So. . I ended up buying it.
Was pretty comical series of events actually, as buying and selling used equipment usually is.
Guy shows up with generator in tow, and he seems like a nice guy.
I give it a good look and the cabinet is rough, but inside it's just dirty. There's a thick layer of dry brownish dust/dirt on everything in the inside that would be consistent with sitting in someone's barn for a long time. The control panel shows no wear and tear, and the hour meter reads ~380 hours. He goes to start it, and nothing, won't turn over.
We hook up another battery and after messing around with the loose terminals for 5 minutes or so, we get it to crank, and it fires up pretty quick. Runs real rough for the first 5 seconds or so with some white smoke, and then it smooths out and purrs with zero smoke. I put my finger down under the crankcase breather, and there's no signs of pressure or suction and no smoke/oil coming out. I figure ok, not bad.
Pop the rad cap and coolant is clean, and no bubbles while running. We shut her down, I check the oil, and it's black, but it's not milky or contaminated.
The unit has a 25A twistlock and a 110v 15A duplex outlet. Not having a breakout to plug into the twistlock, I plug an air compressor into the 110v outlet (which I know is a BIG load) to see how it copes. I know it's under 15A running, but probably pulls more than that starting up. So, I connect it (with a clampmeter around the hot leg on the cord), and I see a 23 amp draw on the meter momentarily, but can't hear the compressor running. I run into the garage to check, but it's not running. I figure ok, the momentary starting amps on that is just too much. I try my table saw, but before I even get to try and turn it on I hear the guy screaming from the driveway "fire" "fire" "fire". I keep not one, but two extinguishers in the garage
, and came running out with one of them to find a small fire behind the control panel. One quick squirt into the control panel (dry chemical extinguisher) put it right out, and upon inspection, there was "something" that was no longer recognizable connected between the 30A twistlock and the 110v outlet that was barbecued beyond recognition. No other damage was visible.
We agreed on $125 off the asking price since it would clearly need a little rewiring now, and the battery was "questionable".
Upon digging into the damage later, what was barbecued was the 15A push to reset breaker. It had burned and arc'd to bits, so my guess is that either the contacts inside the breaker were dirty and the resistance heated it up to the point of combustion, or it was "stuck" in the reset position, and even though the load was exceeding 15A, it couldn't trip and failed.
Pros:
*Radiator doesn't leak and looks in really good shape. No crap in the fins
*Runs really smooth after the first 5ish seconds from a cold startup
*Has an electric fuel pump, and it looks like it was likely added. There's nothing connected to the fuel pump on the block.
*30-gal fuel tank that looks to be in good shape and its clean on the inside
*HEAVY-duty trailer with decent looking tires
*no visible oil leaks, and motor looks like a good washing would leave it looking almost new
*hours MIGHT actually be accurate. 380ish hours is hard to believe, but looking at it, if I had to pick 380 or 10,380, I wouldn't believe 10,380 either.
Cons:
*Fuel leak on the fuel line running from pump to the injectors, already ordered a 25' spool of 3/8 fuel line ($22 amazon)
*Probably needs a new battery. I charged the existing one overnight, and it reads good, so I guess I won't know till it sits a bit and either does or doesn't hold a charge
*needs a new 15A breaker if I want a functional 110v outlet
*had a pintle hitch rather than my preference of a ball hitch, already ordered a 1 7/8 coupler for the 3" channel to convert it ($15 amazon)
I'm wondering if maybe the rough startup could be related to the fuel leak. When you shut it down, you can hear hissing at the leak in the fuel hose, so it's probably losing part of it's prime, or at least maybe getting some air bubbles in there.
Thank you all again for help on what to look for. I wish I would have had more time to toy with it before having to make a decision, and been able to run a nice long "loaded" test, but that'll have to wait until I replace the fuel line and wire up a break-out for the twistlock.
