Search the Community

Equipment: 2014 Itasca Ellipse 42QD / Onan 10,000 RV QD w/1,600 hours. Issue: Boondocking for extended period on generator.... generator simply shut down during long term operation. Tried to restart, generator turned over, ran for about 1 second. Code indicated 27 - PMA Failure (You can count the blinks on the generator or start button, or look at remote panel with LCD read-out) Made appointment with Cummins Tampa. Their original diagnosis was bad "brush block". They received part, and replaced brush block (and fuel filter at my request since they were already in there). Upon starting after those replaced generator was still shutting down for code 27. Guess what.... once they opened it up they saw a broken wire! Fixed wire, and generator ran fine..... BUT...… we aren't done yet..... When I picked up the coach I started generator and it ran fine..... I assumed we're good to go.... I didn't go back to panel to verify coach was receiving power..... got back to RV park.... for some reason, I decided to check that.... NOPE.... no power making it in to the coach..... dang it! Drive 45 minutes back to Cummins Tampa..... they take a look.... oh, a "loose wire". They tightened that up and I'm back on the road with gen-power. Hey.... it works, so I'm happy. Also, even though from what I can tell, the brush block didn't need to be replaced, I'm told they should be checked at 2,000 hours.... I was at 1,600... so..... hey, I've got new brushes! Moral to the end of the story.... don't drive off until you are sure it works in every way it should! See pictures for everything up to the loose wire since they wrote no ticket for that.....

Hi Folks, I have a Onan 4000 Microquiet in my Forest River Sunseeker (2007). I just had the fuel pump, air and fuel filters replaced and the unit serviced and cleaned. Now it starts easily and runs quietly, but it doesn't charge anything in the coach...not the outlets, not the fridge, not the AC. I've checked all the breakers in the coach and they are fine. There seems to be a breaker in the Onan which doesn't resolve the problem when switched on or off. (Note: There does seem to be a leak from the valve cover, but it seems that that should be a separate problem.) I'm not sure where to look for a solution. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, as always. Nan

I'm boondocking in Quartzsite (only once) and I don't have solar so I'm using my Onan 4000 about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I've only put about 30 hours of use on it since it was serviced in February. The oil is clean and full. It now runs for about 10 minutes and shuts off with a blinking light that's 3 pause 6 pause 3 pause 6...etc. I don't have a manual and so I'm not sure of the codes (nor could I really fix it myself out here in the dust of the desert). Quartzsite has closed down for the summer so no repairs here. I think I'll have to pull up stakes and head to a city where I can find repairs, but any suggestions you folks can provide would help quide me toward the most likely cause, and reasonable repair. Thanks, as always....Nan

