runs very few hours. Generac has captialized on that. They will only run a very few hours. Very similair to Wallmart Homelite chainsaws before Homelight went broke. A engineer that worked for them told me that they were engineered to run 10 hours, If a deer hunter bought one and cut firewood for camp for 2 hours for 5 years, he thought that he had a good chainsaw. If homeowner bought one to cut up a tree that fell in his backyard, he thought they were great saws but If a woodcutter bought one and cut wood for a week it was done.

i have 4 gens from harbor fright from 2500 to 8750 watts have under 500.00 in the 8750 that is on my bow fishing boat the runs 2 to 6 hrs. a 1 to 5 nights a week running HP and halogen lights at 110 and 220 volt working hard .so at 500.00 if it quits today why would i worry about parts it a 500.00 gen any service shop will charge more to fix then the original cost new .i can just about bet that Generac is made in china anyway. a 550 is to small to do any real work it will not power very much.most China engines are Honda clones .the harbor fright engines are top of the line i have 2 friend has three .they are even using them on racing go carts .my 4000 watt is running on LPG with a Honda conversion kit from gas to LP

sorry see you said 5500 watt

That must be an OLD unit, I don't think Tecumseh has made engines for eons and eons.

It's a byproduct of y2k, mother in law was scared to death of all the y2k hoopla, gave my brother in law her credit card and told him to get one for her and one for him, then she gave the card to me and I gave it back, told her I thought it was nonsense and wasn't spending her money on it. The old girl died about eight years ago and I wound up with it anyway, never had gas in it. If a guy wanted a mother in law she'd be the one to have, super nice woman.

I have a 7500/12500 Generac brought around 2002, I needed a starter had no problem getting one cheap off ebay... I used Generac's part number from the service manual replacement starters were available all over the place so it must be a common engine.

Long story the original starter got lost it was not set up correct from the get go. The replacement came with all new hardware to set/shim it up I wonder WHY... As soon as I hit the starter I said sum'n taint right wheres that shim package....

Agreed. Tecumseh has been out of business for decades.

Though disrespected by many, I had very good service from Tecumseh engines for decades.

I was sorry to see them go. Same with Clinton.

Dean

Y2K was the biggest bunch of BS ever. Had us in the generator field working overtime for nothing. Couldn't convince most people it was all a sales pitch.

My 5500 has a Briggs. Only needed a few minor parts over the years and got them on Amazon no problem. I also have a newer 8500 has a Briggs as well. Most time they sit but when they get used they are used hard. Both have a TON of hours on them, I mean running for days/weeks stopping only for gas and oil. They both use some oil I just top it off every tank full. The 5500 uses enough oil sometimes it quits on the low oil shut down just about the time the gas tank is empty. I run straight 30W in them might use less oil on synthetic but I've not tried it. I know Generac's get a bad rap but they work for me.

I don't know about now. But it used to be who ever had the cheapest price on bulk engine sales. Made it very hard on those of us trying to work on them. You just have to look at one and try to see what it is.

Wish I knew.

I bought a Kohler 20 KW whole house back up gen set in 2014. I did my research and shopped just about everyone before doing so.

I had both Kohler and Generac dealers come to my site and make proposals. I was very impressed with the Generac dealer because he was well prepared, knew his stuff and did not try to sell me something other than what I wanted. In short, I trusted him.

Kohler dealer, not so much because he was less knowledgeable and tried to sell me a smaller model that I did not want (probably had it in stock). FWIW, my relationship with the Kohler dealer has become VERY much worse thereafter for reasons that I will not relate here, but he is no longer allowed on my property.

In any event, I bought my Kohler genset online and installed it myself. There have been hiccups due to my inability to get needed information from dealer or Kohler but, after considerable frustration, time, and assistance from the Kohler distributor (not dealer), who has been excellent my issues have been mostly resolved.

FWIW, even though I liked and trusted the Generac dealer and was suspicious of the Kohler dealer (subsequently proven justified), I bought the Kohler unit mostly because the engine has hydraulic valve lifters whereas the Generac engine does not. Not wanting to adjust the rocker arms every two years (or pay the Generac dealer to do so), required to maintain the Generac warranty, I bought the Kohler unit.

Hiccups aside, so far so good.

Cannot say who builds Generac engines but suspect that they are Chinese Kohler clones.

Dean

I think I have the exact same generator. Bought it at a going out of business sale. For $400 I have good experience with it. I always run the carb dry. It can set for a year and start on second pull. I just use 87 octain gas with alcohol. Plus stabilizer. Just ran it for 4 hrs to power a live Nativity Five stations.

Do you really expect to put that many hours on it that you need to adjust valves after 2 years?

