Engine

[resistance]

Can anyone tell me if Genrac make the engines for Honda generators? I recall a thread that said something of the sort.

 

[Joethemechanic]

As far as I know Generac had all their engines made by someone else. Now I'm not saying Generac and Honda don't buy from the same supplier.

What size unit are you talking about?

 

[kwired]

As far as I know Honda is more an engine manufacturer and more likely to contract someone else to make the generator.

Generac I believe has Briggs and Stratton provide engines on many of the small generators not sure about larger ones.

I have a 8000W portable that is a B&S with a Generac generator.

 

[resistance]

As far as I know Generac had all their engines made by someone else. Now I'm not saying Generac and Honda don't buy from the same supplier.

What size unit are you talking about?

Small portable-5500w

 

[hurk27]

On the portables over the years I have see a wide verity of engines used from B&S, Onans, Kohler, Wisconsin's, Tecumseh, and lately some Honda's, but on the air cooled 1 liter used on the Guardian series they use the same engine from the 14kw to the 20 kw the 8kw is a similar version of this engine with a single cylinder rated .4 liter, and the 10 kw is a .5 liter twin cylinder version, these air cooled engines are specifically manufactured for Generac as the have the name embossed into the castings, and the Guardian series engines all run at 3600 rpm, after you get above the 20 kw things change as now they begin to use water cooled engines only, mostly 1.5 GM 4 cylinder industrial blocks on the 25 and 30 KW jumping to 2.4 on the 45 and 60 kw still a 4 cylinder

When we get into the Quiet source series the 22 and 27 kw use the same 2.4liter 4 cylinder used above but now at 1800rpm and on the 36 kw the GM 4.3 industrial V-6 (older 35kw units use the 4.2 that just had a shorter stroke) looks just like the motor that was in my Grand Am except it is all cast iron not aluminum with no fuel injection, now when we jump to the 48 kw we also jump to a 5.4 V-8 version of the GM 3rd series small blocks in the 4800/5300 platform, just longer stroke industrial all cast iron block and head, even says Vortec on the intake which is a GM trade mark for their truck motors.

The above is much inline with what Kohler generators use, the .4-1.0 liter air cooled engines do look different from any other small engine manufactures engines and Generac will tell you they manufacture them, but I'm not so sure on that.

 

[resistance]

On the portables over the years I have see a wide verity of engines used from B&S, Onans, Kohler, Wisconsin's, Tecumseh, and lately some Honda's, but on the air cooled 1 liter used on the Guardian series they use the same engine from the 14kw to the 20 kw the 8kw is a similar version of this engine with a single cylinder rated .4 liter, and the 10 kw is a .5 liter twin cylinder version, these air cooled engines are specifically manufactured for Generac as the have the name embossed into the castings, and the Guardian series engines all run at 3600 rpm, after you get above the 20 kw things change as now they begin to use water cooled engines only, mostly 1.5 GM 4 cylinder industrial blocks on the 25 and 30 KW jumping to 2.4 on the 45 and 60 kw still a 4 cylinder

When we get into the Quiet source series the 22 and 27 kw use the same 2.4liter 4 cylinder used above but now at 1800rpm and on the 36 kw the GM 4.3 industrial V-6 (older 35kw units use the 4.2 that just had a shorter stroke) looks just like the motor that was in my Grand Am except it is all cast iron not aluminum with no fuel injection, now when we jump to the 48 kw we also jump to a 5.4 V-8 version of the GM 3rd series small blocks in the 4800/5300 platform, just longer stroke industrial all cast iron block and head, even says Vortec on the intake which is a GM trade mark for their truck motors.

The above is much inline with what Kohler generators use, the .4-1.0 liter air cooled engines do look different from any other small engine manufactures engines and Generac will tell you they manufacture them, but I'm not so sure on that.

Thanks for your detailed input!!!

 

[Dennis Alwon]

My guess is that Honda makes the engines for other manufacturers. But what do I know.

 

[resistance]

My guess is that Honda makes the engines for other manufacturers. But what do I know.

