Stuck Kubota Engine - Will It Run?

Someone threw away this 5000 watt Kubota generator. I know nothing about the history of this generator or why it was trashed. Most of the wires are disconnected and the Kubota engine is seized. Its not looking good for this machine. Lets see if I can free the engine and fire it up. Will it run and make power? Not sure, but lets find out.

Generator Model: Kubota A5000-3-120-Y
Carburetor Part Number: 12601-44012

I use Harbor Freight Super Heavy Duty Degreaser in my ultrasonic cleaner.

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#GeneratorRepair #SmallEngineRepair #SmallEngine #DIY #Fixed #Troubleshooting #HowTo #Kubota

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[RANDALLOLOGY]

That proves, . One man's junk is another man's treasure. You just proved that.

[brucejones]

One thing that might add is this. To prevent rust from forming in any metal container, is in the final rinse use a weak dilution of sodium nitrite ( NOT sodium nitrate) in the rinse water.
I (in the long past early 90s) used to manage a barrel reconditioning business. To prevent rust from forming in the drums we used about ½cup of sodium nitrite in 1, 200 gallons of water in our final rinse. This works extremely well. To give you an idea of how good this is, one of our customers supplied chemicals to Morton Thyocol to use in their rockets for the space program. There was never any problem with the sodium nitrite we used in our rinse.
Be aware that sodium nitrite is commonly used in the process of removing rust from coils of steel before it is used in the manufacturing of car parts, for example.
It is cheap, and works extremely well in fuel tanks.
Just thought this might help someone.

[brewster]

"As you can see... it's got some issues." Mr. Condon, you have perfected the art of understatement. 😎

[Andy-nmdw]

To clean up the needle seat you can run a Q-tip in a drill with aluminum polish-valve grinding compound or toothpaste to clean it up. I also remove ring ridges on the rubber needles with a tool I made. You can cut the head off of a 16 penny nail and place a piece of fuel line over the nail. You can then push the needle into the fuel line and run it in a drill on a piece of 1500 sand paper with a little light weight oil. This will fix a leaking needle and seat on about any carburetor. You amaze me with the diagnostics you perform on these generators. Thank you and keep them coming.

[troyyarbrough]

James, you have more perseverance than anyone I've ever known or seen. Great job resurrecting that old dinosaur. It's my thoughts that the reason generators like this one have little resale value is because everyone wants inverter generators now. People have been educated on the "dangers" of using "dirty" electricity on these newer electronic devices. That particular Kubota generator would be great to use on a jobsite running power tools. Thanks for the awesome content.

[bhaebe]

for the cost of a few cans of PB Blaster, you could purchase a smart phone borescope and that would be one of the first things to use during the initial inspection.

[Joserocha-wmde]

As I suffer of depression and anxiety I spend my days watching a ton of your videos, I find your videos so relaxing, very detailed and your voice is so calm and you speak wisely, you Mr James Condon you are 👌 TYSM for sharing your knowledge

[lv_woodturner]

Wow, this came back from the proverbial grave. Very well done. I can appreciate why you did not take the engine apart due to the expense of the parts. I was expecting you would put your bore scope down the spark plug hole just to see what the inside looked like.
Amazing how well this runs now. It did not take long for the smoke to clear.
My Generac 7000 W generator has a tiny Sealed Lead Acid battery so the new garden tractor battery likely puts out more amps than my SLA battery.
Dave.

[billabernathy]

Nice work, James. Another DOA brought back to life by you. I'm glad you did not have to tear the engine down. Looks like a strong generator at this point.

[offshack]

Its funny how different people approach troubleshooting these small engine/generator units. I've done several and when I bring it home I don't even bother "trying" - I just rip the thing down entirely - crankshaft & piston out, valves out, stator and rotor out of the generator, wiring panel all apart, basically down to the smallest components, then clean and recondition every part and put it back together testing the pieces as I go. Wouldn't make for good YouTube, and probably takes WAY more hours, but it's a hobby and keeps me entertained. I've rebuilt and sold a dozen or so in the last 10 years and I'm currently working on a 15 year old chinese clone diesel 7500W unit right now. It's in 1000 pieces. Old owner said the engine surged so I assume issue with the diesel injector pump so I ordered a new one of those just to try out.

[MsDave]

Amazing that old boy made it. I am sure there is someone that will give it a good home now and keep it out of the land fill. That vacuum set up on the Carburetor was a work of art back when this was made as was the low idle set up. It even had a low oil sensor. Remarkable. Nice work. (Bet there are no plastic gears in that thing.)

[KensSmallEngineRepair]

I love the cardboard with folded-in edges (36:42) to keep the oil from getting all over, great idea!!

[tomseipert]

James, I love watching you diagnose each component, then figuring out the solution. Most of us including myself lose patience and that affects us in finding the solution needed. I also echo a previous comment about the video quality of your work. I always learn so much more with each different machine you work on. Thanks for all your great videos, YOU are teaching a lot of us out here, and it is greatly appreciated !

[michaeltarasenkoop]

James this is the example of what we as a nation is a throw away nation ! A perfect running machine is in a dump you took it and now it is operating with your knowledge

[davidmonteil]

These videos are the best! A great deal of knowledge, patience, and skill goes into them and the repairs too. Thank you James! It's enjoyable to see such a master at work.

[electricboatal]

After the initial examination of this generator I wouldn’t have thought that it could be saved. I was certain that it would end up in your parts storage area. It is bound to have some damage to the cylinder after all of the corrosion was removed. I am impressed at how much patience you have with some of these old piles of parts.
I knew it was a Yamaha engine at first glance. I have owned a couple of these generators with the Yamaha name on them.
Nice work Mr. Condon

[ghettsumm]

Wow! You brought this one back from the dead! Once the smoke dissipated, and you adjusted the governor, it was ready to rock!

[FeralPreacher]

Excellent save and recovery. This is the shortest hour on YouTube.
Enjoyed the whole process. Congrats on getting a survivor.
Thanks for sharing.

[joelhallstrom]

That’s one beautiful generator! I just love the control panel. The whole thing just screams quality!😍

[davidfoulk]

Another great video James thank you, I’ve seen people attach gravel/nuts and bolts filled gas tank to a rear tire on a jacked up/raised riding lawn mower/tractor and let it spin around for 1 to 2 hours in 1st gear and this seems to works quite well for cleaning rust out of a gas tank.