Onan Story

[Bud]

Maybe someone can explain an*incident with an onan generator, gas 05/04 Roadtrek 190P. I'm posting this because maybe I'm just*bored, but some may find it interesting,* Although I understand small engines some, I can't explain any of the following:

Last August I left the New Orleans area for the western US making it 120 miles at about 1:00 pm and 92 degrees outside, when the van's a/c gave up.* Now what?* Head home,* What the heck I'll use the B's a/c, like it will keep me cool. I knew better, but I pulled off the road and depressed the generator start button.* It would not start for the first time.* It has been consistently flawless for 13 years. The van was leaning to the right some, so off to find a shady spot.* Nice big service station, clean with nice shade trees.* Nothing, won't start, but maybe low oil, virtually zero chance, but I checked.* A police car was filling up, so I asked about the van's a/c.* Go about 5 miles to Jimmy's tire store or someone's, tire store?* *I was in and out in about one hour, and $150 later, doesn't get much better, I'm smiling heading west again.

About a week later I'm at maybe 5-8 thousand*feet somewhere and think it would be nice to use the microwave to heat something up.* Why not?* I depressed the start button and in about 1 second the generator fired up and ran fine.* It has never done that unless the generator has been used recently, but still not that fast, never.* If not run for awhile, it will take some time to start.

The generator has been flawless since and has started normally since that 1 second, cold start after not be used for weeks.

Go figure, and please report back.

Bud

[booster]

If it hadn't been run in a while when it wouldn't start, it could have been either fuel or spark, I think. It was also pretty hot at 92* outsides and getting rear axle and engine heat, which can affect both.


The fact that it started fast a week later may indicate the fuel pump did run in the start attempt that failed, so more likely spark? I seem to remember that someone had mentioned the Onan has a separate path for spark whether on the start button or running. I think it was in response to problems of running with button held, but goes off when released issues. The heat of the drive may have caused a short time ignition fault, maybe, that was OK once it cooled and got bounced some with driving, and the fast restart was that it was full of full from the non start pump running so full of gas in the carb, and maybe engine even (flooded at the time). Just a SWAG, though.



Interesting case though. Sounds like the shop did a quick refrigerant add for you? If that is the case, you may have a leak, but you won't really know until you go a while to see if it happens again. Adding a little refrigerant every couple of years is not all that bad if it is a slow leak. I put a can and half into the old Buick when I got it, and it has not needed any in the last 7 years so if it is leaking it is tiny.

[rowiebowie]

I would actually chalk it up to luck. Luck, because the rear a/c would not have cooled the cab area comfortably and it forced you to get the dash air fixed pronto.

Maybe the old generator was just being helpful or it was feeling tired that day and was sayin' "No way am I cooling the front and back in August heat. Nope, too much work."

Buy the way, you should buy it a nice tank of ethenol free gas for being such a true and trusted friend all these years.

[mkguitar]

most gennys tap off the vehicle gas tank at a point above 1/3 full


if you are at 1/4 tank, the fuel pick up is above the fuel level


possible?


when not used for awhile my genny may start on the 3rd application of the starter ( 20 seconds, wait a minute)


when the carb has been a little dirty, driving a bunch with fresh gas sloshing in the float bowl does clean it up which coul dhave been happening as you drove along



best is to exercise the genny regularly and if you are a member, Costco gas has higher detergent than most brands ( "top tier")


Mike

[Bud]

Originally Posted by booster

If it hadn't been run in a while when it wouldn't start, it could have been either fuel or spark, I think. It was also pretty hot at 92* outsides and getting rear axle and engine heat, which can affect both.


The fact that it started fast a week later may indicate the fuel pump did run in the start attempt that failed, so more likely spark? I seem to remember that someone had mentioned the Onan has a separate path for spark whether on the start button or running. I think it was in response to problems of running with button held, but goes off when released issues. The heat of the drive may have caused a short time ignition fault, maybe, that was OK once it cooled and got bounced some with driving, and the fast restart was that it was full of full from the non start pump running so full of gas in the carb, and maybe engine even (flooded at the time). Just a SWAG, though.



Interesting case though. Sounds like the shop did a quick refrigerant add for you? If that is the case, you may have a leak, but you won't really know until you go a while to see if it happens again. Adding a little refrigerant every couple of years is not all that bad if it is a slow leak. I put a can and half into the old Buick when I got it, and it has not needed any in the last 7 years so if it is leaking it is tiny.

