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Generator trouble.

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Mike65

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My wife & I purchased a Westinghouse WGEN9500 tri-fuel portable generator December 2023 for power outages. I pan it once to make sure it works & all was well. A little over one month ago our power was out & the generator would not start, only the co sensor light would come on. I called Westinghouse customer support & they said it sounded like a bad co sensor. They sent me a new sensor & I installed it, but it still does not run, the push button to start just blinks green a few times then blinks red. I called customer service again & they tell me I have to take it to one of their authorized repair centers which are over 1 hour away, but there will be a labor charge because it is over one year old. I am pissed because I only started it once & when I needed it for power it would not run. What are my options? Any ideas? TIA, Mike.
 
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jack stand

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It might make sense to just take it to a local small engine guy since you'll be paying labor either way. You're not off to a good start using this unit and a local guy (getting) familiar with it may be handy in the future.
Sorry for your situation.
 
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Rusty Wrench

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I'd start with spark and fuel check. Draw some fuel off the tank; any water in it?. Give a squirt of start fluid to see if she fires. That's where I'd start if it sat for a year with fuel in the tank/carb. See how far I can get through basic diagnosis before taking it in. Having repair familiarity with your genset is as important as having one. Good luck.
 
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Stuart in MN

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It's a single cylinder small engine so it shouldn't be all that complicated. Look at the basics - make sure spark, compression, fuel are all present. The CO sensor (and any others, it may have a low oil sensor or other interlocks) can be temporarily bypassed with jumper wires for troubleshooting purposes.
 
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Jsf721

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If its electric start check battery and battery connections. I had a loose spade terminal come off and cause and error on the panel.

Took me too long to figure it out, however there is a great generator forum that helped a lot. I will go look for it and report back if I find it.
 
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txvwnut

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Have you checked the battery? There may be enough charge to illuminate the panel but not enough to energize the starter.
 
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firebirdparts

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Sane people woiuld not need the CO sensor. You can't run a generator indoors. You'll die.

That's not a reasonable handicap for a sane person. That sensor is only for insane persons.

Trying to find your generator as I didn't know they made a tri-fuel model, but I don't see any with a CO sensor at all. Okay I see it now, the TFc. That is the only model with CO monitoring that I have seen.

The little c at the end is for "CO monitor"
 
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Mike65

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racecougar said:
Does the starter run when this occurs, or does it not even attempt to start? Have you tried starting it with the pull cord?
Click to expand...
No, the starter does not turn. I have tried to start it with the pull cord, no start. I even put the battery on a charger to make sur it is charged.
 
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My Old Tools

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It does sound like its locked out on some type of interlock. CO sensor could still be bad. Any other interlocks? Check the oil level. Most of these ship without oil. Manual says ECO mode has to be off to start.
 
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racecougar

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It looks like the CO sensor is purposefully left out of the schematic, however from what I see, I gather that it's means of shutdown is the fuel cutoff solenoid at the carburetor. I don't see a means of ignition cutout.
 
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carlaisle

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Temporarily hot wire around all of the sensors and try to start it. If that works, reconnect them one at a time until it won't start. Then you'll have identified the culprit.
 
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The Cobbler

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small engine ignitions are relatively simple. do you have spark? if not need to drill that down and find out why. unplugging the coil primary will bypass everything & should give spark regardless of on/off, saftys etc
how old is the gas, today's gas wreaks havoc on small engines
need some basic troubleshooting first .
 
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dcg9381

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Mike65 said:
No, the starter does not turn. I have tried to start it with the pull cord, no start. I even put the battery on a charger to make sur it is charged.
Click to expand...
Are you running it on gasoline? I know that one of my tri-fuel generators will not start via pull cord if on NG/LPG.

We have one westinghouse, the big one. I read the manual for yours and here are a few hints:

1743191259418.png


I'd put a continuity tester on the sensor.. It's probably normally open or normally closed. I'd by-pass it.
 
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BurtEggley

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where was this stored when it was not in use? Was the fuel turned off and the engine run out of fuel before it was stored, or was it just turned off and put away? 2 years is a long time for a motor to sit without some kind of occasional maintenance. Mice can move in, chew wires, fuel can fill a cylinder hydro locking it, fuel can pull water from the air. Batteries can go flat and sulfate to where all the charging in the world will not revive them. Your solution is to take it to a shop near you that you can trust, of find a nephew / niece / son / daughter who understands small engines. Ask your pastor or cleric if he / she knows someone who works on them. That said, I would pull the battery and have it tested.
 
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58Yeoman

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I've had two large HF gennies and both never gave me trouble, but they were both gas only, and only had low oil sensors. I had a lawn tractor once with one of those 'bottom of the bowl' gas shut off solenoids that went bad. Can't remember how I bypassed it, but I wasn't going to spend the ridiculous amount of money they wanted for another just to have it go bad later too. I'd follow the advice above and take it to a local if you have to. I finally had a Generac whole house installed this past January so I don't have to worry about those anymore.
 
