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Do you have pressure in the crankcase, or are you losing any coolant? You can make a manometer out of a flexible clear tube to stick in the dipstick while running. Compression test as recommended by another-- need to figure out what those cylinders are doing.

My overlord will not allow me to run the generator on a Sunday night, so I'll get on it tomorrow afternoon!

Have you tried adjusting the governor droop? The visible smoke is still slightly worrisome to me, as I never see it on units until approaching 100% load, and even then it's very light. Something is still telling me you have a fuel / air problem. I'm going to bump one of my generators on today...

You'll want to check the exhaust manifold itself, not the block. It's not an exact science, but there's a few spots you'll learn to hit at certain angles. The goal is to see what the exhaust gas temperatures of the cylinders are, which can start to tell you if you're starved for fuel or not...

While it's running, do you have an IR thermometer? I'd temp each cylinder's exhaust on the header and check if you have a large discrepancy between cylinders. It's possible that you have an IP stuck closed, or an injector clogged-- which is essentially a dead cylinder. Have you taken any of the...

While it's running, stick a manometer into the oil dipstick. You should be running with at least 1" WC of vacuum. This will tell you that you don't have any crankcase pressure, so the piston rings and gaskets are probably in good shape. I used this nice cheap one from Amazon. You can make one...

On the eternal list! A few days before this, I did the big PM. Fluids, filters, batteries, degrease / pressure wash, fuel lines, pulled out the tank for cleaning, replaced the bungs, and wired up the new VR and remote start. Yup! So the EG4 does the SOC monitoring and has a set of dry contacts...

A few updates on the project! The 803 was sold to a customer, and an 802 has taken its place. This works out well, because after talking with a few people, I'm going the EG4 Chargeverter route. This will allow me to run the generator at near 100% capacity when charging, which is a very good...

I ordered an "unbranded" brand from Aliexpress. Without getting too deep into the weeds, if you can find it on Alibaba / Aliexpress, it's the same product being sold domestically for 2X+ the price, with custom branding.

Batteries have arrived, now just need to find a few hours to hook it all up!

Thanks everyone for all the input on this thread! Passed my electrical inspection this morning, now just waiting for Eversource to come give me my net meter. Just about to hit 100kWh of production in the few days it's been hooked up and running. Can't wait to knock a few more trees down keep...

Technically an 831 could cover the base heating load. The problem (or not problem for loading up 10kW) is turning anything else on-- range, oven, or dryer. It's also good for charging up the battery bank. I'd much rather let the 803 scream at 100% for a few hours, and go back to sucking the...

I owe that one to my father in-law. He's a retired architect, and he made the plans. I just cut wood and hammered nails. It's a full north / south house; the eave overhangs were calculated to completely shade the windows in the summer, and fully expose them in the winter based on the sun's...

That's the goal! In reality, the only reason the grid stays is to recoup the investment and cover the winter dips. Late spring / summer daily is only about 4kWh. Winter jumps to about 20 to 35 depending on how much wood we burn. With the batteries-- starting at 10kWh, and then moving up to 25...

I just wrapped up the solar on my house, and excited to share it. 8.5kW of panels and a hybrid inverter. Batteries arrive in two weeks, and then the 803A gets permanently hooked up. Only had to shovel the roof like three times >.> The inverter acts as an ATS, so when the grid goes down, the...

Some snowblower pictures from my monologue...

Slow going on the hour clock. A series of snow storms and cold-ass weather has kept me mostly indoors-- aside from rebuilding my snowblower's auger gearbox from using anything and everything as a "shear" pin. Turns out that old drill bits work great, because they don't shear; the little brass...

Very nice! Is that guage compatible with the ohm range of the OE sensor, or do you need to swap out?

Hey all, Just wanted to make a quick post for the northern people here. I started running Rotella T6 0W40 in my tractor to help with the cold starts, and also changed over the 803A last week. Note that this is a "heavy duty" diesel oil, and not a European car oil (which does exist). While it's...

Droop adjusted, and it's running like a champ. Worked up to about ~110% load, and have been blowing carbon chunks for an hour. I'm starting to think the hard start was carbon around the valves, preventing a good seal. A little hard to start a compression engine with no compression >.> Thanks...