>>918475>>Honda and Yamaha generators are more or less considered the best.>Correct, also the most expensive by a large margin. They are built well though.Several years back, we had the power knocked out after a storm (all too common in this 1950s neighborhood with huge trees) and after the 2nd day of no power, I went out and bought a Ryobi 2000 watt generator from Homey Despot for $550. This is essentiality a Honda knock-off that doesn’t cost $1200.
Sure enough, I only needed the generator for a couple of hours before the power came back on, so I drained the gas and put it away.
A few of months later, the power went out again and I ran the generator, only for it to die after a 1/2 hour and when I checked it out, I discovered crankcase oil all over the drip pan (it’s got a low oil automatic shut-off).
Of course the return-for-refund warranty was only good for 30 days and I had to call Ryobi and they said to take it to a local yard equipment dealer / repair shop (Bid's Service on 10 Mile in Warren MI) that was authorized by Ryobi to fix their stuff.
Next thing I know, the repair joint calls me and says the main oil seals are blown and Ryobi refuses to honor the warranty and send them the parts to fix it, so I spend the next couple of days playing phone tag with Ryobi and bitching them out until they finally send out the parts (they wanted me to ship the generator, at MY expense, to their facility in Indiana!).
The repair shop eventually fixes the generator and I get it back and after writing a scathing negative review on the Homey Despot web site, I scroll thru other comments and find several other consumers who had the oil drain plug come loose and leak crankcase oil everywhere.
My guess is that the repair joint was pulling a scam and claiming blown oil seals when all it was, was a loose oil drain plug and that’s why Ryobi was giving me shit about shipping back the generator.
Only used once since then for a couple of hours and it ran fine.