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Mike65

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dcg9381 said:
Are you running it on gasoline? I know that one of my tri-fuel generators will not start via pull cord if on NG/LPG.

We have one westinghouse, the big one. I read the manual for yours and here are a few hints:

1743191259418.png


I'd put a continuity tester on the sensor.. It's probably normally open or normally closed. I'd by-pass it.
Click to expand...
I put gasoline in it & ran it after we first purchased it to make sure it ran. Now it will not even crank over. The push button lights up when I push it to try to start it & something buzzes.
 
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PCustoms

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Holy **** some of you need to learn to read

Mike65 said:
No, the starter does not turn. I have tried to start it with the pull cord, no start. I even put the battery on a charger to make sur it is charged.
Click to expand...

Forget all the talk about checking spark and fuel etc

It is clearly locked out due to one of the safety circuits
 
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BurtEggley

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remove the spark plug, put a bunch of old rags over that area and pull it over by hand. Set the spark plug wire where it is not touching metal because you do not want any sparks, Do not do it near any other source of ignition - like a water heater or cigarette etc.. If it turns over then the cylinder is full of fuel and it is hydro locked. The fuel will spray out and soak the rags, some may make a small cloud. If it was hydro locked, you will also need to immediately change the oil before you run it. I would replace the fuel too if that is near the source.

If it does not pull over by hand with the plug out, the rings are probably rusted to the cylinder walls from water. If you see leaves and shells etc., or rat poop etc., it means a rodent has made a home in it too.
 
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Worsedog

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Mike65 said:
I put gasoline in it & ran it after we first purchased it to make sure it ran. Now it will not even crank over. The push button lights up when I push it to try to start it & something buzzes.
Click to expand...
Could the buzzing be the starter solenoid/relay?

I would confirm the confirm the condition of the battery.
 
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BurtEggley

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then spray a small squirt of Berryman's carb cleaner into the carb throat and see if it starts for a second. If so then the problem is fuel related.
 
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NUTTSGT

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One of the first things I would check is the oil level. Full, not "good enough".

The little Honda's we used to have at the FD seemed fine until they were set on a slight incline during a structure fire and would shut off due to change of oil level.
 
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PCustoms

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NUTTSGT said:
One of the first things I would check is the oil level. Full, not "good enough".

The little Honda's we used to have at the FD seemed fine until they were set on a slight incline during a structure fire and would shut off due to change of oil level.
Click to expand...

If he tries the starter, nothing happens and the LED goes haywire there's a safety cutout IMHO
 
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NUTTSGT

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PCustoms said:
If he tries the starter, nothing happens and the LED goes haywire there's a safety cutout IMHO
Click to expand...
Possible, quite possible. I won't disagree.

However, I'm not familiar with the exact generator or the wiring of it, but if low oil sensor is wired to to prevent it from starting, that could create the issue. The OP has used it for over a year. . . .

ooops, I thought I read he was starting it once a month and was running it. I thought maybe the thing was an oil hog.

"I pan it once to make sure it works & all was well. A little over one month. . ."

My mistake, I was eating breaking and reading. . .
 
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racecougar

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gregs

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I would start with the battery first. I have seen plenty of battery chargers show "full charge" on these small batteries because they will have enough surface charge. But as soon as any load is applied it drops to nothing.
 
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Mandres

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You're getting good general small engine advice here, but for specific info on that generator I would ask on the r/generator subreddit. A lot of guys there have the Westinghouse models. The CO2 sensor is known to be problematic, but I'm not sure what the usual failure is.
 
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racecougar

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Mandres said:
You're getting good general small engine advice here, but for specific info on that generator I would ask on the r/generator subreddit. A lot of guys there have the Westinghouse models. The CO2 sensor is known to be problematic, but I'm not sure what the usual failure is.
Click to expand...
He's getting advice specific to his model. I've pulled the wiring schematics up three times now.
 
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Mike65

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Thank you to everyone who has offered help/suggestions to me. Going by a few recommendations I hooked the battery maintainer that came with the generator & the light on the maintainer came on red, after a few seconds it went to green then back to red so I left it on for about 5 hours yesterday. Today after I got home from work, I hooked the maintainer back up to the generator & the light went to red so I left it on for about 4 hours today. After I unhooked the maintainer, I rolled the generator outside, set the choke, turned on the battery, set the fuel to gasoline, opened the fuel selector, set the choke & pressed the start button. It cranked a few times & fired up. It ran for a few minutes then started to chug & then stalled. Now it just cranks. I am going to pull the spark plug & see if it got fouled from me messing with the choke.
 
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