Dave Carney
October 20th, 2007, 02:14 PM
Last week my 4390-1 Guardian failed to start during a storm. I could hear the starter whirring but it was not engaging the flywheel and therefore could not start the engine. The generator sensed overcrank and went into limp mode. After a couple manual start attempts I finally got it started and it ran the 4 hours while the power was out. A couple of test starts afterwards, resulted in just whirring.
Checked the battery and connections, all good. Decided it was the starter. Got the manual out, it called out part # 0C3017. Online I found that part # was discontinued. I hear these 4390-1's had a lot of starter issues. I found the redesigned part to be 0E42710ESV. So, that's what I ordered. Spent a little more to get a genunie OEM unit. These starters are crazy expensive ($158 or more depending on where you go) compared to car starters. I could buy 4 for my Dodge van for the same money. Must be an economies of scale thing.
When I pulled the old starter I found some differences. First, the old one is an inch longer and has a rear support that the new one does not. I did not think though that this was too important, car starters don't generally have a rear support either and they do fine. The old one did not have the part # that the manual called out for, instead it showed part # 3 A07 rev E. ? Anyway, I took some critical measurments and it seemed like the new one would fit ok, so I installed it and it seems to work fine.
I would not call this job easy but it's not terrible either. I call easy, being able to get to the thing from the front and being able to see what you are doing. That's not the case here of course. It's on the back and for the most part you are working blind. Getting the new one in is much easier than getting the old one out (the new one is shorter and easier to manuever through the limited space). My tips and comments+
1) Metric bolts so have metric tools. Disconnect the battery, turn the unit to off before starting the project.
2) Generac used a wire tie around the old starter, in such a way that you need to cut that tie to get the old starter out.
3) The small red wire that goes with the positive cable on the starter lug carries the trickle charge of about 14 volts. I would recommend putting a piece of tape on it after it's removed and while you are fiddling around until you are ready to put it back on the new starter. Keeps you from getting minor sparking
4) On the rear support bracket for the old one, remove the small nut and also loosen the big bolt on the other end of the bracket so that you will have enough room to manuever the starter out of it's spot.
5) You'll need to rotate the starter around some to get it out through the limited space when you are trying to pull it out of the unit.
Thats about all, it's pretty straight forward. Some time soon I'm going to disassemble the old one and see what the problem is. It probably only had 250 cycles on it when it died. That's rediculous.
Pics of old and borrowed pic of new starter attached.
Checked the battery and connections, all good. Decided it was the starter. Got the manual out, it called out part # 0C3017. Online I found that part # was discontinued. I hear these 4390-1's had a lot of starter issues. I found the redesigned part to be 0E42710ESV. So, that's what I ordered. Spent a little more to get a genunie OEM unit. These starters are crazy expensive ($158 or more depending on where you go) compared to car starters. I could buy 4 for my Dodge van for the same money. Must be an economies of scale thing.
When I pulled the old starter I found some differences. First, the old one is an inch longer and has a rear support that the new one does not. I did not think though that this was too important, car starters don't generally have a rear support either and they do fine. The old one did not have the part # that the manual called out for, instead it showed part # 3 A07 rev E. ? Anyway, I took some critical measurments and it seemed like the new one would fit ok, so I installed it and it seems to work fine.
I would not call this job easy but it's not terrible either. I call easy, being able to get to the thing from the front and being able to see what you are doing. That's not the case here of course. It's on the back and for the most part you are working blind. Getting the new one in is much easier than getting the old one out (the new one is shorter and easier to manuever through the limited space). My tips and comments+
1) Metric bolts so have metric tools. Disconnect the battery, turn the unit to off before starting the project.
2) Generac used a wire tie around the old starter, in such a way that you need to cut that tie to get the old starter out.
3) The small red wire that goes with the positive cable on the starter lug carries the trickle charge of about 14 volts. I would recommend putting a piece of tape on it after it's removed and while you are fiddling around until you are ready to put it back on the new starter. Keeps you from getting minor sparking
4) On the rear support bracket for the old one, remove the small nut and also loosen the big bolt on the other end of the bracket so that you will have enough room to manuever the starter out of it's spot.
5) You'll need to rotate the starter around some to get it out through the limited space when you are trying to pull it out of the unit.
Thats about all, it's pretty straight forward. Some time soon I'm going to disassemble the old one and see what the problem is. It probably only had 250 cycles on it when it died. That's rediculous.
Pics of old and borrowed pic of new starter attached.