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Old 06-28-2019, 02:38 PM   #1
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Generator shutdown question

We had about a 2 hour ride to camp today. Temps were around 90ish. Probably a bit warmer on the highway. I decided to run the generator and the living area air conditioner. All was well until we got to our campsite. As we prepared to back in the generator shut itself down. After we settled into camp I restarted it just to see if it would run. It started right up but ran a bit rough so I shut it down. I didn’t see any fault codes but I also didn’t look after it shut down. I’m thinking it just got hot and shut off. It was pretty warm when I took the cover off. I left it off and figured I’d try firing it up later in the weekend. We have almost a full tank.

Would over heating shut it down? Think I did any damage?
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Old 06-28-2019, 02:43 PM   #2
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Generators have oil and temp shut down switchs.
They have them so little damage is done if something goes wrong while running un-attended.
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Old 06-28-2019, 03:11 PM   #3
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Generators have oil and temp shut down switchs.
They have them so little damage is done if something goes wrong while running un-attended.

Thanks. Kinda what I figured. We never used the one in our Navion enough to overheat it. But there were many days we should have used it on the road.
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Old 06-28-2019, 03:38 PM   #4
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We had a 2017 Forest River FR3 32DS and it did the same thing when crossing the desert as we were leaving California ( very high heat).



It was shutting down due to overtemp. Forest river installed a vent louver in the door so the genny could cool itself. call the factory and ask if they have a retrofit for the problem. Mention the FR3 if they aren't sure what to do.


Our generator also never gave any fault codes as to why it was shutting down.
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Old 06-28-2019, 05:32 PM   #5
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Funny you should mention this. Just today, probably high 80's, we did a 20 mile test drive so the newly installed Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer could be adjusted. I had the Onan 5500 running for an hour or two before that checking other things. It was running during the drive as well.

Just as we pulled into the dealership we heard a beeping from behind us. The Norcold 1210T refrigerator had switched over to propane. The CRT for the generator status was changing every few seconds between "starting" and "stopping" and the battery voltage was 12.6 VDC. The engine was still running. It was pouring rain so we could not go outside (or did not want to go outside )

I held down the Stop button and it stopped doing that and the battery voltage climbed back to 13.2 VDC. I really think the starter was just cycling on and off. The only indication we had of a generator failure while driving was that the refrigerator started beeping.

After the rain stopped the tech took a look at the generator. It had no codes and would not start with the manual switch although it did crank normally. It was VERY hot inside that compartment and when I opened the same compartment on the other side (the house batteries and hydraulic pump for the levelers) I got a blast of heat out of it as well.

30-40 minutes later the tech retried it and it sputtered and spit out some black smoke. It was still very hot even though we had left the compartment door open. He tried a few more times and it finally started and it ran for a few more hours without problems.

I'll have to mention that louver idea to him. About how big is the one that they installed? The compartment doors on this thing are about an inch thick.

Ray
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Old 06-28-2019, 06:15 PM   #6
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Funny you should mention this. Just today, probably high 80's, we did a 20 mile test drive so the newly installed Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer could be adjusted. I had the Onan 5500 running for an hour or two before that checking other things. It was running during the drive as well.

Just as we pulled into the dealership we heard a beeping from behind us. The Norcold 1210T refrigerator had switched over to propane. The CRT for the generator status was changing every few seconds between "starting" and "stopping" and the battery voltage was 12.6 VDC. The engine was still running. It was pouring rain so we could not go outside (or did not want to go outside )

I held down the Stop button and it stopped doing that and the battery voltage climbed back to 13.2 VDC. I really think the starter was just cycling on and off. The only indication we had of a generator failure while driving was that the refrigerator started beeping.

After the rain stopped the tech took a look at the generator. It had no codes and would not start with the manual switch although it did crank normally. It was VERY hot inside that compartment and when I opened the same compartment on the other side (the house batteries and hydraulic pump for the levelers) I got a blast of heat out of it as well.

30-40 minutes later the tech retried it and it sputtered and spit out some black smoke. It was still very hot even though we had left the compartment door open. He tried a few more times and it finally started and it ran for a few more hours without problems.