That looks exactly like my Coleman Powermate 5500.
I made sure it had a Kawasaki engine when I bought it late 1 night at Sam's Club when we had an ice storm.
Ran 18 hours a day for a week.
Haven't needed it for maybe 10 years.

I bought my Kohler genset online and installed it myself


hiccups due to my inability to get needed information from dealer


Hummmmm!!!!!!!

from my experience; spend the extra cash on a propane burner!

Hello Winchestef1

Generac's own engine. From what I understand B&S bought them out 5 years ago. One place in the U.S. supposedly has parts for them. I order a valve kit Friday after Thanksgiving, no parts yet!

Guido.

No, but the Generac warranty required valve adjustment every two years in order to maintain the 5 year warranty.

I chose to avoid this issue.

Dean

Completely mystified by your post.

Dean

(quoted from post at 16:34:59 12/23/17) Going to look at a 5500w generator after Christmas, the owner advises it has only been used once.
Generac does not say who makes their engines. I'm just concerned about parts and service availability. Everybody tells me to run from Chinese engines due to lack of parts support.
Thanks for any assistance.

Click to expand...

I do not know, but Generac?s own website tells us that they make their own engines. Liars or scammers?
https://www.generac.com/service-support/faqs/portable-generator-faqs

(quoted from post at 19:53:50 12/23/17) Hello Winchestef1

Generac's own engine. From what I understand B&S bought them out 5 years ago. One place in the U.S. supposedly has parts for them. I order a valve kit Friday after Thanksgiving, no parts yet!

Guido.

Click to expand...

B&S did buy the portable products division of Generac in 1998.
But after the expiration of a non-compete agreement related to the sale in 2007, Generac re-entered the portable generator market in 2008.
(Per Wikipedia)

I had a few beers with the Cummins generator service man this week while on the road. They service all brands, from the home units to the 4000 KW ones, and this topic was discussed. His belief is that the smaller ones have a Generic engine, but he is seeing many different brands of engines on their bigger units. It appears that they get bids on the engines and use the same vendor for a model year, then rebid the next year.

It was interesting to learn that Cummins bought out Onan.

You've got me wondering, now.

I bought a new Generac 10,000/8000 a year ago October. I wired it to our main switch box and checked it out, have never had to use it for real. I just start it and let it run for 10-15 minutes every month or two.

Dean I may be wrong but you make it seem like you ask a local dealer for a price.
Bought the generator from some where else online.
And then wondered why the local dealer would not help you out when you had problems.

Tecumseh was bought out by Liquid Combustion Technology (LCT) and the merged with Lauson Engines ( Lauson/LCT) and build engines for snow blowers under the named Snow King.

I scrapped out a couple 10,000 watt Generacs a few years ago. They had Briggs Vanguard V Twins on them. Late 90's or early 2000's vintage.

About 3 years ago I was looking at Generators and at that time Generac was generac powered. I went with a Briggs& Stratton 8,000 run 10,0000 surge unit and put in a transfer switch in house.Since I bought it I have put 61 hours on it and it will run 9 hours on one tank of fuel. It has electric and manual start on it.

Generac builds their own engines. I have a Generac stand-by generator with a Generac engine and a Dixie Chopper with a Generac engine. Both have been flawless.

My opinion of generac service is becoming lower every day. I have
a 15 kw unit with a mitsi 4 cyl water cooled engine and have tried
for 3 years to get info from both dealers and generac themselves.
It is a skid mount and looks like new.

I guess my next move is to ask Billy schafer if he has any ideas.

george

I bought a Generac LP 27K whole house generator 4 years and had it installed by East Texas Equipment. The owner is extremely knowledgeable and did a wonderful job installing and setting up my backup system. I had a couple of minor issues that needed to be tweaked and Jim was also available on a moments notice. My engine is a Japanese (Mitsi) 1.4 liter 4 cylinder engine that runs a 1800 rpm to keep the noise down and the generator is a 3 brush system. I added a monitor system which resides in the house and reminds me if the generator is running or if it needs some scheduled maintenance like oil or filter changes. The whole house system has worked great for the past four years without any issues, and the peace of mind during power outages is well worth the cost of the system. I wish we had installed the system a long time ago. In my opinion, the Generac is a top of the line system for residential use. JMHO

Have you studied them closely? They are Chinese Honda style engines they paint there colors, good engines tho

Generac builds its own engines. Tecumseh went out of biz in 2008 ? I have a John Deere snowblower with a. Tecumseh snow king motor, circa 2000.

Tecumseh now sells under the names of Snow King, Lauson, and LCT.
Generac generators use the same Chinese "Honda clone engine" that Champion generators use. The Honda generators use a little bigger engine than what the Generac generators with the same out put.