I believe what you said is what I heard. At one point in my career, I was called to install an ATS, but wasn’t sure which generator was the best. So I asked here--after many put Genrac down. Then someone here said Genrac--and for the most part others--had the generators manufactured by the same company.
I’ll try to search my post for it…..Duh!! I should have done this before.

 

[Joethemechanic]

Yeah pretty much what Hurk said.

Honda, B&S and all also have engines made under license by other manufacturers in China. I really never knew of Generac making much on their own

 

[resistance]

Can only go back so far when I search. Oh well!! :slaphead:

 

[hurk27]

One thing to note, while Generac in their specs claim under the line for "make" the engines are Generac, I find that this is only because they are ordered to the specification of Generac for their generators when looking at these engines we can clearly see they are manufactured from common industrial engines offered by lets say GM the 4.3 or 4.2 is clearly a GM industrial engine and even has GM embossed in the block as well as the word Vortac on the intake manifold, the 30 amp alternator is clearly a Delco Remy, this is not something that is new as back when American Motors was around it was common to find them using fisher body's (GM) Ford blocks and delco electronics, we used to use the HEI distributors out of the AM 304cid V-8s to put a GM HEI self contained distributor in a ford mustang with a 289-302cid HO engines.

Look at Sears washers and dryers, Sears never made anything their washers and dryers were nothing more than whirlpools with a different back panel design and came right out of the Whirlpool plant in Benton Harbor, Mi.

I haven't seen the 6.8 liter engine in a Generac yet that is used in the industrial version from the 50kw all the way up to the 150kw but I not sure if GM even offered a V-10 engine so I would expect it to be a FMC or CHY product the SG150 (150kw) is also offered with a 12.8 liter Turbocharged/Aftercooled which is a GM commercial in-line 6 which is also offered in the 200kw the 230kw jumps to a 13.3 liter which is also Turbocharged/Aftercooled that is used all the way to the 300kw these large in-line 6's were very common in GM commercial trucks/busses and some boats that use gas as a fuel also they were a long stroke engine which gave them a high torque at low RPM's
When I was at Allied Structural Steel we had a yard train engine to move train cars in and out of the plant, that had one of these in-line 6's in it, they are a work horse engine, it also burned LP gas.

 

[Joethemechanic]

Can only go back so far when I search. Oh well!! :slaphead:

What is it you need to know about them? Are you looking for parts? One of us might know what fits. There is a lot of interchange, but we need specifics.

 

[hurk27]

What is it you need to know about them? Are you looking for parts? One of us might know what fits. There is a lot of interchange, but we need specifics.

I think from post 8 he was looking at which generators are the best for the money, and this is a hard to answer question because of somany who have jumped into the generator manufacturing business after Katrina, I have installed quiet a few Generac's over the years and have had good luck with them even with a few problems that was fairly easy to remedy with being to order parts directly through them, but a couple years ago they changed their service to only Generac dealers and service techs and no longer will sell parts or give any technical support over the phone unless you are one of there techs.

When I checked into becoming one I found out you have to pay to go to one of their classes and stock over $20k in parts that you might never use, removing me from being able to service my customers needs really turned me off as it is only because of greed for them to do this, I don't have $20k to lay around in a warehouse to collect dust in this day in time, I will still install them, but with the disclaimer that any servicing is to be handled by the customer through Generac, for this I do not push them like I used to. I still think they are an ok product for the money just don't like the service arrangement.

Of the response from two of my customers who required service for in warranty problems the company's who came out was looking to turn it in to an installation problem so bad as one even made the statement that I had over loaded the generator because the breaker handles in the panel added up to more then the generator could handle, he tried to charge my customer $400.00 to change a bad fuel regulator that was the only problem claiming the generator was over loaded and it cause the regulator to go bad so it wasn't covered even under warranty, my customer called me and I went out there and ripped him good, I called Generac and told them what he tried to pull and they told him to change the regulator for no charge and leave. the calculated max load on that 20kw was 60 amps all gas appliances.