Kohler 5EKD Sound Shield and Maintenance?

Michael T

I have a 2014 Kohler 5 EKD. I am quite familiar with land-based generators - but new to marine use generators. I know that this marine generator should be run fairly regularly under load to heat the generator coils thereby preventing moisture build-up and corrosion. It will be run all the time in a fresh water environment.

Questions please:

1. How often and for how long should it be run?

2. I don't care about the operating "noise" , so is it better to run it with the front sound shield cover off?  I'm thinking of removing it permanently to provide better cooling to the unit?

3. Would removing the entire sound shield permanently be better or would that be harmful (get dirt and moisture in it)?

4. Should I replace the zinc anode with a magnesium one? Does anyone have a PN for a magnesium one?

5. I ran it about 20 hours last year and replaced the oil and filter and of course the coolant at winterization haul-out. Should I have replaced the fuel filter and spark plugs too?  Anything else?

6. At what hours/time frame do you replace the impeller (there is a raw water strainer)

7. What am I forgetting?

As always thank you for any advice! MT

rasbury

When I first bought my boat the gen would only run for about 30 mins- I pulled the front sound shield and now it runs fine. I think it was getting to hot-keep in mind I'm in Fl and it was 100 degrees that day but I did not pull it all off, just o rfront. I have heard these gens eat the plugs but I would not replace just to replace, keep some spares on board as a first thing to replace if it starts running bad. Impellers I am told are a normal maintenance replacement every couple of years. On mine which is older, there is a coupler on the back side of the pump that should be replaced also- it's cheap and fails and is easy to replace when you do the impeller and then the oil every season,,,,my zinc was gone when I serviced mine for the first time and I suppose the same theory of zinc vs aluminum would apply to those just like the out drive but never really thought or heard any discussions about that and will be interested to hear some other comments on that,,,,

Michael T

Thanks for the time to write the info Ras!

Black_Diamond

Impeller: annually
spark plugs: annually. Always start with these if a problem. They eat them like candy
i run mine at least 2-3 hrs / week
i leave my front cover off too. Same problem Ras had. 

There is a ton of info on the 5e in the generator section. 

Michael T

Thanks BD!

Dream_Inn

Also change the oil and filter annually & check/clean the strainer often.