Community Forums

Stonehands · 07-06-2019, 03:27 PM

Hello Friends.

On our first day trip in our New To Us Fleetwood Bounder 35B our Onan Marquis Gold 5500 Generator just shut off while parked. Ran great for an hour and just shut off. The unit starts and will run for a second and then just stops. Like it’s running out of gas. Doesn’t sputter or pop just dies.

Left it alone till home and did a step by step check.

1. Had plenty of Gas so that’s not an issue.
2. Pulled fuel line to Carb and ran pump and gas
Was flowing so not fuel pump.
3. The carb bowl was dry so I primed and unit will
start but does same thing. Starts right up and after
A second just dies out.
4. The fuel out of the line when I pulled looked like
Hunk and so I pulled carb filter. Couldn’t blow
through it do was convinced I had bad filter and
likely dirty carb.
5. Oil was very dirty do I ordered a complete tune up
kit and changed oil and filter, spark plugs, air filter
and both fuel filters. The filter pre fuel pump and
the line filter on carb inlet.
6. Sprayed carb with SeaFoam and let sit. Drained
Fuel bowl. Ran starter and let clean fuel flow in a
separate container and great glow and very clean.
7. Hooked up fuel line to carb and primed. Drained
bowl 2x’s to get gunk out and fuel appeared to be
dark brown. Cleared up after draining.
8. Primed and tried starting and unit does exactly
what it did the first day. Fires right up and dies
after a vexing or two.

So, I know the fuel pump is working so I’m pretty sure the carb is the issue. Everything I’ve done was needed do no harm but now I’m asking for ideas. A replacement carb is under$100,00 and leaning towards yo just replacing it. I was told unit sat for a spell and as dirty as filters and plugs were, I doubt they were serviced in a long time.

Thoughts????

Stonehands · 07-06-2019, 03:31 PM

Darn spell check. Sorry for how my post reads I proofed it and spell check changed many words.

ga traveler · 07-06-2019, 03:48 PM

Have you checked the generator for codes? Check the blinks on the start button light. Then look up on line for the code. You say you had pleanty of gas. Is it close to half a tank? Your generator does not draw gas below a 1/4 tank. Your gas guage can read high and show almost half a tank when there is only 1/4.

Stonehands · 07-06-2019, 04:58 PM

Thank you. I verified fuel tank is 3/4 full. I will check codes. Have the book.
Thank you

Det57 · 07-06-2019, 07:09 PM

Had a similar issue several years ago on a Fleetwood 2013 brand new with same generator. Would run then get warmed up and just shut down. Back to the dealer two different times then finally directly to ONAN generator. Turned out to be a circuit board issue.. Also, try your oil level in the gen. If its low for any reason pressure switch will kick it off. Count the amount of blinks and sequence......it will blink a number of times then hesitate and blink again.

Stonehands · 07-06-2019, 08:05 PM

Thank you Det57

Mine starts and shuts right off. Won’t run longer than 2 seconds. Will check codes tomorrow.

Al Bundy · 07-06-2019, 08:24 PM

I'm a bit confused since you said it ran for an hour
If gas coming out is brown then your entire tank is bad
You said float bowl was dry but you could drain brown gas out?
I would bet your main jet is plugged.
It starts then stops since it starts with choke
Hold choke closed while starting and see if you can keep it running by playing with choke plate
Other things are the fuel shut off solenoid stuck closed or float stuck closed

I fell short on excercizing my gen and gas turned brown.
No matter how many times i took it apart it wouldn't run right
Tried one of those $45 carbs on ebay and it runs like a champ

Stonehands · 07-07-2019, 05:48 AM

Thank you for the response. A couple of weeks the generator ran great for an hour while in a day trip. While parked it stopped and would not run again.

When I first drained the bowl nothing came out. Primed it and would start but then bowl would dry up again. That’s when I pulled the fuel line st the carb and that’s when very brown has came out of line. I agree that I think the carb has a blocked jet or something like that.

I think the $65.00 replacement carb is my next thing to do. I read you can’t clean these carbs that well once they are plugged or varnished. At least not when you can’t keep it running.

