Honda EU7000 fuel injected

[Kola]

PART I

I broke down and bought a Honda 7000EU. I was drooling over the fuel injected model and I pulled the trigger. She was sweet and sexy for 140 hours and then ? blip--takes a poop. A BIG POOP. NO start, cranks but no start. Hmm. I pull the spark plug, sopped in gas. I knew it wasn't bad gas because I'm running other stuff off the same gas jug (my chainsaw and another Honda EU2200)

So -I grabs me a new plug, pop it on the plug boot, ground it and crank the engine. Nice blue spark. Whew. Next.

I hand-pull the engine over a couple-few times to clear out the cylinder of any leftover gas. I screw in the new plug and hit the start button. Crankity-crank- crank. She usually fires right up - but nope, nothing. Not even a fart. I pull the plug and once again it's sopped in gas. Only after one crank of about 5 seconds !

Welp, seeing it has ONLY 140 hours on it and she's 2 months old I stop there. Warranty time right? Yup. I'm a little pissed but WTH I'll haul it down to a Honda service shop. I was little disappointed but not to riled up as I have 2 other RELIABLE (and OLD) Honda generators. (ONES WITH CARBS and NO FRIGGIN ELECTRONIC GIZMOS !)

K, so I have a couple beers, talk it over with the dog, settle down and load it in the truck. ALL 280 FREAKING POUNDS OF IT !!!

PART II

After sitting in the Honda shop since last Wednesday, the service gal calls me on the phone and says it's all set and ready for pick up.

I asked her what was wrong with it. She said the mechanic said the O2 sensor was dirty which caused the spark plug to gas foul. She said he cleaned the O2 sensor, installed a new spark plug and it runs fine. My eyebrows dropped and couldn't help but squint my eyes.

OK, ready ? she goes on to say that it's not covered under warranty.

HUH? 2 months old and 120 hours on it? Not covered, WHY?

She said that because I must have been running it on eco-mode the generator wasn't reaching full RPM's which caused the O2 sensor to carbon up thus fouling the plug. HUH? This is MY fault? I told her nowhere in the owner's manual does it state that you shouldn't run it in eco-mode for extended hours. And I've run my other older Honda generators in eco-mode with never a problem. She said sorry that's what the tech said. I'm on the phone with her, mind ya, and the veins in my head are starting to throb.

So I owe parts and labor and none of it is covered under warranty....so she says.

Being off grid with solar power I run this genny mostly as a back-up to refresh my batteries in winter(maybe 2-3 hours every other night or so). I keep it in eco-mode unless I'm running big stuff continuously (which is rare) And I don't really pay attention to the rpm's or whether it's kicking up or down. And I use that eco-mode as it was intended to be used.


I'll be going down to chat with the mechanic. What a bunch of crap ! Unless I'm missing something...then I'll eat Crow.

[Shark]

That's crazy.
Generators have O2 sensors now?

[Kola]

It's the fuel injected model, so yes it has a O2 sensor and other electronic gizmos and --- of course a motherboard. $$$$$

I'm second guessing myself now, might just throw it up for sale and go with a new one with a carb, like the 6500EU.The re-jet for 9000 feet up is easy.

I'll wait and see.

[Plumb Level]

That is frustrating! Except the beer and the dog part....that sounded good.

[rreidnauer]

Not cool Honda. NOT COOL!

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[rreidnauer]

At least you know what it is now, and how to solve it. First, if it's a generic O2 sensor, I'd replace it. And then I'd keep a spare on hand.

My 3000is started running rough after a couple thousand hours. I was going to take it in, but decided to go over it myself. Just a loaded up spark arrestor. I was going to remove it altogether, but then figured everything caught up in it, would be getting ejected. I cleaned it and put it back in, and I'll worry about it in another couple thousand hours.

(BTW, almost ALWAYS run in eco mode, unless I'm running the compressor or welder)

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[Kola]

Yeah, always been a HUGE Honda fan -- so this is a let-down.

I won't be able to get down there to pick it up til' middle of the week. I'll have a nice chat with the service people. Lately, I've been playing the "Columbo" role. ( errr' for you youngin's - it's an old 70's investigator TV series) Anyway Columbo plays a Police Lt. and he acts like he's a bumbling idiot but he asks just the right questions in just the right way. He appears harmless, lost and absent minded but on the inside he's sharp as a tack. And he always outwits and solves the crime.

Anyways, I'll try playing the sneaky-calm Columbo role as I'm getting to old to be yelling and screaming and going off like Frank Costanza (Seinfeld)

At this point I can't blame "Honda"...yet. I just think this service shop is trying to avoid doing warranty work (possibly they get paid less and have to bill Honda) and they'd would rather get paid in cash.

