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 > For the folks asking for generator help

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gunny357

North Carolina

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Joined: 04/06/2005

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Posted: 01/02/08 04:40am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Post the whole machine make/model/spec and serial number. We need to know exactly what you have before we can give you any meaningful advice. Gas? Diesel? Propane?

Onan made a 4000 since the early '70's and they have changed them in some form almost yearly, sometimes oftener.

The brand and year of MH the geset is in is not helpful information.

Don't take it personal if folks don't or won't help you on this forum. Sometimes the way questions are presented or your terminology might make someone wonder if you have the capablities, skills or tools to safely work on or around a genset. You are dealing with possible lethal levels of electricity, flammable fuels, hot parts, rotating machinery and the posibility of damaging your MH or causing injury or death to others. Speaking of terminology, most folks who regfer to a generator as a genny immediately place themselves in the same catagory as the blonde who comes to the service station wanting her blinker fluid changed.

Note that there are a lot of folks who reply to requests for help who honestly try to help but are pretty much clueless. Hard to tell sometimes who does or does not know what they are talking about and following some of their advice could get you in deeper trouble.

Help us help you and post all the numbers. Yes it does make a difference.

carl66vw

Orlando, Florida, USA

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Posted: 01/02/08 07:39am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Good advise Gunny. Electricity is nothing to play games with. Carl

ejforwood

Littleton (Denver) Colorado

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Posted: 01/02/08 08:51am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

carl66vw wrote:

Good advise Gunny. Electricity is nothing to play games with. Carl

Actually there is very little on that "Expensive rolling home" that you will not cost yourself a lot of extra money + frustration if you are truly not qualified and do not have the proper tools! JMHO!


Jerry, Dottie & Chan, "the little furry one"
98 Bounder 34V, 99 F-53 Ford V10 chassis
06 Saturn VUE 4I


Handbasket

Asheville, NC

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Posted: 01/02/08 10:34am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

gunny357 wrote:


.....
Help us help you and post all the numbers. Yes it does make a difference.


AMEN! Folks'll post a whole page of hot air about how the problem developed, but give _no_ specifics about the unit. Some even seem unwilling to distinguish between 'won't crank', 'won't start', and 'won't run'. Good for you, Gunny, for continuing to have the paience to ask the same thing over & over.... I applaud the service you've offered to the folks on this forum, even if it sometimes takes gentle application of a clue by four.

Jim, "That's not an oil leak. It's just marking its territory."


'06 Tiger CX 'C Minus' on a Silverado 2500HD 4x4, 8.1 & Allison ('Loafer's Glory'); '07 Forester 2.5 ( the 'HANDBSKT'); '95 Toyota SR5 V-6 4x4 pickup, ARB locker, Bilsteins, Warn hubs & M8000, etc;
'94 968, M030 swaybars ('DOPPLER')

ssands

Nerk, Ahia

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Posted: 01/02/08 04:46pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Gunny, someone told me I needed to talk to you about my gen problem.
First, as per your instructions;
6.5 NHE-FA/26100 P
S/N; G980768473
Emerald Plus 6500(gas)
Installed in;
1999 Winnebago 37G
Ford chassis

Symptoms; Running the gen while driving down the road, it just quit. It would start but as soon as you released the button it died. Replaced the regulator and it would then start and run all day long as long as you're sitting still. You start the RV and start to travel and about 10 to 15 minutes of travel it seems to go "unstable" and shut down. By "unstable" I mean that the load(I have a load/amp indicator) starts to fluctuate and then shuts down. I've replaced the control board. No help. It will run all day while sitting still. I have the Onan troubleshooting manual, nothing in it that I could find that helped. Hope you can point me in a direction that will solve this mystery. Also changed fuel filter, plugs and air filter(it needed changed anyway).


Steve & Sharyl Sands and Fritz The Wonder Dog
1999 Winnebago Adventurer 37G
Visit www.Ohiorally.com
Come join the Ohio Rally Group in 2008.


ssands

Nerk, Ahia

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Posted: 01/02/08 05:03pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Just remembered. I also disconnected the remote control plug just to make sure it wasn't something in that circuit.

