[wickerfrancis]

Greetings, First time posting.

After 200 hours and 2 years this generator had catastrophic engine failure. Appears there is a hole in the engine block and oil sprayed throughout the enclosure. I am told that the manufacture is willing to replace the engine as it falls within 5 year warranty but this means the unit has to be removed, taken to a repair facility and new engine mounted. This could take weeks and labor would be my cost. Am I reasonable to insist that they just replace the complete unit?

Thanks for any comments and advice.

 

[Dutchy491]

Welcome.
What does the fine print of the warranty say? You don’t mention brand/model, but have you done any research to see if this is a common issue, and how it was resolved? Best of luck…😉

 

[wickerfrancis]

Welcome.
What does the fine print of the warranty say? You don’t mention brand/model, but have you done any research to see if this is a common issue, and how it was resolved? Best of luck…😉

Thanks for the reply. This is a Kohler 20RCA. Kohler told the distributor that they will only supply replacement oil seals. Labor cost is on us. I think I would go blind reading the fine print of a warranty ! Logic says that an engine that blows oil seals after 200 hours has more of a problem.

 

[GenKnot]

Well, there seems to be a contradiction in their warranty. The description of the warranty in the sales blurb does not match the actual warranty in terms of years that travel will be covered. Maybe there is a difference in the Premium vs Limited Warranty, but either way, since you are in the 2-year period, you should be fully covered for the engine replacement.

 

[flopshot]

"the manufacture is willing to replace the engine as it falls within 5 year warranty"
"there is a hole in the engine block and oil sprayed throughout the enclosure." a hole ? like a connecting rod emergency exit ?
"Kohler told the distributor that they will only supply replacement oil seals. "
I'm confused. On another note, when i sold kohler powered products and had an engine claim
a distributor rep / adjuster would examine the engine before any claim was approved.

 

[wickerfrancis]

"the manufacture is willing to replace the engine as it falls within 5 year warranty"
"there is a hole in the engine block and oil sprayed throughout the enclosure." a hole ? like a connecting rod emergency exit ?
"Kohler told the distributor that they will only supply replacement oil seals. "
I'm confused. On another note, when i sold kohler powered products and had an engine claim
a distributor rep / adjuster would examine the engine before any claim was approved.

Well, there seems to be a contradiction in their warranty. The description of the warranty in the sales blurb does not match the actual warranty in terms of years that travel will be covered. Maybe there is a difference in the Premium vs Limited Warranty, but either way, since you are in the 2-year period, you should be fully covered for the engine replacement.
View attachment 13949 View attachment 13950

Apologize for the confusion here but the confusion is caused by the local distributor that installed and services the unit. They first told me that the engine block appeared to have a hole in it but they couldn't see it until the unit was removed from the box. They said this because as soon as they put new oil in the engine it all ended up in the drip pan underneath. With that said, they said they would get a new engine from Kohler. Then today when I wanted to know status after 2 1/2 weeks and lost power last night for a short while, I was told that Kohler wants to replace seals. This is not consistent. I'm tired of the B.S. and told them we want a complete new unit.
Thanks for sending over the warranty language. I love the reference to "Premium Limited Warranty".

 

[Dutchy491]

Not sure if you saw this thread from not long ago…

Kohler 20KW standby Generator issues - low oil pressure

Good day everyone, I just wanted to share my experience with you all so hopefully it can prevent others from going through this mess. In January 2018 we decided to purchase a whole home standby generator with automatic transfer switch as we live in an area that does experience frequent...

www.powerequipmentforum.com

 

[wickerfrancis]

Thank you Dutchy491. Appreciate your input. No, I had not seen that post and that guy sure deserves to be more agitated than me. I heard more this afternoon that Kohler retracted the offer to put in a new engine for us but instead wants the the distributor to tear down the engine and find the problem and replace whatever parts are needed. They are looking to me to pay the labor ! and they will cover parts only. I suppose my next stop is their customer service. The distributor says they can do nothing further with the local service rep.

 

[flopshot]

Kohler is unlikely going to replace the entire unit but they should cover the actual issue with the oil leak. I'm trying to think of what seal would leak as you described. Maybe the side cover /oil pan gasket ? If the engine is already out those are simple procedures. You might want to contact the distributor handling this. Your service tech assuming a "hole in the block" leaves me wondering.

 

[GenKnot]

They are looking to me to pay the labor !

According to their warranty, you are fully covered and not responsible for labor, parts, or travel in the first two years.

 

[Dutchy491]

I wonder if a Lawyer’s letter to the manufacturer/dealer would get their attention?

 

[Browse Deweb]

According to their warranty, you are fully covered and not responsible for labor, parts, or travel in the first two years.

It's is unclear to me if the OP has indicated the unit is under 2 years from the date of purchase/installation. It could be slightly over. Clarification would be helpful when considering the warranty and labor.

 

[GenKnot]

It's is unclear to me if the OP has indicated the unit is under 2 years from the date of purchase/installation. It could be slightly over. Clarification would be helpful when considering the warranty and labor.

Yes, I guess he needs to clear that up. However, there is a discrepancy in the warranty wording. In one place it says parts, labor, and travel is covered for the full warranty period of 5 years. On the copy of the warranty I found, it indicates differently.

 

[flopshot]

It was five years. In December they upped it to ten. As always the fine print is "the decider".

 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

Most manufacturers wouldn't replace entire unit unless they and their ASD (service dealer) coordinated and decided it was indeed a lemon; this is only after the ASD worked on it a bunch, and couldn't get it running right themselves after many attempts. Many attempts = everyone finally recognizing it is a lemon ...

Usually, you get to suffer through the ASD's attempts to get it working right, and the warranty does indeed decide who pays for what during those attempts.

All I can tell you is that the air-cooled standby gen market is very problematic ... your experiences mirror mine and many others on this forum. Such experiences range from this year's or that year's abortive attempt to improve a model (when it was working fine before), to $3000 parts (a single computer board) in a $4k unit, to many other issues ...

If you had the best air-cooled gen in the world (assumes you didn't choose poorly at the start), it might still only last 2000 hours, and this is after pouring $5k to 10k into it.

I only run $1k portable open-frame non-inverter gens now, and I swap them out (part one into the next) after 2000 hours or so. Others only run $5k honda portable inverter-gens, for their dependability and such.

You'll have to convince your ASD to pursue the lemon route ... or switch away from the air-cooled standby gens altogether.