And yeah I'm gonna order a service manual asap. My bet is that it spit out a simple trouble code for the O2 when PC tested. (btw I did pull out and look at the spark arrestor screen, it had just a trace of black soot, nothing serious at all but I did clean it)

I'm still not buying the lame excuse " because you ran it on eco-mode it fouled the sensor." Capital b capital s ! (catch that?)

If I get nowhere with the service place, I'll then go straight to Honda Corp.

[donjuedo]

On the one hand, it's disappointing that proper use (yours) led to a failure, and I'm not a fan of too many high-tech things where reliability is concerned.
On the other hand, fuel injection eliminates other problems associated with carbs. For a genny, though, my preference is still low tech.

Still, the tech just cleaned the sensor, so there should be zero parts cost. And he probably knew (or used a trouble code to learn) the cause. So labor ought to be low. How bad was that damage?

[Kola]

They want 75 Georgies.

[Kola]

Bastages4079

[Kola]

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[rreidnauer]

I was thinking of you this weekend. I just serviced my Honda, new plug and oil change. Also cleaned the spark arrester, which wasn't too bad. Just under 5400 hours on it now.

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[Kola]

In summary :

Two month old-140 hour Honda 7000 puked on me. I dropped it off to the dealer. About a week later they call me - says the gens' fixed, come get it. They told me on the phone that it was my fault. NOT warranty covered, 70 bucks, parts and labor are due. The service gal AND the grease monkey stated that BECAUSE I ran the genny on eco-mode that the O2 sensor carboned up thus causing the spark plug to fail. THUS, no warranty.

I went to get the genny. The gal at the front desk again stated running it on eco-mode was the reason why the geny failed. I asked her to put that in writing on the work order. She would not. I asked to speak to the grease monkey who worked on it (he too told me a week ago that running it on eco-mode was the problem). He was out sick. I the asked for the manager and what an ass he was ( an obese redneck who could't look me straight in the eyes) He told me the same thing, eco-mode caused the prob, no warranty. I asked him to specifically put that on the work order and that I'll take it up with Honda Corp. Of course he refused.

I let him know that no where in the owners manual does it say NOT to run genny on eco-mode (ONLY in start up for a few minutes) I asked him to show me where Honda says that and I'd gladly pay the 70 bucks. Of course he refused.

He went on to say that the wrong spark plug was installed which was completely false. I asked him to show me that plug. He refused. He also said it was carboned fouled. I said HUH??? It was totally gas fouled when I pulled it out when I had troubles starting it back a few weeks ago. A total lie. I asked him if he knew the difference between a carbon fouled and gas fouled plug. He got ticked off and of course he didn't answered my question. I told him under the warranty the spark plug ad the O2 sensor are covered. He said "nope, it was due to my "lack of maintenance". He then told me to pay the bill to get back my genny and leave ------or he'd call the cops ! Reluctantly I paid the bill, knowing if the cops came they'd only escalate the situation and I'd probably lose in more ways than one.

What a chop shop.

side note: after this I called another Honda dealer. I spoke with the service desk guy and a mechanic. They both agreed it should have been a warranty covered situation and that running the genny in eco-mode is fine and should not have caused the no-start problem. They asked me where I took it for service - I told them. They said "Yep, no surprise, we've heard about that place." They said if I have any more problems that I can bring it to them. Lesson learned.

[loghousenut]

The problem with buying something new is that, when it goes haywire, you expect not to have to get greasy because it is under warranty. You and I are too cheap to willingly pay $80 per hour for a mechanic without first talking a quick 6 hour peak under the hood.

Back when 1984 Chevy S-10 pickups were new, my mother bought one. I was headed over to Boise to see my dad and brother and drove her new S-10 so I could bring a load of her junk back for her.

I left in the middle of the dark and somewhere near Lapine I started hearing a growly sound from up front. It got worse and I was getting sleepy so I parked in front of the service bay at the Chevy dealer in Bend and sacked out. I figured that I shouldn't have to worry about a funny noise on a $9,000 dollar new truck. They got me right in, first thing in the morning.

Turned out to be that the can of Spagettios that I'd laid on the engine to warm up had wiggled over to where it rubbed on the firewall and was making noise. The mechanic was so happy to have gained such a story that he said those magic words "We'll cover it under warranty".

It was a humbling experience for a guy who bragged that he could keep junk on the road long after it was worth more as scrap iron.

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[rreidnauer]

I've only ever done it a few times, but that's when I send a certified letter to the CEO by name. I've always gotten results.

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[Kola]

LMAO ! A can of friggin spagettis-o's !!!! If it'd been an Italian car you'd have been allright !

