this vintage well built Homelite gen set was donated to us after sitting in a new england shed for 20 years, the kicker is it was stored with Marvel Mystery Oil when it was put away, so lets see if that helped to preserve it.
29 thoughts on “Portable Generator, stored with Marvel Mystery Oil. Will It Run?”
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Not a fan of marvel mystery oil. Or putting stable in the gas. Seafoam is better for the gas.
As you mentioned, non alcohol gas helps a ton. I have two outboards made in 56, and two in the 60s, when they started selling the non alcohol, it was 87 octane, a few years ago they boosted it to 89, made a big difference in those old motors. What I've been doing with all my small engines is mixing with Marine Stabil, and have had no more trouble.
I wonder if the governor spring stretched after all the trials on and off while troubleshooting and running it?
Hey man what do you do with all the bad gas and nasty oil and contaminated rags and metal shards transmission fluid you end up with?
You need to flip the switch from START to RUN on the panel.
Who would buy a generator and put it away for 20 years. You would have to know that it is going to be a long while before it will be used again.
When testing one of these castoff generators, be aware that one of the generator failure modes can be a disfunctional regulator circuit. A neighbor started one of these he bought somewhere in the early 2000's. It was producing 300+ volts and had burned out several items in his house before he realized something was going wrong.
20 years!! No telling what clogged whatever during that time no matter how it was put away.
Mustie: these have been sitting in a shed for 20 years…
Me: wow, that’s a long time!
Mustie: …or since about the year 2000.
Me: 😒 (that wasn’t that long ago)
It easier to take off the pull start and use a impact with socket instead of pulling it over and over that just me I usually brake the cord
You can make that model electric start you need a different fly wheel a starter and battery I also use a electric fuel pump on that same model 👌ðŸ‘✌ï¸ðŸ’¯ðŸ»ðŸ”§âš’ï¸
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Takes 10 days for symptoms
Surely one sets it to Start to start and once started you set it to run?
You are right older stuff last longer Newer stuff is made cheaper
Hmm why deont you ever use pipe cleaners ud think that wiould be an excellent tool for cleaning carborators just a du8mb question and they are cheap to.
a new carb would probably cost you about the same as the can of brake cleaner
UPDATE FROM THE OWNER: The 'hunting' is due to a light extension spring on the carb linkage which somehow got lost along the way. I noticed on the video that the spring was missing. I've sent Darren an email with the Homelite part number. The machine always worked fine with no hunting. So, all the assumptions in the comment section are wrong. The pitting in the carb bowl and gas tank are not from Mystery Oil. They are from moisture in the gasoline over the years. The MO was added once I finally decided to store the machine in permanent storage. MO contains Dichlorobenzene which will help prevent corrosion, which it did do. Leaving everything dry is the way to go in a short storage such as a seasonal one but not a really good idea for such a long storage. Hope all this answers some questions. George C.
You must have a load on the generator for the auto idle to work.
Looks like hydraulic fluid.
Thats carb problem period, rebuild or replace it.
As usual,You are da man!
I used a bread tie wire to clean these jets they fit perfect.
Just remember – Mechanic- yesterday he could not spell the word and today he are one.😎
Where does disconnected wire go?
I am sold on some stuff called mechanic in a bottle ,good stuff
Drop a handful of nuts screws into tank with 1cup kem dip shake for 5min rinse with gas ,tank like new
I learn a lot watching the videos Mustie1, awesome content. ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
That flashlight is great, but just like everything else at Harbor Freight they usually fall short on something. This time it’s the USB charge port, which will quickly wear out with normal usage and eventually fail to be useful.