Westinghouse Inv/Gen Brand New Won’t Start

Does it have spark?

Make sure fuel is making it into the carb. Make sure the choke is on. Put a small shot of fuel into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and give it a few pulls.

I’m ordering one now and telling Amazon the same thing

Does it have oil? There are low oil permissives and shutdowns

LOL - not making fun , I feel your pain. On a tip from the Outdoor board back in August Sam Club (on-line purchase, not in store) had clearance sell on the Westinghouse IGen 2200 and I was able to pick one up for $299 - in fact it arrived the day Hurricane Laura hit LC. It was a spare, didn’t really need it as I have 2 other portable generators, but the deal was to good to pass up and I can always find use for it, and the numerous buyer reviews on this model are outstanding.

Anyway, same problem you are having - damn thing wouldn’t start out of the box. Best I can do after spending hours with it is to get it to run 10 sec and that’s it. Though not a mechanic I’ve fixed beaucoup non-running small engines over the years and just can’t figure what’s wrong with it. Taken it apart twice trying to troubleshoot it (inverters have a few more electric components) - etc - can’t identify anything wrong. Spark, gasoline to carb, oil, fresh gasoline, air to carb, compression - even removed the carb to check for a stuck float - all seemed fine. Didn’t want to go much further as being a new unit it’s under warranty. I checked other forums online to see if others had a similar problem with this model and nada found. Didn’t find a service manual for this model on line but didn’t expect to.

I have been on the Westinghouse generator web site looking for service bulletins to further troubleshoot (no luck with our specific problem) and I did e-mail from their website a request for assistance and received a claim number but with notification it would be a while before hearing from them as they were snowed under with problem requests - hurricane season and all. Anyway I’ve never heard back and this is a good reminder for me to get back in touch with them. One can telephone in a complaint and request assistance - I haven’t done that yet. There is an authorized repair center for Westnghouse generators in Baton Rouge I can bring it to for warranty repair with authorization.

Anyway if you figure it out and get it to run be sure to post an update. I’ll follow up on mine this week with this reminder. Hope you have better luck getting yours to run than I’ve had.

Well shite that doesn’t sound promising

Last night while searching for help I found a review on Amazon that stated Westinghouse has been shipping non running generators in October and November of 2020. Found numerous recent reviews of the damn thing not running out of the box. Unfortunately none with any answers. I’ll keep working at it when I can and let u know if I figure anything out.

I got one of the ones on sale at Sam's and it runs fine. I decided to get another one from Amazon (couldn't get a 2nd one on sale from Sam's) and I could never get it to work. I think the off/choke/run knob was messed up. It was real loose, like it was about to fall off. I sent a video and picture of how loose the knob was to Westinghouse customer service and never heard back. I drained the oil and gas and sent it back to Amazon.

I decided to try and get a second again from Amazon, so I could parallel them. Added oil and gas and it would never start. I didn't even bother with Westinghouse customer service. Drained oil and gas and returned to Amazon.

I bought two of the extended run fuel tanks, one for each. Each tank holds 6 gals. I have one of those I don't need if anyone is interested.

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Do you have a link to the extended run tanks? I have a small champion model inverter and I want to see if it's compatible before claiming it.

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This is what I have.

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Had a similar issue with the same generator and these things are really sensitive to flooding and moisture in the gas.
1. Make sure there is bright blue spark at the gap of the spark plug. If not, it’s likely the oil sensor or on/off switch
2. Spray a little starting fluid in the air intake to see if it starts.
3. Drain the gas out of the carb and fill with brand new gas.
4. Take the plug out, spray a little starting fluid in the cylinder and turn it over a 10-12 times. That usually clears out the excess fuel.
5. When starting it, once it blips, take it off choke or it will flood again.

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I did all that, each and every step you listed, multiple times on my new out the box iGen2200, and the best I can get with that is max run time of 5, maybe 10 seconds.

I did read a service bulletin on the Westinghouse website for the IGen 2500 that a heavy drops during shipment could cause an electrical plug to become disconnected preventing starting, so I took the housing off my iGen2200 to see if something similar might have happened on and though I did see a free electrical molex plug not plugged into anything I did not find another electrical receptacle it plugged into so I assume that “free” plug, though buried inside the housing, might be for some other purpose.

I notice the carburetor on this generator has an electrical stepper motor on top of it and as I read on websites that is to regulate the rpms of the gen when under load to conserve fuel. I have no past experience with carb with stepper motors - anyone know a bad/defective stepper motor could prevent the generator from starting or would it just bugger up the running performance at idle?

These generators are supposedly test run at the factory before shipping but who knows coming from China. Sure wish I could get my hands on a service manual for this model. Another note, putting the complete housing back on this generator after removal is a total bitch, but maybe it’s just me.

I just put a shot of gas in the plug hole and it fired up ans ran for 2 seconds and died. So I’m guessing it’s some issue with the carb?