Thanks

SS

gunny357

North Carolina

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Posted: 01/02/08 06:13pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

ssands wrote:

Gunny, someone told me I needed to talk to you about my gen problem.
First, as per your instructions;
6.5 NHE-FA/26100 P
S/N; G980768473
Emerald Plus 6500(gas)
Installed in;
1999 Winnebago 37G
Ford chassis

Symptoms; Running the gen while driving down the road, it just quit. It would start but as soon as you released the button it died. Replaced the regulator and it would then start and run all day long as long as you're sitting still. You start the RV and start to travel and about 10 to 15 minutes of travel it seems to go "unstable" and shut down. By "unstable" I mean that the load(I have a load/amp indicator) starts to fluctuate and then shuts down. I've replaced the control board. No help. It will run all day while sitting still. I have the Onan troubleshooting manual, nothing in it that I could find that helped. Hope you can point me in a direction that will solve this mystery. Also changed fuel filter, plugs and air filter(it needed changed anyway).


Guess you figured out that the generator end has to be making voltage or it shuts down. Has it always done this or is this a new development? Wouldn't have started right after something else was done to the coach? I'm going to assume that the engine speed is not changing dramatically, that's something you'd probably hear and be able to identify immediately.
Now if it is a fuel system issue, fuel hose has a crack and movement causes it to start pulling in air and then this in turn causes the engine to run lean, get a gulp of fuel and run Ok until the next gulp of air. Engine slows enough so the voltage regulator can no longer make enough to keep the run relay picked up and it shuts down. Does the genset have its own fuel pick up tube or does it share? Sharing is not a good thing. Would doubt that something that new would be set up like that but take a look anyway. Fuel tank properly vented?
If an electrical issue, start looking for loose connections at the genset, in the control panel. Voltage sensing wires, plug to the voltage regulator? If you have already ran it with the remote disconnected and it made no difference, guess that isn't the problem.
If your fluctuation is slow, I'd look towards fuel, if fast, electrical. Would think the fluctuation is a symptom, not a cause.

ssands

Nerk, Ahia

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Posted: 01/02/08 06:48pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Thanks. As soon as it gets above freezing I'll check this out further. Right now it's 17*. Too cold for me anyway.

This is a new development. It started last summer. It had been working just fine up till then.

kg5388

memphis

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Posted: 01/02/08 10:36pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

artr1955 wrote:

Gunny I admire your patience , for continually having to ask for model # / Spec #
. Art


Bad thing is Gunny is/was in a shop like me and has many phone calls like this all day long while trying to fix the stuff he already has in the shop.
"whats the model number?"
they say I have to go check I'll call you back when they call back your elbow deep in a unit with your hands covered in oil or diesel and they get real impatient on the phone.
Then he comes to the forum here and does it some more.

wish we could get a sticky at the top of the page but they wouldn't read it anyway.


1995 viking pup
1988 four winns 160 freedom boat
Onan RV full service certified
level 2 onan industrial gen tech
comfortguard APU full service certified
onan portable full service certified
onan RV hybrid full service certified

Kendas

Tucson AZ

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Posted: 01/02/08 11:47pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

gunny357 wrote:

Post the whole machine make/model/spec and serial number. We need to know exactly what you have before we can give you any meaningful advice. Gas? Diesel? Propane?

Onan made a 4000 since the early '70's and they have changed them in some form almost yearly, sometimes oftener.

Gunny... I seem to remember 3.0-4.0 gensets going back to the late 50s/early 60s. At least that's what I saw on data plates of some of the old CCKs in the middle seventies that I had to deal with in the missile field in the Air Force.

The ones I had to work with had an "aux" pull rope pulley on the flywheel/fan end to go with the electric starter... Not too bad to pull start until they'd get down to the low single digits and below in Montana.

400 pounds of "bullet proof" cast iron jugs and would run under some "hellish" conditions for days at a time.


1978 21ft Tioga Dodge 440 Motor,
4.5kw Generac and 80 watts Solar
Misc Things I've done to my RV pictures

USAF Retired
To Err is human... To Forgive is not SAC Policy.


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