So ... anyone who knows me can tell you that I think the government lies and lies again and couldn't tell the truth if the Holy Ghost made them. Thats said, I decided to take apart my carburetor in the genny and not to my surprise, i probably will be purchasing a new one next season. Now, Yall Diesel owners dont have this issue to worry about however, feel free to chime in because I am sure youhave dealt with it at somepoint. Many know I have had genny problems sense about April and I managed to work through most of them because whoever serviced the genny seemed to do 1 thing right and that was put a decent Mobil 1 oil filter on it. The BIGGER issue with this fuel I traced back to a line that appears to be cracked above the sender, and in certain conditions allows air to come in thus causing the genny to starve for fuel. I thought the pick up line on the sender was short, as Joe and I talk about my issues and this seemed to be something that happens at times but - I am well under a ½ tanks and the genny is running. So, I took the hose from the chassis to the fuel pump (along my chassis is a metal hose and then another rubber hose into the sender) and the carburetor to a trusted friend who is a marine mechanic. Milton took a look at both the hose and the carb and determined that the damage from the "Ethanol" has taken toll on the lines AND gummed the jet in the carb. The plastic float is starting to become gummy and when he cut the hose open he could see where the brittleness came from ethanol. Prior to me taking my carb and hose to Milton he asked me to bring a few gallons of gas from my tank so he could examine it a bit closer. One of the things he found was a presence of water in my fuel tank ... how he figured that out I dont know but he said it was there. ANYONE who took high school chemistry of Chem 101 knows that anything Alcohol is a SOLVENT therefore it will do what it says it will do. I am sure All of us who have gas coaches in the mid Atlantic have ethanol in our tanks sitting over the winter so unless treated (if thats even possible) we have dissolved deposits in our tanks as well as water because of Phase Separation; especially if you traveled to states like Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Texas who all have ethanol free gas stations and or pumps labelled ethanol free. In my infinite wisdom I filled up with non ethanol and created a potential problem - but I saw 12 miles vs 8 to the gallon pulling a 3500lb car ---HUMMMMMM wonder why? I am not worried about the V10 per sae cause even in 1999 fuel-injected vehicles were designed with stainless steel lines and fittings, modern coatings on cast parts, and plastic parts and tanks that are ethanol-proof so the main engine has no issues --- and the fill hose only sees the gas for seconds until the next fuel fill - not really a problem at least for now ... Lets get back top the genny, my coach spent 2014 - 2016 winters in Walden NY, kinda upstate but not NY City. It sat from The Summer of 2014 until I bought it in October 2016 - and I wasnt aware of that until I did some odometer math and my issues started to make sense. The Ethanol absorbed some of the water but I honestly believe i had a lower separation and a highly corrosive mix of water and ethanol - and when the previous owner ran the genny over the 18 months it sat, he sucked oxidized sour gas into that fuel line and it SAT ... eating away at the rubber compound. My carb is shot to who ha because that corrosive mix has eaten the inside of it and soon that will completely fail. So, if you are having genny issues (Specifically fuel Related) , and they are reoccurring every few years, I suggest 2 things, and I am still experimenting to see if this is possible ... 1. If you live in states that allowed NON ethanol gas (Maryland Banned it) pay the extra .70 a gallon as it will save you in the long run 2. If you can, consider a way to put a separate tank in your coach specifically for the genny. I am thinking about taking the spare out and ditching it for a 30 gallon gas tank for the genny - not sure how i am going to do it. 3. Think about putting a Y valve between the gas line on the main tank and a separate tank for the genny, will give you the ability to run a fuel that has an phase separation fighter for when the genny will sit for a bit. It keeps "good" gas in the lines and in the carb. 4. When replacing genny fuel lines skip the local advance auto ... buy a hose that is Polytetrafluoroethylene (P.T.F.E) lined which is teflon lined hose. Its expensive but so is a motorhome! 5. Be proactive ... dont wait til there is a problem to fix it,. Use some type of stabilizer, i personally have 15 bottles of Lucas Ethanol Fuel Conditioner on hand. It goes in when a. I fill up headed to the campground where the coach will/may sit for a week or more b. When i fill up and its going in the driveway for a few weeks until our next adventure c. if I am doing a long haul (Over 500 miles) I will drop some in so it at the last fill up before I hit the camp ground, and the last fill before I get home. I know I can not be the ONLY person with these issues so chime in if you have suggestion and or problems.

I have an Onan 4.8kw gasoline generator in my RV, Model 5BGEFA26100N, SN H973723191. It cranks and sounds like it's firing when I hold the crank button down, but when I release the button, the generator shuts down. Last spring I took it to an Onan/Cummins shop and they got it working. They said "the brushes needed cleaning" or something like that. We didn't use the RV last year, so the generator sat without being used for a year. Now it's doing the same thing, cranks and sounds like it firing when the start button is held down, but stops as soon as I release the start button. Thanks for any suggestions! Frank

