Generator Coolant Access MS400

[welippisch]

Soooo..... Had my Kohler generator water cooler serviced. Had to drain the coolant. Now I want to refill the coolant. The generator is in the lazarette, there is about 1 inch between the top of the generator and the lazarette roof since it is tucked under the deck floor. How do you get to the pressure cap to release it so that I can replace the coolant?

 

[Seevee]

First, it's a bitch.


Remove the sound cover, if you have one and throw it away. Makes generator maintenance impossible, especially filling the coolant.


Make yourself a funnel like below, with a flexible plastic tube attached to it.


You can fill the tank easily, just add enough to fill to about 80% (for the 8kw, it takes 4.12 qts. To top it off, put some towels around the filler cap. Fill the "loop" part of the tube. Lift the funnel and it runs slowly into the tank. You can tell with your fingers when full. And, yes you want to fill it right to the brim.


Doing the above works fine and you can easily fill it up with minimal mess.

 

[Mermaid]

On my 400, there wasn’t enough clearance to remove the top of the sound shield. Sadly, we ended up having to cut a hole in the deck over the location of the fill cap. We tried for a couple of days to figure out how else to get at it, short of pulling the generator out of the hole. Hopefully, yours has that wee bit of room to pop the top of the soundshield loose so you can remove it.

If I ever have to replace that generator, I am going to seriously consider something a tad smaller in footprint, or at least height.

 

[Seevee]

On my 400, there wasn’t enough clearance to remove the top of the sound shield. Sadly, we ended up having to cut a hole in the deck over the location of the fill cap. We tried for a couple of days to figure out how else to get at it, short of pulling the generator out of the hole. Hopefully, yours has that wee bit of room to pop the top of the soundshield loose so you can remove it.

If I ever have to replace that generator, I am going to seriously consider something a tad smaller in footprint, or at least height.

Yes, that's an option.. but the sound shield doesn't work if you want to keep up with maintenance.... and it takes an effort to remove it. Now, you can unbolt the genny, leaving only one bolt in the corner and swing it out a fair amount. And the hatch in the deck would work, too.

 

[welippisch]

Found a way to access the cap from the Starboard after removing the battery, the side sound panels as well as the pillars holding up the horizontal top sound panel so it could be pushed up . With barely enough room, the pressure cap was removed by hand. A small clear tube attached to a transfer pump worked. What a pain for such a simple thing.

 

[Dougcole]

Seevee has it right. If it is possible to get it off, dump the sound shield, frame and all. The small reduction in noise it provides is not worth the access issues it causes.


Even with it off it's not easy to get to the pressure cap, but it is much better.