# Portable Generator **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814 "2009-04-30T12:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furbous94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@furbous94](https://community.cartalk.com/u/furbous94)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/1 "2009-04-30T12:59:39Z")
I have a 3500 watt Briggs & Stratton generator that is not even a few days old. I assembled the unit and filled it with the oil that it came with. I ran it a couple nights for about 5 hours at a time. The third night I started it and it shut off. I checked the oil level and there was none in it. I filled it and tried to start it and I cannot even get the pulley to move. Is the engine seized up? When it shut down it didn’t make an irregular noise like as if you could hear metal breaking it just shut off like if you had flipped the switch off. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/2 "2009-04-30T13:12:42Z")
I have a generator with the Briggs & Stratton engine that has a low oil shut-off. However, if this shut off stopped the engine, it shouldn’t cause the engine to seize up, which it sounds like what happened in your case. Although you should have checked the oil after the first 5 hours, it shouldn’t have used up a whole crankcse of oil in 10 hours of operation. I would guess that the rings probably hadn’t seated, although you should have seen blue smoke coming from the exhaust. I’ve never seen a new small engine use oil this rapidly. My generator consumes no oil and it went to work immediately after I purchased it. ---
**Author:** ![furbous94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@furbous94](https://community.cartalk.com/u/furbous94)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/3 "2009-04-30T13:18:16Z")
Is their a low oil shut off switch that I need to reset ? ---
**Author:** ![tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tardis](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tardis)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/4 "2009-04-30T13:26:20Z")
If there were, it wouldn’t keep you from being able to turn the crankshaft. Your engine has seized. It will have to be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Whitey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/whitey/32/24680_2.png) [@Whitey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Whitey)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/5 "2009-04-30T13:39:40Z")
My uncle had a Honda generator that would not reach operating temperature and it leaked oil from the seals. He discovered it was some kind of design defect and he had to cover one of the air cooling vents with a rag to get it to reach operating temperature so the seals would swell. After that, it worked fine. Could that be what happened? ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/6 "2009-04-30T13:58:43Z")
I have yet to see a newer portable generator without a low oil cutoff. You should look to see if your unit has one. Check the unit or look in the documentation. They typically do not require any resetting. If there is oil present, they enable the ignition circuit. The ones I have used were super sensitive to oil level. Even if they were full but situated on a small slope, they would not start. If it has an oil cutoff, I can’t see how it could possibly run dry unless the cutoff was defective. You say it’s new? If it has this protection designed in, I’d take it back and demand a replacement unit. Likely, once it stopped running, the bearings seized due to lack of lubrication. Yes, you should have checked the oil level before each use but the cutoff should have protected it from catastrophic failure. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/7 "2009-04-30T15:23:32Z")
I’d remove the sparkplug and then try pulling the engine over and see if the cylinder is filled with oil. Tester ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/8 "2009-04-30T20:02:28Z")
I bought my generator new in 2005. It has the low oil shut-off. It is a TroyBilt 3500 watt with an overhead valve B & S engine. I’ve never had it shut off the engine, but the instruction manual says that it will. ---
**Author:** ![mshugna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@mshugna](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mshugna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/9 "2009-04-30T21:41:30Z")
I believe that new generators should be broken in gradually by running them for t10-15 minutes at a time over a week and then increasing…you ran the generator for 5 hours out of the box…call B&G for their thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tardis](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tardis)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/10 "2009-04-30T22:00:24Z")
No such instructions on break-in on our generator with B&S engine. We ran it five or eight hours straight the first time, and it is still going strong now, four years later. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/portable-generator/29814/11 "2009-04-30T22:26:09Z")
“Check oil level every time fuel tank is filled” You must have missed that part…Sounds like the engine IS seized up and the “low oil shutdown” failed to operate…