I have the Generac 11k unit I bought back in 2014. It has their engine, designed for the purpose and built for them; a V twin. That's one of the main reasons I bought that badge.

Generac has built over 1 million units and the engines are built specifically for the purpose, not some designer picking an off the shelf engine usually used in other applications.

Price was right, drop shipped to the house, direction were such that I was able to install it and the transfer switch box working alone (with the help of my tractor and FEL) and it passed the power company's inspection. I have changed the oil and filter when it alerts me and the only problem I had was a leaking seam on a spin on oil filter which occurred about the time it was due for replacement anyway. It starts every Wednesday around 1 PM and runs for about 15 minutes. There are status lights, visible externally to alert you to problems or time to change the oil, check the battery. It's all automatic.

Fuel is Propane. I bought a new 250 gallon tank from the local Propane co. and had it installed, connected, and tested for proper operation. I top off the tank annually when I have my house tank filled. Fuel burn rate is listed in their brochure; about 1 gallon/hr. at 50% load.

Just the peace of mind alone made it well worth the purchase.

After 35 years of dealing with Generac. You don't really want to know what I think of them.

What problems are you having

Indeed, I did.

This is a very long story so I will provide only a very brief summary.

Issues related only to warranty coverage. Neither Kohler, their dealer nor the online distributor from where I bought the unit informed me that initial start-up (not installation, only initial start-up and warranty registration) must be performed by a Kohler dealer in order to activate the five year warranty.

Once I learned this, I called Kohler customer service and they directed me to the local dealer who had quoted earlier. I had done business with this company in the past (hot water furnace) and had been well satisfied. I called them and explained the situation and asked them if they would and could do the initial start-up and warranty registration only. They agreed to do so for $300. I thought this excessive but agreed as I had little option at this point.

Kohler has (or at least had at the time) two levels of dealers: 1.) sales dealers, and; 2.) service dealers. Only service certified dealers are qualified to perform start-up and warranty registration procedures. I checked the Kohler website before making the appointment and the local dealer was listed as being certified for both sales and service. As it turned out, the local dealer had not kept up with required training and was at the time not certified for service work. The Kohler web site was not up to date.

The local dealer well knew that he was not certified to perform my start-up and warranty registration procedure (later verified) but wanted my $300, so made the appointment anyway without informing me that this would result in a waste of my money.

Upon arrival, the tech started the unit and pronounced all is well. He then signed the warranty registration form and handed it back to me telling me to fill it out and mail it in. He was unable to set up the parameters of the controller as I wished and as I had been informed would be done because he had "forgotten his lap top." He said that he would return in a week or two to set up the parameters as I desired. Such work required proprietary software not available to customers from Kohler.

In the meantime, I completed and mailed the warranty registration to Kohler, a process that should have been performed by a qualified servicing dealer and paid the dealer's $300 invoice.

Sometime thereafter I learned that my warranty had not been activated because it had not been performed by a dealer certified for installation and service work. I was, of course livid.

Local tech returned and worked on the parameters but not all was done properly. About a week later I was sent another bill for $200 for service charge, etc.

I now faced a situation wherein I had no active warranty and would need to pay yet another dealer to perform set-up/activation as well as properly set up the parameters. As you might imagine, I was not happy. For the first and only time in my life I refused to pay a bill, the second $200 invoice. I called the dealer and explained why.

I also called Kohler several times, and over the course of several months, was able to activate my 5 year warranty with aid of the nearby Kohler Distributor (not dealer), who has been very understand and helpful. I noticed that the local dealer had been removed as an installation/service dealer from the Kohler web site sometime thereafter.

Again, this is a very brief summary of a lengthy, frustrating and expensive ordeal.

Make better sense now?

Dean

Yes that makes better sense now.

From what little I know of you; Only reading your post here; I figured there had to be some underlying story somewhere in that wood pile.

You would also think the Kohler rep would have something to say about this also; such as removing this dealer from the sales list also.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks, John, and Merry Christmas to you and Yours as well.

Dean

(quoted from post at 15:38:37 12/23/17) Agreed. Tecumseh has been out of business for decades.

Though disrespected by many, I had very good service from Tecumseh engines for decades.

I was sorry to see them go. Same with Clinton.

Dean

Click to expand...

I and several friends had very good luck with Tecumseh engines.I had one on a push behind lawn mower.It finally gave up the ghost after 20 yrs.

Billy,

No problem now , need info on how to tell if is NG or propane.
It has a transfer switch with it , need schematic to wire properly.
Oil filter has 89 change date and I doubt it has run much since.
I'll send you an email.

george