Waiter21 · 07-07-2019, 07:40 AM

This is in reference to my 5500 BGM, Yours may be different.

- My Thoughts:

1) Fuel line, pump, and filter is deteriorating and dumping crap into the fuel. I replaced the fuel lines on mine last year, they were very brittle.

2) You should have a sintered fuel filter mounted on the carb. This may be plugged up. Replace this filter with something like a Fram G2. (Use a filter that that has a metal body, not the clear plastic)

3) Look on page 6-24 of the service manual (see link below). Remove the adjuster and the hex fitting on the bottom of the bowl. The entire bowl will come off. Be careful to account for all the seals, gaskets, springs, etc... I bet if you look carefully, you'll see little black pieces of crap plugging up the holes on the hex fitting.

With the bowl off and all the parts accounted for , use a can of carb cleaner and spray it into all the small holes / orifices in the carb. Also spray into the fuel feed and you should see it come out the float valve.

You can remove the float and valve before spraying, be careful to account for all the parts.

http://1999southwind.com/DOWNLOAD/5500_Onan_Service.pdf

..

gatorb8 · 07-07-2019, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waiter21

This is in reference to my 5500 BGM, Yours may be different.

- My Thoughts:

1) Fuel line, pump, and filter is deteriorating and dumping crap into the fuel. I replaced the fuel lines on mine last year, they were very brittle.

2) You should have a sintered fuel filter mounted on the carb. This may be plugged up. Replace this filter with something like a Fram G2. (Use a filter that that has a metal body, not the clear plastic)

3) Look on page 6-24 of the service manual (see link below). Remove the adjuster and the hex fitting on the bottom of the bowl. The entire bowl will come off. Be careful to account for all the seals, gaskets, springs, etc... I bet if you look carefully, you'll see little black pieces of crap plugging up the holes on the hex fitting.

With the bowl off and all the parts accounted for , use a can of carb cleaner and spray it into all the small holes / orifices in the carb. Also spray into the fuel feed and you should see it come out the float valve.

You can remove the float and valve before spraying, be careful to account for all the parts.

http://1999southwind.com/DOWNLOAD/5500_Onan_Service.pdf

..

wairer21
I thought Onan removed the sintered fuel filter on carb for safety reasons, and now only require fuel filter prior to fuel pump???

twinboat · 07-07-2019, 09:10 AM

They removed the filter after the pump in case it started to leak.

If it was leaking after the pump, the engine could keep running while spraying gas on the hot engine.

The leaking filter before the pump would cause air to be drawn in and the engine would just die out.

Waiter21 · 07-07-2019, 04:06 PM

Quote:

I thought Onan removed the sintered fuel filter on carb for safety reasons, and now only require fuel filter prior to fuel pump???

Yes, No, Maybe - Depends on what year and model his unit is. Mine has (had) the filter.

Stonehands · 07-08-2019, 05:06 AM

I am going to try two more quick tests this morning.

First I’m going to rap on the float bowl to see if float is stuck. I doubt this is the issue as the unit was running great with no sputtering or coughing. It just stopped like it was turned off.

Second I’m going to unplug the oil pressure switch just to see if I have a bad sensor.

Stonehands · 07-08-2019, 07:00 AM

Good Morning Friends

Well on a Hail Mary pass, I fiddled on the carb to see if float was stuck with no results.

I unplugged the oil sensor lead with no results.

I primed and tried to start and Jenny fires right up and then throttle plate flaps rapidly and it dies. Tried this several times holding choke closed and open and moving throttle linkage manually with same results.

On the last attempt, I drained the bowl and fuel coming out very brown so if nothing else I have fuel quality issues in carb likely gummed up.

My error code was 3. Then the specific code when prompted was 47. That is showing a “Ignition Fault” call service tech.

Would I get this code if my carb, which previous owner let sit, was gummed up and jets blocked? Again, when the unit stopped it was running like a champ with no apparent issue then just shut off. Still going to swap out carb as I believe it has internal dirt and varnish issues.

Ideas?