Thanks for the response booster, and tend to agree. Agree that the carb kinda must have had the perfect fuel mix for example.

Concerning the refrigerant, good guess I think as I've been there, different vehicle. It was cold then very quickly blowing hot. I was there when almost immediately the older fellow took all of less 2 minutes to diagnose once his stuff was hooked up. As I recall it was called a 'low pressure switch'. Auto parts store delivery was the longest part. I have never added refrigerant, and yesterday it seem to be blowing as cold as ever.

Sorry about all those *****, working on the cause.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Bud

Thanks for the response booster, and tend to agree. Agree that the carb kinda must have had the perfect fuel mix for example.

Concerning the refrigerant, good guess I think as I've been there, different vehicle. It was cold then very quickly blowing hot. I was there when almost immediately the older fellow took all of less 2 minutes to diagnose once his stuff was hooked up. As I recall it was called a 'low pressure switch'. Auto parts store delivery was the longest part. I have never added refrigerant, and yesterday it seem to be blowing as cold as ever.

Sorry about all those *****, working on the cause.

Low pressure switch, yep add coolant most times. A check that often works unless the refrigerant is totally gone is to open the hood and watch the compressor drive pulley. Set the AC to as cold as you can and high fan in the van and the compressor pulley should be pulled in and stay there. If it cycles on and off and van isn't cold, you probably have low freon or a bad low pressure switch. Sidebar is this is a good test to run if you are looking at a used vehicle, also.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

I would actually chalk it up to luck. Luck, because the rear a/c would not have cooled the cab area comfortably and it forced you to get the dash air fixed pronto.

Maybe the old generator was just being helpful or it was feeling tired that day and was sayin' "No way am I cooling the front and back in August heat. Nope, too much work."

Buy the way, you should buy it a nice tank of ethenol free gas for being such a true and trusted friend all these years.

rowie, as I wrote I knew the B a/c would was a waste of time like you. When I was pulling over to start the generator I kept asking myself why are you doing this. If it had started, I would have still had to go home or had it fixed locally. I kind of thought that I might be spending the night in a motel waiting to have it fixed the next day. Yes, lots of luck.

[Bud]

"most gennys tap off the vehicle gas tank at a point above 1/3 full

if you are at 1/4 tank, the fuel pick up is above the fuel level

possible?

No. If curious, the gas gauge is right at 1/8 tank when the generator is 'out' of gas.


"when not used for awhile my genny may start on the 3rd application of the starter ( 20 seconds, wait a minute)"


Again, if curious: Living in the New Orleans I start the generator for it's exercise in about 40-90 degrees. If 80 degrees, I use the starter for 2=3 seconds then wait a few seconds. It will start on the third use of the starter and run fine. If 40-50 degrees, I have to do the same about 4-5 times then it starts and dies about 3-4 times then keeps running fine. I like to guess at stuff more than most folks maybe. I enjoy, like guessing how many times the generator will die based on the ambient temperature before it keeps running.

We all know how lousy LOUD onan generators can be. This one has been flawless and consistent except for not starting the one time. Well, several times that one day.

[hbn7hj]

Sounds like a perfect case of vapor lock. There is a lot of heat back there. All the hot air from the engine, hot pavement, a sucking fuel pump, hot fuel, done.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

Sounds like a perfect case of vapor lock. There is a lot of heat back there. All the hot air from the engine, hot pavement, a sucking fuel pump, hot fuel, done.

Interesting, and I had not thought of that. Never recall hearing about it with an onan, but could be I suppose. My understanding it that it is usually a function of both fuel temp And altitude. Stuff boils, vapor with less air density. The Express Van knows all about it - heat and altitude. In this case I was at maybe 40-50 feet of altitude.

[Bjones7788]

2004/5 Onans in Roadtreks have altitude adjustment levers (red as I recall) on the carburetors - which most golks are not going to find and use of course.

Our 2013 RT with Onan has a fixed jet carburetor so no altitude adjustment lever - even with a new carb from Onan at a big Baltimore Onan dealership and a long stay at the Onan dealership in Phoenix still no starting above 5,000 above sea level even with low density altitude (below freezing).

Drive down a couple of thousand feet and it starts fine.

In contrast our 2004 Onan/Roadtrek has never given us a moments problem in over 200,000 miles regardless of altitude except for a breaker switch in the Onan housing that I dunked under water launching boats too often.

