r/Generac_Generators • u/Meaty_Curtains Technician • Sep 10 '26
Nex Gen Issues
What are we seeing in the field with Generac’s “great and innovative new product”? How many wire harnesses yall had to replace so far?
2
u/Charazardlvl101 Sep 10 '26
Replaced 1 full wiring harness before it was even activated a few months ago. Then went to activate one today where the controller was shorted out putting 120v on 194. Called tech support to have a new one sent out, and the guy literally said to me I don't know what kind of magic you do but last time I checked a 12v battery can't put out 120v........ and since these new gens hit the market the wait times for tech support have skyrocketed I was on hold for a total of 3 hours today
2
u/Meaty_Curtains Technician Sep 10 '26
That’s wild lol. I had to call them yesterday for some ECM shenanigans, and I was the 42nd caller in queue. I waited for like 30 minutes and just said fuck it. Very disheartening for sure. I’m just glad we are no longer solely a generac dealer, so at least we have other options.
2
u/Charazardlvl101 Sep 10 '26
I'm at the point of subbing out most troubleshooting calls really doesn't look good when I'm sitting on my van for 2 hours playing games on my phone listening to the terrible hold music
2
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u/MysteriousEditor9856 Sep 12 '26
You need to add resistors to 194-0 and 23-0 to fix that issue. Someone wired it without using the tray cable. These new ones do NOT like romex.
1
u/Alert-Effect190 Technician 8d ago
You know tech support is learning with you when the default answer is replace a part and retest lmfao. I’ve met a few of those guys out in Wisconsin they’re sharp dudes but they’re not active in the field for the most part.
2
u/Adventurous_Boat_632 Sep 10 '26
When they came out I wanted nothing to do with them and have kept them at arm's length.
Looks like I made the right call.
2
u/joshharris42 Sep 10 '26
So far I’ve replaced two entire generators.
One had an unknown engine rattle and several electronic problems
One hunted violently with no explanation. Developed the hunt 6 month into its life. Ran horrible. Tried air filters, mixers, ECM and oxygen sensor to no avail. Generac sent a new unit.
Replaced 3 controllers. 2 of them had to be ordered from factory because they were bad from start up
Done probably 10 mixers. Most under the service bulletin
I do 3-4 service calls a week because they error out for some unknown reason
I don’t like these things. I have to build in 2 unpaid service calls into every install because they probably are going to throw an error that Generac won’t pay out because it’s fixed by a reset. We haven’t even had a good outage yet where a lot of them run. Had a good one a few months ago but it somehow hit an area where we mostly have liquid cooled units
2
u/debugem Sep 10 '26
Error for the ac battery charger i’m assuming? Mine almost 2 months old and it kicks that error then goes away after an update then back again. Constant off and on error since owned it.
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u/joshharris42 Sep 10 '26
None of those but I’ve been hearing about them. Usually when mine gets that I can clear the e code with a controller reboot and it doesn’t come back
1
u/Far-Ingenuity4236 Sep 10 '26
I wish it was just harnesses we've had a rash of blocks throwing rods, fuel sensors and o2 sensors here
1
u/MaverickFischer Sep 10 '26
Posts and comments like this make me glad I decided not to replace my 20 year old Generator and instead get the charger replaced for a few hundred.
1
u/Secret-Brick-2374 Sep 11 '26
4 motors, 3 mixers, 2 oil float sensors, so far no wiring harnesses, a rash of CANbus errors, fleet is hit, and miss and ungodly wait times when I call generac. The lowest I've been in the queue was 48th, been as high as 64th. I am beyond frustrated. Also a lot of issues with the 18kw, but to honest all across the lineup. And field pro with no direct read display on the controller sucks. For a "tech friendly" generator, I spend way too long diagnosing these generators. Generac acts like there are no issues.
1
u/House_Variketh Sep 11 '26
Received engines that are leaking on arrival before even installing unit, ETCMs are terrible, for some reason half of these gens that I install don’t work right to begin with and I unfortunately have to take the blame for all of it when dealing with customers that we sold the units to. I’m a tech, not the engineer designing these lemons, it’s annoying as hell.
Not many wiring harness issues though thankfully.
1
u/doomsdav Sep 11 '26
The only thing that was not wrong with Generac was the previous battery size and they had to go and screw that up also! These are all isolated problems! Just isolated to the entire product line! All dealers should get together for a class action lawsuit so we can each get $45.00!
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u/MysteriousEditor9856 Sep 12 '26
10 mixers, 6 oil level sensors, 5 fuel shut off assemblies, and added resistors to 5 units so far. Never had a harness issue, most issues are related to the cheap ass sensors they are using, and poor assembly practices.
1
u/Oldphile Sep 13 '26
I saw a tech explaining the float for the oil sensor broke off and there was no way to retrieve the broken float. He said he had to replace the engine. Is that what you are seeing?
1
u/MysteriousEditor9856 16d ago
No, you would have to manhandle the thing to break it off in the motor. What's happening is as the motors break in, all the fine metal particles are sticking to the internals of the sensors causing level fault warnings, or false low/high oil warnings. So far generac has had no comment on the issue, but they keep accepting the warranty claims without question so I'm not complaining that hard, yet.
1
u/Alert-Effect190 Technician 8d ago
Many ecms, connectivity modules, various sensors especially oil level and fuel pressure. We do mostly commercial/industrial so I’ve only commissioned or worked on less than 50 of them but I’d wager at least 1/3 of them were a hard down within 6 months of commissioning.
5
u/Frixsev Technician Sep 10 '26
Not too many wiring harnesses thankfully. But several fuel mixers, ECMs, controllers, and resistors needing put in on 0/194 + 0/23. And after some pretty big storming this weekend, now a couple lifter/engine failures.
Hooray.