Rod, I'm still fuming, so much that I'm just avoiding the situation for now. In fact I've been running my Honda 2200 EU since then (and YES ! On ecomode !). The 7000 is sitting in the shed. I'll deal with it later. It runs, I know that as I started it up before I left that chop shop. I've been fighting "colds, flu's, winter blues and trying to get my new solar system wired up and running. It's been a cold one here, not much snow - but friggin cold. Retiring in June and I think of doing the AZ snowbird thing soon. Sedona area is my spot. Old age and cold = no bueno !


Hey, Double R ? You running your 7000 on eco-mode full-time without problems?

[DoubleJRanch]

PART I

I broke down and bought a Honda 7000EU. I was drooling over the fuel injected model and I pulled the trigger. She was sweet and sexy for 140 hours and then....

I have the Honda EU6500is, basically yours, but carb'd, never a lick of trouble and I only run it in eco mode. It powers my entire house during an emergency and does it in eco mode. I have electric water heater, electric range, electric clothes dryer, now it wont run all those heavy loads, but any one of them at a time with ease. Just as quiet as my 2 Honda EU2000i gennies. Call Honda directly. You should get some help.

[Kola]

Thanks Rick. The gennys been good so far. I'm glad. I have a new 2200 EU and a 1000 eu as back ups.

[Kola]

But yeah, still wish I'd bought the 6500 carbed

[Kola]

2 days ago I ran that damn 7000 genny on eco-mode for about 4 hours. The next day it wouldn't start. Gas fouled plug. Pulled out O2 sensor, (carboned fouled) I hit it with carb cleaner and lightly sanded it with some emery cloth. Cleaned and dried spark plug and the bitch fired right up. POS !

[rreidnauer]

Not being able to plug in a OBDII tool and diagnose, I wonder if that oxygen sensor is bad. They only cleaned it, right? No reason for the excessively rich running if everything is talking to itself right.

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[Kola]

I hear ya, Rod, In my dealership mechanic days we NEVER cleaned an O2 sensor. In fact I've never even heard of cleaning one until that jackass outfit did it.

[rreidnauer]

Reminds me of when I was in the telecom. We had a switch site and data center in the building i was employed. The building always had at least one person in the NOC at all times. At some point, the company wanted to save an inperceivably small amount of money, by reducing NOC employees to regular hours. Of course, Murphy never missing an opportunity, raised his head to the challenge. Commercial power was always sketchy at that location to begin with. We had a huge generator, as well as two large uninterruptible power supplys. One night, only a few weeks after ending 24/7 manning of the site, grid power went down. As normal, the UPSs kept all the equipment going in the switch and data center until the generator could start, stabilize, and switch load over to itself. Except, the generator didn't start. Roughly 30 minutes later, the UPSs batteries were depleted, and they simply turned off. Now, all that computer equipment isn't like a simple desktop computer, and can't be just cut of power. Much of it requires a controlled shutdown. We lost several million dollars worth of equipment.

The service company was called when we were all coming in the next morning, finding the disaster that had occurred, and the whole culprit was a bad coolant temperature sensor prohibiting the genny from starting. (It thought the temperature was too high, even before running) So the technician said he changed the sensor, and all is good again. We put a few safeguards in place. One was to check the status of the genny after shutting off from its normal 30 minute exercise every Friday afternoon. About two weeks later, same error code came up, and service was called again. Tech says, "you sure that sensor was changed?" We were told so and billed for it! Shows me the sensor. Had the paint on it, from when the genny was originally painted! The first guy never replaced it!!!! Had the same disaster have happened again, wholly crap! Told the guy to $^$#@ fix it, and I never did tell the CEO about that near miss. The first tech was promptly fired.

Moral of the story? Change the d@&n sensor!!!!

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[Kola]

I'm not surprised !

[DoubleJRanch]

Kola, that is crazy, sure, a spark plug is maintenance, but I'd bet its not due for replacement at 120 hours. I have 3 Honda generators, 2 of them are the EU2000i and I have an EU6500is (same as yours but carb'd) and I have never had a lick of trouble out of any of them.

In fact, my first EU2000i has to be 15 yrs old and spends almost all its life in eco mode. The second EU2000i has only 150 hours. My EU6500is, I use for power outages here at home, I have it wired to feed the entire house and I run it in ONLY eco mode. Still original plug. I wonder of the elevation or temp may have been an issue. EFI should know all that. Doers it have its own diagnostics system where you can retrieve codes or count a light blinking for a code?

Tough deal, we all know Honda are pricey, but quality is second to no one. I always say a Honda is as reliable as the sun rise.
Hopefully, no more issues. I know that EU7000is is a $4K plus generator.
Maybe grab a spare spark plug. I think I put one plug in my oldest EU2000i is all, and its got to be 15 yrs old.

[Kola]

I haven't used it since I got it back. I ran it for 4 hours one day (building a new chicken coop) with ecomode off. The next day it wouldn't start.

Same problem. Gas fouled plug.

I'm taking it to another Honda dealer.