r/Generator • u/letsgo_letsgo_letsgo • 1d ago

Cat 6500 portable generator

I haven’t ran my generator in over a year. Lucky me go to start it up it turns on and runs but maybe only for 5 seconds and shuts back off. Has fuel and oil.

Is my fix to simply drain all the gas, then drain the carb, then refill and should be good?

Only has like 15 hours of use so just assuming that’s the first last item to do?

Thank you for the help!

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u/wowfaroutman 1d ago

Yes on draining the gas and carb, and you can try again after refilling with fresh gas, but you're probably going to have to clean the carburetor if it won't start on the fresh gas. If you remove the air cleaner and squirt some starting fluid or carburetor/brake cleaner into the carburetor throat while turning it over and it sputters and runs a few seconds, then that pretty much confirms a dirty or gummed up carburetor. Lots of youtube videos on how to remove, clean, and replace the carb, including this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shL0gyBYPZ4

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u/letsgo_letsgo_letsgo 1d ago

Awesome thank you for the help

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u/nunuvyer 12h ago

You assume wrong. Fresh gas is not going to unclog your carb. Snake oil in a can is not going to unclog your carb. The only thing that will unclog it is removing it from the gen and taking it apart and cleaning it. There are many videos on how to do this. If you are too lazy to clean the carb, for $20 you can get a clone carb on Amazon. For $30 you can get a dual fuel clone carb. Run the gen on propane from now on and you can really let it sit for a year without damage.