Hey guys welcome back So today i brought home this generac lp 3250. This is a propane powered generator And is about seven years old and i found This one on ebay Didn't cost that much it was about 57 So i'd like to say i got a deal but Maybe not you know the description did Say the regulator was bad I went checked out what a rebuild kit Would cost for that And to my surprise generac does not make A rebuild kit they only sell New regulators and they're asking about 450 dollars for that regulator so Hopefully that's not it i don't know but The thing i can say for sure just Looking at it is that We're not going to be doing much until We get this cord replaced so we'll get That replaced And also this piece dropped off it Somewhere so Don't know if that's important but we'll Keep it right there just in case Let me set up a little better i'm going To get that starter recoil off We'll get a new pull cord installed and Go from there You So Foreign Yeah plenty of oil so i think i'm gonna
Add a propane tank and uh See what happens Yeah something's not right with the Regulator the way this works it actually Has a safety system so When i turn the propane on and the Engines off There should be no flow of propane Through that regulator This regulator has three connections one Is the high pressure side The other one the low pressure going to The carb And then there's a third connection Which actually runs from the Insulator on the carb over to the Regulator and what that does is when the Engine starts it creates A vacuum and that opens The regulator and allows the low side to Flow So i guess there's two possibilities Here either we have a leak On the high pressure side or that Cut-off valve isn't doing its job so I'm going to pull the low pressure line Off the carb i want to plug that line With my thumb and see if the flow of gas Stops if it does that tells me at least We don't have a high pressure leak and That The propane is moving through the system The way that it should It's just not stopping when the engine's
Off All right it's hard to get this all in One shot but what i'm going to do I'm going to turn the gain up on my Microphone so hopefully you can hear The propane and once that's going I'm going to put my thumb on that low Pressure side And see if the noise goes away if it Does that tells me a lot At least the propane is going in the Right path And it should be at least safe to start Or try to start All right good hopefully you could hear That i did turn the gain way up on the Microphone It's it's not as loud as i'm sure it's Coming through But i wanted to get the point across gas Was flowing Put my thumb on the low pressure side Going to the carb And the noise goes away so that's good At least there's no breaks in the system There's not gas Venting somewhere where it shouldn't so I'm going to reconnect that Line to the carburetor and try starting This thing All right let's give this a try i've got The light connected in the event this Actually starts I want to see if it makes power
Wow So And maybe something else is going on Here that should have done Something so i'm going to get the air Box cover off I'm going to give it a little squirt of Starting fluid See if we get a different result Right Interesting [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Yeah not sure what to think about this One it would not start on propane only It wasn't until I got it running for a second on Starting fluid that now things seem to Be working The way that they should so this one has Me scratching my head a bit You know i i did throw the air filter on When it was running just wanted to make Sure that that was not Causing a restriction and it didn't seem Like it was so I want to get this outside run it for an Extended period of time Do some load testing make sure that Regulator Can keep up all right i'm going to give This thing a try
Per the instructions which says to choke It Hold the prime button down for two Seconds pull it twice Open the choke pull it twice but i don't Think that's gonna work I have a feeling that lock-off valve That's leaking It's actually kind of flooding out the Car meaning there's not enough Oxygen or air getting in to ignite it But Let's try it the way it's supposed to be And if that doesn't work we'll try it With the choke off And not using the primer [Applause] Foreign [Applause] So Okay i'm just gonna let the propane vent Out and we'll try it again with no choke No primer It's not sounding too good I think the good news is at least the Regulator and carburetor seemed to work I mean it did start After i shut the propane off i think Some of it had dissipated and mixed a Little better With the air so once it was going it was Hunting a bit I loaded it to 3000 watts which is close To the max that this can do
And things kept going just fine and even When taking the load off You know the the engine sounded a lot Better it wasn't hunting anymore So the regulator and the carb are doing A good job Unfortunately that lock-off valve or Cut-off valve Is not doing a good job it's just Letting too much propane through Without the engine running and that's Causing it To not start so i'm going to bring this Back inside i want to get the tank off I want to get this cover off and the Regulator out I am going to open it you know this like This i think is usable For somebody that knows what they're Doing but You know it's a danger and definitely Difficult To start so i'd like to try to fix this Regulator If i can otherwise i might try the clone [Music] [Music] Oh So Okay so without a rebuild kit There's a pretty good chance that once i Open this up that's it You know the diaphragms are very Delicate and most likely
