We have a 3000 Watt generator that has been serving us for more than a year and half, but recently it became weak, it’s either that the coil isn’t strong enough again or the armature has grown very weak so we decided to get a 1800 Watt generator to take care of the electricity needs, I don’t blame the poor thing anyway cos we never told it beforehand that it was gonna carry 2 laptops, one CPU with dual monitor setup, a lotta unending chargers sprawling from neighbors and some lights, so when it was plugged in It would’ve been easily overwhelmed by the power demand, but because it was new it took care of it perfectly.

We are used to the 300 Watt generator’s oil alert system that automatically turns the generator off once the oil level is low to avoid a catastrophic unscheduled dismantling of the engine and it’s components therein, don’t mind the grammar I meant to say to avoid the engine blowing up, so we never had to constantly check the oil level, we only do so when the generator refuses to start or when it turns off abruptly.

But this little guy here has no oil alert system and it never occurred to me that I had to constantly check the oil level considering the fact that it also has no valve oil seal (Oil seals are used to protect shafts and bearings from taking in dirt and foreign matters and spillage of oil or grease) valve oil seal prevents oil from spilling into the combustion chamber thereby getting burned and causing the generator to smoke therefore reducing oil level.

Ok so where was I with this whole story thing, considering the fact that it has none of these above mentioned two things (oil alert system and valve oil seal) I should be checking oil level constantly, but I’m already used to the oil alert system, so one night while we were working, suddenly the lights went off and the generator was sounding weird, turn it off! Screamed my big Bro as I ran downstairs, but I was too late, then came a knocking sound and a bang!
On reaching there I saw two big holes in the housing, the connecting rod broke and smashed the walls of the crankcase.

_{The crankcase after I took out all components.}

Dumfounded for a minute I could only let out a grin, Big Bro was looking down from the rear balcony, a glance at him showed he had a grin also, I assured him I’ll get it fixed the next day.

I arrived at Jubilee by Asa road to pick up the needed replacement parts, from my assessment I needed to buy a connecting rod, a piston and rings, the engine block, two oil seals (these are different from valve oil seal), engine gasket, two bolts and oil of course.

_{Note: The mouse and DVI cable are not for the generator.}

After I got home, I laid them down on that counter just to get a shot for you guys y’know, I wouldn’t have done that ordinarily 🥴, so I started to Scooby Doo the engine, brought out the essential parts from the blown up engine which are, the cylinder head, the camshaft, the crankshaft, the bearings, the governor (of no state, just controls engine speed) and the valves.
I cleaned up the new crankcase (or engine block) and started fitting things in, after setting the timing I attached the cylinder head and closed the engine, added the required amount of oil, put in some fuel into the carburetor and tried turning it on (without the exhaust of course) and it went off like an AK.

After fixing it into the frame, I attached the exhaust, the coil and armature, I turned the generator on once again and this time it was spending too much, I had to adjust the governor to get the perfect speed, once done it was done, I attached the tank and discovered it was already some minutes after 11 PM, oh man so I’ve been doing this Scooby Doo for more than 10 hours now!

Anyway here’s the thing the generator was allowed to run for some hours but as soon as the first hour was gone it went bang!
Dad said the load must be overwhelming, Big Bro asked if the armature was rubbing on the coil, little Bro asked if the oil was even original, all at the same time, I told them to calm down and the grin was there again.

_{Second crankcase blown up.}

The Next day I found myself at Jubilee by Asa road again pricing a half engine.
Oh wait you wanna hear that I went to buy replacement parts? Nah I can’t do that when I discovered that a 1800 Watt generator’s half engine costs 27k whereas the replacement parts I bought cost me 17k (more than half the price)
Man I bought a half engine please.

_{The new engine.}

I got home removed the damaged engine (which can still be repaired) and fixed in the new one and my little guy is looking sleek.
Considering the oil issues, I check the oil level anytime I’m about to turn it on, and most times I find it depleted, the generator has had no issues since then till now.