After some TLC and many years of service I'm afraid that my good ol 1999 Generac/Tecumseh portable gen-set is on it's last leg. It has served me well over the years but now it's time to purchase a new one and possibly a slightly larger unit then the 5000 watt I currently have. I wanted to get a general consensus regarding diesel vs. gas. I know the 1800-rpm diesels are far superior to the 3600-rpm gas portables but budget doesn’t allow for it at this time, since it will only be used occasionally as a backup during power outages. What I wanted to know is, do the 3600-rpm portable diesels have any advantage over the gas portables in terms of durability and possible long run times? My old 99 Tecumseh powered Generac did a 4-day stretch averaging 11-12 hour a day for 4 days. One of the gas portables I was interested in was the Northstar 8000 watt powered by the Honda GX 390 engine sold by Northern Tool. It looked like a decent buy with regard to the specs and affordable price and it is powered by Honda's commercial engine. The other unit that peaked my interest was a 3600 rpm diesel unit by a Canadian company called Aurora. Does anyone have any experience with either the Northstar or Aurora gen-sets? I know most will shout buy a Honda but like I said budget doesn’t allow for it at this time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have a Countax ride on with a 14HP B&S Vanguard V twin engine. Its at our holiday home in France so gets a winter lay up of about 4 months then used at intervals of 4-6 weeks. From about 5 years ago, come the first start-up after being laid up over winter, the engine would show signs of fuel starvation - spluttering and missing - for a short while then run fine and not show any recurrence all season. Last year the symptoms persisted on the first start up but I used a neighbour's 'suction bulb' on the outlet of the diaphragm pump to expel air/pull fuel through. Then the engine ran fine all season. This year I cannot get rid of the lean running irrespective of what I do to remove air/pull fuel through. The engine starts immediately and idles perfectly. Suddenly putting throttle to max causes a stutter then the engine runs at full revs but soon as any load is applied - e.g cutters engaged - the power and revs drop off and the engine stutters and misses. If I pressurise the fuel tank by blowing into it the engine will then maintain full power/load for about 30 seconds after before stuttering and missing. The same occurs every time I take the pipes off the diaphragm pump to suck air out - it runs smoothly for about 30 seconds and pulls full power. This would indicate to me that the carburettor is working OK but the bowl is not being refilled. I've taken the diaphragm pump off and tested the functionality by blowing through. Crankcase connection shows no leaks so diaphragm OK, Fuel line non-return valve(s) OK as I can blow in direction of fuel but not suck. So pump seems OK. Q1 - Could it be there is no crankcase pulse getting to the diaphragm pump? If so is there a breather that may be blocked and if so where is it because I cannot locate it on the B&S manual? Q2 - Is a pump actually necessary, given that the tank on this mower is above the carburettor so the pressure head varies from around 12" max to 3" minimum? I'll take some fuel line with me on my next visit. Q3 - Am I missing anything / Any other ideas?