Aren't going to come off in one piece And even if they do there's no saying That it's going to go back Together properly but the way that it's Working now Is not very good and it needs to be Replaced but before i just go ahead and Buy A replacement i'm going to see if There's any chance of getting this one Fixed This is the actual regulator side here And it figures that's the one that came Off Pretty well what i'm interested in here Is Where this goes this here is what should Open Up the cutoff valve when there's a Vacuum pulled on it when the engine Starts So unfortunately i have to get this off And yeah it's pretty stuck on there so Do So the way this works is when the engine Starts it pulls a vacuum here Which causes this diaphragm to go down And opens up this valve it's hard to see It just looks like a piece of rubber There There's a little speck of something Right there Could it be that simple Let's find out
So it's still leaking out of the same Spot i'm going to open it up again i Think ultimately the issue is that Rubber plug is a bit worn and that's What's letting the gas through So ultimately i think the issue is this Piece right here this is what's supposed To stop The gas flow but you can see there is a Ring kind of cut into this piece of Rubber If i had another one this would be an Easy fix but i don't So i'm going to try wet sanding it a bit With 400 grit See if i can't get that to go away I think that did it So i ended up popping this out just made It a lot easier to sand So let's see if this fixes it [Music] [Music] So Well it was worth a try but without a Rebuild kit My options are pretty limited here so I'm going to go ahead and order the Clone regulator and give that one a go All right quick update i went to order The part and realized that clone Regulator for 125 dollars Was not really a clone of this it was Just a Generic regulator that isn't made for
That generator Would it work sure but everything would Have to be re-plumbed And it's not a plug-and-play solution so You know i got to thinking you know why Is it pushing through This vacuum lock-off valve you know Potentially is there an issue on the High side Where it's just pushing through so i Opened up the high side again And took the valve out And was surprised to find this piece of Rubber Was just sitting loose kind of between The valve And this rocker so i'm sure that Is the issue i'm going to get that back In there put it back together And test it again You So Do Do [Music] [Music] [Music] Fixed All right i got a line hooked up to the Vacuum port now i'm going to apply a Vacuum to this and when i do The regulator should turn on Perfect It's hard to believe something so stupid
As that could Lead to a very costly repair i mean 400 plus dollars for a new one of these Anyway i'm going to spray this down with Some soap and water Make sure we don't have any leaks and We'll throw it back on the machine Okay well now i know where this came From this actually dropped off the Generator at one point i had no idea Where And it looks like they ran a small Breather tube the original must have Been broken and they cut off a piece of The right size and taped It to the wrong size and i think that's What was going on On both ends so pretty creative but That is going to restrict the engine From breathing you don't want to do that So I'm going to see if i can find the right Size tube Yeah this one might do it's a bit larger But It might fit Yeah this isn't going to fit so i will Have to order a new breather I mean for now i'll run with it like That But in good generic design In order to replace that breather in the Future I do need to pull this top off later
[Music] I hate to do this to my predator but That is the breather tube i need All right ready to give this thing a try It's actually been about two weeks I wanted to let this thing sit for a bit And make sure that that rubber plug In the regulator stayed in place and It has so i think i can call this one Fixed but i haven't started it yet so I suspect it's going to run a lot better And i guess the other thing i was Thinking about is The you know the instructions on this Say to prime it To choke it and then pull it twice and If it doesn't work Open the choke up pull it twice and i Assume Repeat until it starts but that to me Doesn't make a whole Lot of sense i mean the reason why you Choke a carburetor Is to actually increase the vacuum so That it can suck more gasoline Out of the bowl but since we're dealing With propane I don't think that's needed also when Pulling the engine over i noticed It is creating enough vacuum to actually Activate that lock off valve and allow The propane through so i don't think we Need to prime it Or choke it i'm just gonna try to start
It With the choke off and see how we do [Music] Sounds really good Yeah 119 volts and 60. [Music] Hertz 20.7 volts 58.4 hertz Yeah not bad this thing fired right up And sounded good both loaded And unloaded so i'd say this one's done And i got pretty lucky on this one i Mean getting this regulator apart Without Destroying something is pretty hard to Do You know i wish generac made a rebuild Kit for it Unfortunately they don't so you know if You find yourself in a similar situation There are options besides the oem Regulator Most likely you can get one that is used To convert A gasoline generator to also run on Propane Or natural gas anyway I hope this video helps someone thanks For watching