Flashing generator help

[GameRV]

Ok, 21kw norpro / Isuzu generator started up a week and a half ago but produced no power. Gen had not been started in about 6 weeks. All I read led me to try and flash the gen with a corded drill. Started gen and after a while plugged in drill. All I did was pull trigger and drill worked beautifully. Went in and everything worked, full power. I never had to spin chuck or anything, just pull trigger. I let it run for 30 minutes. Came back 2 days later, same problem, no power. This time drill didnt fix. Shut off all breakers but one for the drill and drill spun ever so slowly. Tv's flicker like they ate getting some power but not enough. Eventually over time drill fired up and then all worked again. We fired up the ac's and headed out. Soon all power quit again. Back to drill. Eventually drill spun up and power back. All was ok for 2 hours no issues. Back today, 8 days and same, no power. Gave up on drill after few minutes. When generator first turns over, drill runs fast and lights flicker but quickly out and drill goes to crawl. Is this a bad AVR? If so, where is it in this model? I guess when we find it we can test to see of its 60hz and that guarantees bad AVR?
Thoughts??
Thanks

[dnix71]

Make sure the rpm is correct. I have a small 2 stroke genset that only comes out rarely. Last time it ran with no voltage out until I realized the choke plate wasn't fully open. The rpm was a little short and somehow it knows and won't power up.

[GameRV]

This is a 21kw Isuzu / Norpro diesel generator. Is there a choke plate? Now I'm confused.

[dnix71]

There has to be a governor even on a diesel. If you are not up to speed it may inhibit the AVR. Clogged injectors, dirty air filter or a sticky valve would keep a diesel from running at rated rpm.

[GameRV]

Hmmmm.Ok, but how come the corded drill fix works? That is what led me to flashing and the field failing to stay polarized. I am a dummie abut this stuff and hope u can explain how a corded drill spinning after a while gets the RPM's up or injectors are no longer clogged. I have a good diesel mechanic but we kind of thought it was on the gen set side, not necessarily on the engine. Thoughts?

[dnix71]

Plugging in an appliance isn't flashing. Rapping the stack with a hammer or waving a strong magnet near the coils is flashing. Some inverters and gensets won't switch on unless there is a small resistive load on the output. A lot of people here have resorted to plugging in a small wattage common lightbulb or something similar to get finicky inverters or gensets to stay on.

My small genset has a fuel saving idle feature that backs the rpm down if there is no load. That means some things won't work alone on it. A washing machine timer might not keep running between cycle changes if it doesn't pull enough watts to keep the genset from idling.

[GameRV]

Thanks for the info. I gave it to my mechanic and will post results.