I have now sent two letters to the CEO of Winnebago with no responses from his office regarding the leaking windshields on my 2004 Vectra; I've had several discussions with customer support, including an initial contact on the problem in 2010; but they were of little help. I was leaving on a trip to Kansas from NH within 2 weeks and thought the leak should be fixed before I traveled since I had water pooling on the dash during a recent period of intense rain. I had a local glass company look at the problem; they removed the trim along the top of the windshields and found the metal framework the windshields were attached to was rusted and the glass to metal seal had failed; they estimated $750 to repair the problem plus the cost of windshields if they broke one. Since I was traveling within 300 miles of Winnebago I thought I might be able to have Winnebago fix it at the factory, assuming they would be the best place to have it repaired. I asked the Winnebago customer support person how much it would cost to repair the problem and if they had spare windshields and any other parts so I wouldn't get stuck at Winnebago while someone had to make windshields or parts. The customer support person had no idea of the cost and couldn't tell me if they had spare parts or windshields in case they broke one (there's 50% chance of breaking a windshield when fixing this problem) nor could they schedule me a date to make the repair based on my travel plans. I was told that other departments at Winnebago could answer those questions to which I asked him if they had telephones at Winnebago to communicate between departments (I think he thought I should call around Winnebago and chase down the parts availability on my own). Eventually I was told that I would have to sign in to a nonscheduled appointment book when I arrived and take my chances that they could get to me within a week or so (this would be a little unreasonable since I was traveling with my wife and Golden Retriever); the cost would be $750 per windshield side (not including a windshield if broken) and the availability of a windshield from Guardian was still unknown. It appears, after talking to three different RV windshield replacement companies (including Guardian, the maker of the Winnebago windshields) that Winnebago clearly is the leader in the industry for leaking windshields by far; no other RV company has as much trouble as Winnebago with leaking windshields. It appears Winnebago is the only RV manufacturer that attaches the top of the windshield to the metal framework of the coach and here lies the problem. The metal framework isn't protected from moisture in anyway i.e. galvanized etc. nor is the rubber seal on the front cap sealed with any sealant. The rubber seal is shaped like a "T" and is secured by a pinch strip that is stuck to the metal framework with an adhesive (until the metal framework starts to rust), then the seal no longer does the job, it comes free of the metal framework which allows more water enter the windshield seal area eventually compromising the windshield seal until it fails completely. My problem started a couple years after I bought my Vectra, a few rust flakes would fall on the dash and I would clean them up not thinking much about what was going on. But as time went on it got worse, I attempted to seal the rubber strip at the top of the windshield to prevent water from getting behind it and dripping down the inside of the windshield when driving in the rain; it worked for a while but, in the fall of 2011 we had a lot of rain for about 10 days in a row and I found pools of water on the dash. Clearly there was a serious problem. This type of problem isn't something that would show up in the first year of ownership, it takes time for this type of failure to occur. After the two unanswered letters to the CEO of Winnebago and the poor response from customer support and the reports from the RV windshield companies I can only conclude that Winnebago has known about this problem for a long time and chooses to not stand behind their product as other companies do. It is clearly a poor design; Winnebago could easily have spent a another $50 on galvanizing the framework or other solution and saved an owner around $2500 to $3000 in repair expenses that according to the RV windshield companies will not be permanent; the problem will recur again and again because of the design. Winnebago would not even consider assisting me with the repair cost; basically I'm on my own to fix their poor design problem. This problem is one of the worst of the 50 or so problems that I have had with my Vectra. Other manufacturers have been really good in assisting me with significant problems that were clearly not caused by me. For example: Cummins: After 2-3 years of ownership I had problems with the engine bucking severely on occasion and had to limp home several times; it was caused by fuel flow restriction which changing the single fuel filter seemed to solve. I never got more than 10K miles out of a fuel filter. By year 5, changing the fuel filter no longer solved the problem. I called Cummins and they trouble shot the problem changing the CAP and lift pumps at a cost of over $3000 to them. This was really great support considering this was my 5th year of ownership of the Vectra. However, in the following years the problem continued to recur. Freightliner: I took the Vectra to a Freightliner dealer (2010) and they found the Lift Pump valving clogged which implied contamination of the fuel system. A Lift Pump is approximately $300 plus installation cost. I had the Freightliner dealer install an in-line pre filter to the lift pump that was serviceable near the existing filter (the original single fuel filter, filters the fuel between the Lift Pump and CAP pump). Winnebago saved money here again at the expense of the owner by not having a filter prior to the Lift Pump; I think the newer Winnebago coaches now have this filter. The next year (2011) I limped home again returning from a southern trip; and found the new in-line filter clogged with a hard substance (it saved the Lift Pump and there was no algae contamination). I contacted Freightliner and found that the fuel tank installed in my Vectra had filling problems (I had to nurse fuel into the tank slowly when refueling, I could not hold the fuel pump valve fully open). Freightliner offered me a FREE fuel tank with a new vent design to replace the existing one and eventually paid for the entire installation. This was really great support considering this was my 7th year of ownership of the Vectra. However, the real problem may have been caused by slag on the welds of the baffles within the tank falling off and mixing with the fuel; that would explain the hard stuff found in the fuel filter and has been a problem with metal fuel tanks in the past. The new fuel tank did fix the fueling problem and probably will fix the clogged fuel filters if the slag was the problem. ONAN was another example of stepping up to the plate by a manufacturer: my diesel generator, with only 150 hours on it, chucked the magnetic components off the rotor which stuck to the inside walls of the generator cabinet. Initially the local ONAN representative was only going to contribute $300 to the estmated $2500 repair cost but a letter to the CEO of ONAN was responded to with a call from his office that ONAN would stand behind the generator and pay for the repair less $100 deductable. This failure mode turned out to be fairly common and ONAN's policy was changed to fix these failures. The generator has worked well since then; Another example of a manufacturer standing behind their products. In summary, it's clear some manufacturers stand behind their products and some don't and Winnebago is one of those that does for the short term but not for the long haul! I will have to repair the windshield problem at my own expense, it appears, in spite of the fact the failure is not caused by a failure on my part but rather a failure of design by Winnebago. This recent experience with Winnebago will have a big impact on the next RV that I purchase; my first RV, a Pace Arrow Vision built by Fleetwood, never went back to a dealer for any repairs, everything always worked as it should have for the 5 years I owned it. I will take a very close look at how I'm going to repair this problem in an attempt to limit it to a one time cost. Anyone with a successful experience at this repair should feel free to contact me with your solutions or ideas, I'd appreciate them.

