I have a Generac Guardian 7kw standby generator. It is set up to operator on natural gas. It won't start in auto or manual mode. The engine doesn't crank. The starter solenoid just makes a chattering sound but doesn't engage the starter. Thinking that the solenoid was bad, I bought a new solenoid and it does the same thing. The control wiring on the solenoid has about 6.5 volts when it is trying to engage to start. Does anyone have a suggestion about where to go from here in trying to diagnose the problem? Thanks

Does the chattering come from the solenoid or from the starter?

Did you check voltage in the battery,

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Does the chattering come from the solenoid or from the starter?

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Harold, the chattering is coming from the solenoid.

DG, I checked the battery voltage and it is fine... 14 volts. Thanks for any help.

I haven't had a chance to reply or work on the problem the last day or so, but I'm going to try to get to it tomorrow. Would like to get it running in case of the need due to bad weather. We live in south Alabama and there is always the danger of hurricanes this time of year.

Check all connections and wire of control wires. Amperage of control wire would be low but voltage should be 12 volts.

Ok, I checked all connections and found one. Fixed it but that wasn't the problem. It is an intermittent problem though. Traced the wiring from the solenoid to the circuit board. At first I had only 6 or 7 volts when trying to start and then for a minute I had about 13volts. I hooked the solenoid back up and tried it again but the voltage was back to 6. I'm thinking the circuit board is bad. Its getting 13 to 14 v from the battery but isn't sending but 6 or 7 down to the solenoid when it is energized.

If your in a spot and need it , you can run a hot wire from the switch to the solenoid and by pass the board until you get one.

Ok, finally got around to working on my problem again. Looks like it simply going to be a defective battery. Yeah, I checked the voltage and it was fine. Just a normal 12v battery. But when you hit the start switch and try to start, the voltage at the battery drops to about 6 volts. So I jumped it off and it works fine. Currently charging the battery to see if it will operate the generator, if not then I'll be buying a new battery. I never have seen a battery's voltage drop. I thought it was either 12v or not like with a dead cell.

Good job.