We were Boondocking at the Airstream factory last fall and running the generator. We don't run it very often which might have had some effect on the outcome. It stopped for no apparent reason followed shortly by a loud knock on the door! A retired fireman warning us of a large cloud of smoke that came out of our RV. By the way, our RV is a 39 foot Airstream diesel pusher 2003. Airstream doesn't make them like that anymore. The fire department was called, the front slide that held the generator was pulled open. The top access hatch was removed and a lot of water sprayed in on the generator. The temperature of the generator was more than 350°. Long story short, what happened was the tube (see pic) that runs from the valve cover down to the base had come loose and lodged against the exhaust manifold and the heat from that caused it to catch fire. After a time, it fell down to the base where it caught the looming on some wires on fire, all of this fanned by the running generator. After awhile, the burning wires shorted out and the generator stopped. The fire never got outside of the generator enclosure, but it could well have if the fire department had not got there in time. If you have an Onan 8KW diesel generator, I would caution you to check this tube. It's at the back of the generator on the left-hand side on mine. We had the generator removed. I hope this information is of some use to you.
