Breakdown callout · Sharjah · Dubai · Ajman
Generator down? Call and tell us what the panel is showing
Mobile engineers with the common failure parts on the van, and a full workshop behind them for the jobs that cannot be fixed where the set stands.
Do not reset it and try again
If the set shut down on low oil pressure (the damage happens on the second run, not the first), high coolant temperature (never open a hot system or add cold water to a hot engine), overspeed (a governor that ran away once will do it again), a knock, rumble or new noise under load, a burnt smell or visible scorching at the alternator terminal box, or repeated breaker trips (the breaker is reporting a real fault) — leave it stopped. Every one of those is a diagnosis, not a reset. Call, describe it, and leave the set alone.
Two minutes on the phone
Call this in before you call us
The right information routinely saves a wasted journey and gets the right parts on the van first time.
- Where the set isBuilding, area, emirate, and how a van gets to it. Rooftop? Basement plant room? Behind a security gate that closes at 18:00?
- What the panel saysThe exact alarm text, and the event log if you can photograph it. Send it to +971 50 767 9050 on WhatsApp.
- Make, model and ratingPlus the engine and alternator models from the plates.
- What it is doingWill not crank? Cranks and will not fire? Runs but no output? Starts then shuts down after a specific time?
- What changed just beforeA power cut, a fuel delivery, a new load, someone else's site visit.
- What is on the lineIs the site currently dark, or is the mains back and the set simply unavailable? That changes the priority, and we would rather know.
While you wait, generator troubleshooting sets out the checks that are safe to make yourself — and the faults that must not be reset in the field.
Where your job lands
Fixed on site, or brought back
We say which on site rather than improvising. When the answer is the workshop, the useful part is that the component travels and the set stays — the cabling, exhaust and foundations stay untouched, which is what keeps downtime shortest.
The majority of breakdowns
Restored where the set stands
- Batteries, cables, isolators and charging faults
- Fuel filters, water separators, bleeding an air-locked system, fuel solenoids
- AVRs, sensing fuses and voltage faults — see control panel and AVR repair
- Controller alarms, sensors, senders, magnetic pickups, wiring and earthing faults
- Starter motors and charging alternators
- Belts, hoses, thermostats, radiator cleaning, coolant
- Rotating diode replacement on many alternator frames
- Changeover and AMF faults that stop an available set from taking load
Machines that do not travel
Back to Industrial Area 15
- Alternator rewinding — the winding bay, varnish and oven do not travel
- Engine overhaul, top or major — the crankshaft, block and head go on machines that do not travel
- Cylinder head crack testing and surfacing
- Injector and injection pump testing and calibration on the bench
- Panel rebuilds
- Recovery is arranged as part of the job — tell us on the call what the set is mounted on and what access there is, and it is planned with the repair rather than after it
Why the first visit usually ends in a repair
What is on the van, and what is behind it
Fixing it on the first visit is a stocking decision rather than a skill one. Our service vehicles carry the parts that actually fail on UAE gensets, chosen from what we are called out for: filters for the common industrial engine families, belts and hoses, batteries and cabling, fuel solenoids and lift pumps, sensors, senders and magnetic pickups, sensing fuses, the AVR families fitted to the alternators that dominate this market, rotating diode bridges, coolant and oil.
Behind the van is the reason we can go further than a mobile-only operation. When the fault turns out to be a burnt winding or a spun bearing, we are not looking for a third party — the winding bay and the machine shop are ours, and the component goes straight into our own queue rather than somebody else's. That is the difference between a breakdown that ends in a diagnosis and one that ends in a repair.
- Coverage, honestly
The workshop is in Industrial Area 15, Sharjah, behind the Yerevan Steel Factory. Sharjah and Ajman are closest; northern and eastern Dubai next; Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah beyond that; Abu Dhabi and Fujairah longer again and better arranged in advance.
- Response agreed on the call
Rather than advertise a figure that would be true in Sharjah at 10:00 and false in Jebel Ali at 17:00. Tell us the emirate, the building, the access and whether the site is without power, and you are given a time we can hold.
- The queue, in order
Sites that are dark, then sets under contract, then everything else.
Where we work most
By emirate
Anybody can be called in an emergency. What a maintenance contract changes is the queue. Sets we already maintain come with the history, the readings and the model numbers already known — which means the right engineer with the right parts, first time. If your generator failing is a serious event for your operation, the sensible response after this breakdown is a maintenance contract, not a phone number in a drawer.
Common questions
Breakdown callout, answered
Can I call outside working hours?
Yes — +971 50 767 9050 is the number to use for a set that is down, whatever the hour, and it is the line we answer for enquiries from the web. What we will not do is promise on a web page that an engineer is standing at the door at 03:00 in every emirate. Call, describe the fault, and you will be told when someone can be with you and what can be done on the phone in the meantime.
How fast can you get to my generator?
It depends on the emirate and the time of day, and we tell you on the call rather than in advance. Sharjah and Ajman are closest to the workshop; Dubai is a regular run; Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi are longer. A site that is currently dark goes to the front of the queue, and a set under contract goes ahead of that. You will be given a realistic time rather than an optimistic one, which is the only kind worth having when a building is off supply.
Can you fix it on site, or does the generator have to be taken away?
Most breakdowns are fixed on site — fuel, batteries, AVRs, sensors, controllers, cooling and belts. What has to come to Sharjah is rewinding, engine overhaul and injection equipment calibration, because those need machines that do not travel. The full split is on the generator repair and service page.
The panel is locked out. Can I just reset it?
Only once you know what caused the shutdown. Reset a warning, yes. Never reset a low oil pressure, high coolant temperature or overspeed shutdown and rerun the set — that is how a repairable fault becomes a rebuilt engine. See generator troubleshooting.
Do you work on generators you have never seen before?
Almost all of them. We are an independent repairer with no brand dealership and we work across Caterpillar, Cummins, Perkins, FG Wilson, Kohler, Onan, Volvo and the rest. Have the nameplates ready when you call.
The engine runs but there is no power. Is that an emergency callout?
Yes, and it is one of the most common. It is usually excitation — a sensing fuse, an AVR, or a rotating diode — all of which are fixable on site if the part is on the van. See alternator repair and rewinding.
Set down? Call now
Call or WhatsApp +971 50 767 9050. Send a photograph of the controller screen and the data plate to the same number — most of the diagnosis starts there. Planned work and quotations: jacob@abradiesel.com.