I let her sit outside too long

[SHIPCHIEF]

I've owned an SR2 6.5Kw US Dept of Transportation, US Coast Guard Long Endurance generator set for a few years. It's been covered with a tarp in my back yard.
Well, this week I started on that project. I moved it to my rural place, put it in the shop, and checked it out. when I hit the starter I got a nice CLUNK!
So I stripped the top down, it's got a rusty cylinder, the one near the flywheel. The crank turns freely now, and the journal looks good. The inside of the engine also looks good.  I'll put the cylinder in a press and push the piston out the bottom to see what's salvage and what's scrap.
I figure to replace both rod bearings also the rings on the undamaged cylinder. The damaged cylinder and piston probably will be replaced, maybe as a power assembly kit w/ piston pin & rings?
disassemble the heads to check the valve stems and guide. Clean everything. The cooling fins were about due for a cleaning anyway.
This is entirely my fault, the genset was a runner when I bought it.
I'll be calling Dieselman soon enough...

[dieselgman]

Sorry to hear that misfortune!  The air-cooled stuff is very prone to internal condensation if it sits through a lot of freeze/thaw cycles outside. In addition to that, rainwater can enter through inlet and exhaust ports. Most of the field-run stuff we get has taken on water in this way. Cylinder/piston kits are spendy, but we go through a lot of them.

Soak that damaged cylinder in some type of solvent for awhile before pressing the piston out. You never know, maybe the cylinder will not be too far gone and just needs a good cleanup and hone. We do not like to bore the SR model, but it can be done with satisfactory results as well.

dieselgman

[SHIPCHIEF]

I went to my son's shop today, we used the press to remove the piston. That extra week of soaking was the ticket. Thanks for the tip!
The rod and wrist pin look great, I hope to get the time tomorrow to start cleaning & inspecting the piston and cylinder like you suggest.
Last week's storm left my wife without power for 2 days, so I'm getting lots of support on standby generators (more than before the storm for sure!)
All the generators are getting checked over and started.
Now Wifey wants lessons and written instructions on generator operations. I'm starting to write a step by step manual that I think she could use if the power goes out while I'm at work.
Fortunately, I built in a service-off-generator disconnect switch that makes power back feed to the utility impossible.