At first I just needed to reset the switch then after a while it needed replacement. I had a 5' trsieler hitch extension made up - just remove regular hitch ball and shaft at the boat ramp, install the extension, launch/retieve then put the original hitch ball and shaft back on before going out on the road with boat and trailer. This keeps rear of RT and bottom of Onan out of salt water
BJ
Chesapeake Bay and Florida Keys and Lake Powell etc

[peteco]

Bob,
Could you describe your hitch extension some more? I would like to launch a boat with my 210 but need an extension.

[booster]

Originally Posted by peteco

Bob,
Could you describe your hitch extension some more? I would like to launch a boat with my 210 but need an extension.

I have also seen the gennies protected by launching with a front hitch. I bet that is interesting to lean how to steer, though.

[Bjones7788]

Hey guys

I had a local boat trailer repair shop here in the Florida Keys cut a piece of heavy gauge galvanized steel trailer tongue, 2" OD and it fit perfectly into the receiver on my 2013 Chevy RT.
Of course they drilled a hole in one end for a hitch ball and drilled a hitch pin hole in the other end.
I had the shop cut the extension so it just barely fits into the rear compartment of our 190 Popular. I want to say $200 all told.
Since I rent boats while traveling I keep the extension in the RT.
It works fine on ramps made to state specifications for slope and steeper ramps but some of the gravel patch ramps in shallow water areas may be a problem. How high the boat sits on the trailer may be an issue. Cat hulls sit above the fenders need to be backed down deeper. V hulls sit down between bunks/rollers. If renting a boat, I check the trailers for best loading without backing down the ramp too much (yeah, a bit weird to say) Happy to send a photo. drjones7788@gmail.com

Booster, I have always wanted to play with a front mounted hitch ball. Boat yards use them a lot. Their young hired Kids probably find them easier to use rather than backing with mirrors. Would require removing front ground effects and buying a front frame mounted receiver so a bit involved for the RT.

Hope you folks are making out well. My wife misses all her social events. BUT I make a great hermit as long as the hardware store is an essential service

[Renwick]

This is update on my generator, around 5 or 6 months ago having on gennie I got adviced from different members about install 3way valve so I can feed the line with mixture of sea foam and gasoline I bought the valve and found out the only way to do it I have to crawl under the van. Finally I was able to installed the valve and run the gennie with mixture of 1part sea foam 3 parts of gasoline run for an hour hopefully clean up the gunk accumulated in the carburetor bowl with full load. I hope my problem will solve.:

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by Bud

Maybe someone can explain an*incident with an onan generator, gas 05/04 Roadtrek 190P. I'm posting this because maybe I'm just*bored, but some may find it interesting,* Although I understand small engines some, I can't explain any of the following:

Last August I left the New Orleans area for the western US making it 120 miles at about 1:00 pm and 92 degrees outside, when the van's a/c gave up.* Now what?* Head home,* What the heck I'll use the B's a/c, like it will keep me cool. I knew better, but I pulled off the road and depressed the generator start button.* It would not start for the first time.* It has been consistently flawless for 13 years. The van was leaning to the right some, so off to find a shady spot.* Nice big service station, clean with nice shade trees.* Nothing, won't start, but maybe low oil, virtually zero chance, but I checked.* A police car was filling up, so I asked about the van's a/c.* Go about 5 miles to Jimmy's tire store or someone's, tire store?* *I was in and out in about one hour, and $150 later, doesn't get much better, I'm smiling heading west again.

About a week later I'm at maybe 5-8 thousand*feet somewhere and think it would be nice to use the microwave to heat something up.* Why not?* I depressed the start button and in about 1 second the generator fired up and ran fine.* It has never done that unless the generator has been used recently, but still not that fast, never.* If not run for awhile, it will take some time to start.

The generator has been flawless since and has started normally since that 1 second, cold start after not be used for weeks.

Go figure, and please report back.

Bud

1. THERE IS A LOT OF VOODOO IN NEW ORLEANS...

2. The heat that day evaporated the gas in the Generator Carb.

3. THERE IS A LOT OF VOODOO IN NEW ORLEANS ...

[themexicandoctor]

Question; is there added stress on the Charging System if you are driving while the Generator is running?

[Bud]

Originally Posted by themexicandoctor

Question; is there added stress on the Charging System if you are driving while the Generator is running?

NO, Stress is caused by a LOUD onan.