Generator oil change

First buy the synthetic oil recommended in the manual. TWO QUARTS WILL BE REQUIRED There is a container of it on the shelf in the garage near lubricants. I bought it at Napa 43 mall in W Sand Lake. It is Mobil 1 synthetic 5-30 weight. 12/09 I bought two extra for the spring changing. They are marked and on the garage shelf.

IN the brown brief case upstairs next to the file cabinet is the manual and some wrenches and a rag.

The small wrench removes the outside casing. Two nut screws one on each side.
The two larger wrenches are needed to unscrew the cap on the drain hose. one fits on the outside, the cap itself. Another fits on the inner nut for leverage. It was really tight this time. It comes off counterclockwise. This time I added a run of black electrical tape as further protection from vibrations loosening this connection.
Bring a plastic bag, a rag, and some small container to hold the screws from falling in the cracks of the platform.


Before removing the door, turn the black button on the right to manual and the generator will fire. It will not affect the lights. No breakers need to be turned off.

Let it run a while so the oil is hot enough to drain easy.

Then set that black switch to off. Turn the breaker off too if that seems safer. Actually, I did not do that this time. You don't want the generator starting up because something hits the black button just when there is no oil left.

The drain hose comes out the bottom and winds around to the left and is hooked in a clip.

Drain the oil. It is not easy to catch it. It would be good to adjust the platform so an old oil bottle fits down to the ground in reach of the draining hose.

Securely replace the cap.

Open the oil fill and put in about 1.7 quarts of oil. Check with the dipstick.

Replace all caps and the outside metal. Be sure the ground it still snapped into the metal. There is a wire right there on that door.

Put a piece of wood and a block on top in winter to avoid ice damage.

done.

I did not do the oil filter this time. Perhaps next time. It was replaced last year when the electrician did the work and there have been no power outages. In fact, the oil I drained was very clean.

Again no filter change. Should do that in the spring. The oil was dirty this time so it needs more than a quick change next service.