Predator 9500 Inverter Generator Fatal Flaw and how to fix it!

The Harbor freight 9500 generator has one big design flaw but it can be remedied pretty easily.

Links to magnetic drain plug and magnetic dipstick:

[drewevans]

For the $20.00 price tag for both, this is no brainer advice even if it catches minimal debris, every little catch would be valuable. Thanks.

[Retaile]

I applaud your information about the magnetic drain plug and dipstick. I originally filled my new generator with 10-30 oil, however after seeing some recommendations about break-in oil I drained the unused oil to find some ferrous particles already on the drain plug. What followed was absolutely shocking: lots of aluminum shavings including machining chips. All this without starting the engine. I can see why these Chinese mass produced engines don't have long life expectancies.

[DWESENTERPRISE]

I use mine for my carpet cleaning business... It runs my cleaning machine in my van. I did my first oil change at 50hrs. Didn't see anything in my oil. I use full synthetic oil. Will replace every 100hrs. I also have the extended 2yr warranty. So far it's been great. Use it pretty much every day, pushing about 7k watts.

[TheDirtFighter]

This has ben a great unit for me. I use it every Saturday and Sunday in all conditions outdoors for 7 to 9 hours each day. It runs 2 AC units, lights, 2 registers, a battery charger with 8 ports and a few other misc items in a 20 container that serves as my office/storefront for my business. Doesn't even come off eco mode except when the 240v AC kicks in and just to start it up.

[beckyphipps]

Thank you, I just bought this generator. and I just bought what you shared the links to. I don't know any thing about generators but I know some of my bible, I'm Rapture ready, but I don't know about my family. God bless.

[silverstar]

Thanks. Just ordered them. Hope you get a little return on it.

[moklock]

Use magnetic dipstick and plug, has run 5W40 Rotella with 20 HR changes for first two, about 50 HRS now and hardly any oil consumption and very little glitter when drained

[woppini]

This is a misleading title- it is not a fatal flaw. More often than not generators don't have a filter. That's why you dump the oil after break in. Metals during that time will be mostly aluminum, brass, copper which doesn't stick to magnets.

[DigD]

I think they have more problems than that. I bought one to see how it would compare with my Honda 7000 which I love but needs a little more power. The Honda will only run 5500 W continuous and that's just my water heater alone. However, it will run it. The predator kept flipping the fuse, and I finally just returned it in 30 days. Hoping someday they get whatever was wrong with that one fixed and I will try one again. I just wish Honda would build a bigger one.

[tristanschaper]

While adding a magnetic dipstick won't hurt anything and MAY help, the internal engine surfaces that actual make contact and wear (like bearings), are not magnetic.

[anthonys]

Thanks for this. I just picked this generator up yesterday. Gonna order these before I start the break in period. How long did you run the generator before changing the oil? Thanks again!!

[javery]

Honestly we run these for mobile grooming trucks and everything on them but the engines break. I’ve never used magnetic anything on them. They get to about 1k hours and then they start nickel and diming you to death. We just warranty them out at the first sign of problems but we also run them 8 hours a day six days a week. Usually the cooling fan on the generator head or the starter goes. Sometimes the co2 monitor freaks out. I can say for fact they are made to fail. The pull cord will be cut inside of 20 hrs if you don’t address the chafing issue.

[SkypowerwithKarl]

The dipstick catches more fuzz than the plug because of oil circulation. Run the new engine for 15-20 minutes with no or light load and change out oil. Use quality conventional oil again for an hour light load and change again. Run at least a tank of fuel before changing to Pennzoil platinum high mileage for best oil seal life. Then change at recommended intervals thereafter

[lordnetsplits]

When it’s new the oil needs to be replaced every 35 minutes until no more metal glitter is seen. Btw, all new small engines will have metal shavings when they’re new regardless of brand.

[felaxchow]

Compared to a Honda engine, most Honda clones including Predator engines is that they need 25 to 30 hour break in time before fully loading them up. In the real world who really does that? I bought mine about a year ago for my whole house backup solution; taking a chance with their standard 90 day out the door warranty, I figure I'll do the break in over a couple of weekends and if anything happens I'll know by then.

Loading it down about a 1/4 load on the engine using generic store brand oil and changing it out at 8 hour intervals, I didn't find hardly any metal shaving in the oil just only the fine bronze/gold tones from the connecting rod bearings. That pretty much went away when I changed the oil at the 24 hour mark. At 30 hours I switched it to Shell Rotella 10W-30 that I had laying around. Now I have a little over 50 hours on the clock and it's still running like a champ and the oil still looks I just changed it.

I do a full load transfer test running my home on it for about 30 minutes once a month or twice a month during tropical cyclone season. Just recently, my power company was doing some upgrades on my block that was supposed to be down for about two hours and ended up closer to 5. With feels like temperature hovering around 108°F outside, I was able to ride it out in "normal" mode with air-conditioning.

[tramdr]

Great advice/ My question is why does the 9500 cost 2500 while the 8750 cost less than half of that. Seems like the 8750 is a much better bargain.

[HyperionGamingTOPKEK]

Ive got 650 hours on mine with oil change every 100 hours. SAE 30 in the summer and 10w30 in the winter. I havent used a mag drain plug. based on my experience none of this is really necessary

[basketballjones]

Magnets do not "filter out" metal particles, nor is the mere non-existence of a magnetic drain plug a "fatal flaw".

[eriklocs]

Where's the fuse box located on this thing?

[harveyeng]

How long ago was this video posted? Online price for this inverter generator is just over $1000.