Kohler 2.5CMZ-RV Toyota 1990

[Eddie Pratt]

Almost Happy New Year! A few more hours... I have a 1990 Toyota Warrior with a Kohler GenSet 2.5cmz-rv. I need a little advice and I was forever grateful to run across your site this evening. Our Gen believe it or not only has 31 hrs of use on it. Several Months ago we were in florida in the summer. Only running the A/C during the night the Gen just shut down like it ran out of gas (had been running for about an hour). I got up to start it and the battery appeared to be low on juice and would barely turn the starter over- If you are familiar, it has a seperate 12v battery from the primary for the vehicle itself. I figured something was not allowing the battery to keep enough of a charge to keep the gen running and called it a night. I have cked the battery since and have fully charged it. It has about 12.5 v. Not to long after I(brain-dead) went to troubleshoot it after I returned home and stuck jumper cables to the battery while it was still connected to the Generator. After that I could not get the Rocker switch to show any life at all. I have replaced the Solenoid and I have 12 volts coming from the battery to the bottom post of the solenoid. If I engage the rocker switch to start the gen, I have 12 v between the 2 small side posts but never have 12 v going out of the solenoid to go to the starter on the gen. in order to start it. There is a small printed circuit board behind the rocker that controls the on light and the oil light, probably the fuel pump to the gen as well but I am not sure- it may be my problem. I have temporarily (3 seconds)jumped the large posts on the solenoid to get the generator to kick over but I don't want to create more problems- just wanted to rule out the starter. I have cked continuity with every fuse in the unit and they are all good, at least the ones that I can locate. There is a 5amp fuse on the rocker panel to start the gen and it is fine. I have 12 v on the top 2 posts on the rocker switch that starts the gen. I have cked the circuit breaker on the generator, it was always on, never kicked off. I may be warm in figuring it out but not warm enough to keep going without some direction. *No one will touch it in my area, Shipps rv is the largest around and they would not examine. I have called about 15 different auto-electrical businesses, none of which would get near it. Nearest is Nashville and I think I can figure it out (with a little help) before I have to go there hopefully. Everything else on the RV works great. If I plug the External Power ac to the rv, I can utilize all other features electrical fine, nothing jumps out that might indicate where the problem lies. I can even turn on the lights etc.. while the unit is completly off and not plugged in to external ac just to say there is no obvious wiring problem there. I am sorry to dump all this on you this evening- My small generator prob. is nothing in comparison to some of the threads I have read within the halls of Sparks and Arcs but it has me stumped nevertheless. If anyone has any advice after reading thru the above just post it and I will keep my eyes open. I do appreciate your trouble and your advice ahead of time. Thanks

[Jim Rankin]

[QUOTE=Eddie Pratt"""""" There is a small printed circuit board behind the rocker that controls the on light and the oil light, probably the fuel pump to the gen as well but I am not sure- it may be my problem.""""""""""""

That board might control the safety shutdown for low oil (level or pressure??) as well as the things you mentioned. Are you sure you have oil and oil pressure? Could be a sending unit, a connection or the board. If you can isolate the problem to one thing, at least you will know what to ask for at the dealer.

[Eddie Pratt]

Thanks Jim, I do have Oil but not sure about oil pressure since unit has never cranked again after dying that night in florida- wasn't a sudden death but sounded like it should when you normally shut it down. I have not thought about the low oil shutdown and I don't see it on my wiring diagram that came with the unit. If I can find it -that will be a step in the right direction- I will try to locate it tomorrow.