Martin diesel generators

[Doc Weaver]

18 months ago I bought a gen set from these guys. I was happy to buy from a fellow Ohio company.... until I started using it. The motor is a Yanmar engine, so I expected quality from the company as well as the engine. To make a long story short, after 18 months of trouble with this thing, it finally had a catastrophic failure.

When I called Martin Diesel, the owner started with a plethora of excuses of why it would NOT be covered under the 2 year warranty ..... before he even saw the gen set.

As expected, they are not going to fix it. Actually what he said was that he was putting together a price for them to fix it. I told him that I was going to come get it and have someone fix it that honors their warranty. He (the CEO) hung up on me.

Does anyone know of a repair facility near Cincinnati that can help me? hopefully an honest company.

[Doc Weaver]

Well, repair seems futile, I ordered an Onan QD6000 today. I expect Cummins will honor its warranty a little better.

[hot rod]

I don't know what your power requirements are, but my Hondas have been outstanding. I have a portable eu1000 that has literally thousands of hours and still ticking. Last year I upgraded to a eu3000is for enough to run my a/c and that has about 700 hours on it already and humming along like new. I know they also make a 6000 or 6500 watt unit. They are not really designed for permanent installs like an rv generator, but I know a lot of racers that use a side compartment door with the generator on a slide out drawer to get it out in the air for cooling and maintenance. I can't speak highly enough about mine.

[hot rod]

So what was the excuse for not honoring the warranty?

[Doc Weaver]

Honda makes a good generator, no doubt about that. They don't make a diesel though.

The top piston ring broke and they said that was not a warranty-able repair. They accused me of too much and too little oil, wrong types of fuel, bad installation, everything they could think of.

[#90-GTSC]

So ... we cross Martin generators off the list.

[Gordy]

I have a skid mounted4 cyl Kubota with 11 kw Stamford 240v 1 phase if you are interested

[hot rod]

too much oil? just blow out the crankcase vent. too little oil? burn up a bearing, not a piston ring. bad installation? unless it was so over enclosed that it badly overheated. I can't imagine anything there, and again the piston ring would not be the first thing to burn up. wrong fuel? unless you filled it full of gasoline, and then it would immediately shut off before anything mechanical could be damaged. so are they full of crap or just stupid?

hopefully they will get enough bad reputation from your experience to cost them far more in the long run than fixing your generator.

[Doc Weaver]

Well I was trying to help an Ohio small business (like myself) and that didn't pay off. I sure couldn't treat my customers that way.

Gordy, I appreciate the offer, but I have an Onan QD6000 on the way. I think it has a Kubota 3 cylinder in it.