Sea Ray

How to repair that old Kohler 5E Generator:

Our 2006 Sundancer 280 came with the original Kohler 5E generator which after only one hour on the water stopped working. The hour meter had only 75 hours but it certainly has many more judging by the old white paint and some rust. Compression in both cylinders is still good. But the generator would only start for 2-3 seconds then stop. To see the LEDs for troubleshooting, one needs to remove the lid of the control box, detach the control board (remove 5 screws), lift above cables, and attach again vertically face on to prevent it touching the box which keeping the cables attached. LED 4 didn't lit after the initial 2-3 seconds, so no sensor was activated. For access to the side plastic cover and air filter you need to drain the fresh water tank, detach the hoses, front and side brackets and move several inches to the port side. After removing and opening, the air duct was almost full with disintegrating old foam, perhaps the original foam air filter in front of the metallic mesh filter attached to the carburetor air inlet. Clean thoroughly the air duct from the foam. I have installed instead a fine wire mesh behind the coarse wire mesh filter. Carburetor is mounted with only two 10 mm bolts and easily can be detached. Clean it and make sure main jet inside the fuel chamber and the idle jet beneath the short front tube (pull it up after removing the screw) are very clean. I used stainless cable strand for cleaning. After re-assembly the generator ran but was hunting and then it stopped again. Since I have noticed some debris in the fuel, the fuel pump was the prime suspect. Changed the pump ($21 on Amazon Prime, received next day), replaced and then adjusted again the idle speed screw on the top of the carburetor and the governor speed control at the front. If working out of the water, make sure to use some large jar filled with water supplied by a garden hose. I have installed a multi-turn valve that allows me to fine tune the water flow to match the consumption from the generator. Unlike Westerbeke, Kohler is using a 16 HP Kawasaki engine with built-in mechanical governor to control RPM. There is still an electronic feedback but is is only for safety shutdown, not for RPM control. As long as the generator provides the 12 V after LED 5 is lit and no safety sensor is activated, it will run. For carburetor-re-assembly I cut my gaskets from hard grey paper made for gaskets and use non-hardening Hylomar Blue gasket maker, resistant to fuel and oil. Change oil, oil and fuel filters, change zinc, detach and flush the heat exchanger to clean from former raw water impeller debris, use good fuel, clean the strainer etc., the usual stuff.

Handymen and handy-ladies, good luck! I hope I have saved you countless hours searching online how-to and many $$$.