Hi, newbie here. I just purchased a generator from someone off of craigslist here in Houston (16 days without power and counting). Well, I guess I got ripped off. The guy said that the generator was hard to start, but put out the correct voltage when it was running.

The generator is a Coleman Vertex 7500. It is electric start with no pull start backup, and had a dead battery, so I was unable to test it. The guy seemed honest enough and I was desperate, so I bought it.

Got it home and it was hard to start, like the starter couldn't overcome the compression on the compression stroke. It is a Briggs 14.5 horse vertical engine BTW. Anyway, I adjusted the valves to .004 and it starts up fine now.

Only problem is that is only puts out about 65-70 volts. I have changed the brushes. Checked both diodes and the capacitor and they all read fine. But still only 70 or so volts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance,

Chris