I'd put checking up on my generator low on the maintenance priority list of our new-to-us coach. After all, the dealer in Tucson had assured me that "all fluids and filters" were freshly changed when we purchased the Beaver Patriot Thunder in January. Nonetheless, the generator started as if its battery were nearly dead. In fact, a few times, it turned so slowly I had to initiate a second start cycle. Then, it began shutting itself down 15 - 30 minutes into its operation. The fault code was the eclectic "36", derived from holding down the Stop switch and then reading the next two sequence of flashes: tens at first, and then second digit next. Following the Onan guidance (their manuals are available on line), I replaced the air filter and changed the oil. Neither seemed tragically overdue, but were dirty. The Hobbs meter says the unit as accumulated 264 hours in its seven-year lifetime. Well, I should've filmed a "before" start and an "after"! It runs like a brand-new unit! So, don't despair if your generator is sluggish. The problem might not be an inherent mechanical condition; instead, it might be the fault of improper routine maintenance.

Suddenly my generator output voltage dropped to around 80 VAC. The nameplate tag has long since come off but with the help of the service manual the model number could be derived to be 10HDKAG 61731x. It is a 4-pole revolving field, brush-type, reconnectible, 10.0kW, single phase, 1.0 power factor, 60Hz unit. The reconnection is wired with T1-L1, T2-T3-L0, T4-L2. Which provides two legs at 120 volts each.The hour meter indicates 1,398.8 hrs. Here are the things I've done so far in an attempt to figure out what is wrong. - The wiring all looks good, tight and clean. - I took the measurements on both sides of the main breaker mounted on the gen-set. - The voltage regulator is part number 305-0875-04. I can adjust the regulator down to say 50 VAC per leg but no higher than the 80 VAC or so. I'm thinking the regulator is OK since it does adjust. At this point that is all I have to go by. - I disconnected the regulator and applied 12 VDC to the field winding. The voltage measurement between L1-L2 was 105 VAC. Just within spec per the service manual. Both L1 & L2 were balanced when referenced to common at 52.5 VAC. When the regulator is connected it drives the field winding to -23 VDC. I don't know how much the field winding should be to get 120 VAC. - I measured the frequency to be 61.5 Hz. Within spec. - The power plant is a Kubota V1305-B diesel engine. The throttle was lock wired at the factory and painted over. It is clear that it has never been touched. This unit is in a 1996 Monaco with the front generator slide out. As difficult as it will be to climb under the motorhome to get at the back of the generator with the front slide out rod right smack in the middle of the work space I'm thinking of going for a brush set replacement. If possible I would like to replace the bearing since it is so old. I have no idea how the bearing comes off at this point. Any thoughts about this problem and my plan for the brushes and bearing replacement? Thanks for your valuable time. Dale

I have an Onan Emerald 3 gen set on my 1981 Holiday Rambler. I bought it a couple months ago. I went to start onan and ended up replacing the circuit board fuel pump, and air filter. I changed the oil, filter, and spark plugs. I ran a new fuel line to tank and put a new muffler on it. I took carb off, and cleaned it. When I start it, it sounds really good, runs for about 25 minutes, and sputters for about 10 seconds and dies, with little to no load. The engine was around 280 deg.F. I noticed mice nest around engine, I cleaned alot of nests out, blew it out with air. Started again, runs for about 25 minutes, sputters and dies, still hot. Also, on dipstick, do I check oil level by screwing it in or just resting on the threads?

This is a shout out to Brett Wolfe. We went in for maintenance at Cummins West in Avondale (Phoenix), AZ today. In a post several months ago, Brett had suggested replacing the belts on the engine and saving the usable used belts as back up in case a belt breaks. I asked the service representative to replace the used belts and save them for me. We were having the generator serviced at the same time. In the discussion the service rep asked if I wanted the belt on the generator (7.5 KW Onan) replaced also. I thought, "If it's good for the engine, it has to be good for the generator." So I said to replace it also and save the old belt for me. Actually, I didn't even know the generator had a belt. Who knows what is in that big green box? When the job was done, the service rep gave me the belts from the engine and then showed me the belt that came from the generator. It was missing an inch of the inner notched material of the belt. The only thing holding it together was the strong continuous strip on the outside of the belt. Some additional inner material was peeled off the outer belt but still hanging on. It was just a matter of time until the belt derailed and we had generator failure. With temperatures in the low 100's, we really needed the generator to keep the motor home livable while driving. So thank you Brett. Your advice saved us a delay or more!