I stupidly did not read the instruction booklet for a brand new Sumo 1100W 4 stroke generator, and ran it without oil! (Assuming it had come ready to run)
Of course it seized after a few minutes.
Is it scrap - or is there anything I can do?

I have a basic understanding of engines and used to work on motorcycle engines in my youth.

Russell, September 2008

russel... the motor heat siezed. what you can do is dump some marvel mystery oil in the spark plug hole ... or tarnny fluid ... then put a whench on the flywheel nut ,(or give the starter rope a hard yank ) this might do it . the engine will smoke from the remaing oil , but it might go , I did the same with my murry rider 10 hp once and it worked

nort73, September 2008

Before putting it in the scrap ben take off the exhaust and see if piston is scored badly if it is then buy new parts & fix or scrap it but if scratches are very minor try pulling sparkplug and pouring penatrating oil down around piston and let soak fora couple of days and it may just loosen-up?
But I'm affraid you most likely broke rings and scored the piston too badly when it seized but it can be fix if you know what your doing and can find parts!

Mike E, September 2008

They ship these items without oil for a reason so it does not spill everywhere.
If the engine has seized it is a bin job cause the price of the parts will out way the cost of a new generator, also if not a common make of engine like honda or briggs & stratton the parts will not be available(if a cheap chinese engine)
If you really want to keep the generator look at the istructions and find out the spec of the engine and their are sellers on ebay selling copy honda engines for about £30-50 brand new but you have to trawl through the pages

Carol, September 2008