I'll have to mention that louver idea to him. About how big is the one that they installed? The compartment doors on this thing are about an inch thick.

Ray

Conveniently we were at idle right before backing into the campsite when it shutdown. Our fridge is lp/electric or I wouldn’t have known if it stopped while driving.

It did blow a bit of black smoke when I restarted it. Part of the reason I shut it down.
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Old 06-28-2019, 06:53 PM   #7
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I was not as concerned about the black smoke as much as I was about the fact that the touchscreen seemed to show it was constantly cycling the starter and we had absolutely no other indication of a failure other than the refrigerator beeping.

With the batteries down to 12.6 VDC it feels like the starter really was cycling, which won't be good for it. Unfortunately it was storming outside so we could not go out to see if it really was cycling the starter but the battery voltage did recover after I pressed Stop so I think it was.

Sounds like you had the same conditions. Very hot outside and had just slowed down, reducing the amount of undercarriage air flow.

Ray
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Old 06-28-2019, 06:56 PM   #8
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How much fuel was in the tank ? The gen will not run if the tank is below 1/4
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Old 06-28-2019, 09:25 PM   #9
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I had just filled it a few miles earlier. It did restart but it actually felt like a fuel problem because when it restarted it sounded just like my lawn mower does when I over-prime it. To be fair, the tech had primed it a few times before it actually started. I was wondering if the heat caused the fuel to vaporize in the line.

I would expect an overtemp condition to throw a code or lock out the starter, though. I'm guessing vapor lock.

There are a lot of queries and posts on this from various sources.

Ray
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Old 06-29-2019, 05:02 AM   #10
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The prime function on your generator is not like the fuel enrichment primer on a lawn mower. That rubber bulb pumps gas past the carburator, in place of a choke valve.

The generator prime switch just runs the fuel pump to fill the carburator bowl. It will run until the float comes up and closes the neddle & seat valve. You can hear the pump pulse slow and almost stop.

Fuel enrichment is controlled by the choke. They are electric and heat controlled and can cause a over rich start.
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Old 06-29-2019, 06:38 AM   #11
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You can get a vapor lock in the fuel line at high temperature which can cause the issues you were having. Older fuel pumps then to have the rubber parts bind up as well. If the unit consistently shuts down after 30 minutes to an hour, but will restart when cool, try replacing the fuel pump.
Generators are air cooled, but Onan generally tells you not to run the unit (especially the 4000) with the covers off because the air is drawn in and channeled over the engine properly with the covers in place. Most generator compartments are open at the bottom so plenty of ways for air to get in, but the asphalt on roads and in the parking lots makes the air much hotter there. We have a remote thermometer mounted in the propane bay and when parked at Walmart see temperatures of 95 to 105 when the air temperature is in the low to mid 80s.
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Old 06-29-2019, 06:43 AM   #12
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You can get a vapor lock in the fuel line at high temperature which can cause the issues you were having. Older fuel pumps then to have the rubber parts bind up as well. If the unit consistently shuts down after 30 minutes to an hour, but will restart when cool, try replacing the fuel pump.
Generators are air cooled, but Onan generally tells you not to run the unit (especially the 4000) with the covers off because the air is drawn in and channeled over the engine properly with the covers in place. Most generator compartments are open at the bottom so plenty of ways for air to get in, but the asphalt on roads and in the parking lots makes the air much hotter there. We have a remote thermometer mounted in the propane bay and when parked at Walmart see temperatures of 95 to 105 when the air temperature is in the low to mid 80s.

Yes. For me I think ours just got hot due to lack of air movement. We sat a while to get in to the park and then to unhook the car.
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Old 06-29-2019, 07:18 AM   #13
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We have almost 80 hours on our Onan 5500 (New 2019 GT5) , a bunch driving down south high temperatures. Not a hiccup. Actually as I type this we are dry camping and have had the genny running non-stop for going on 20 hours sitting at a winery (Harvest Hosts). It was pretty hot yesterday afternoon and both A/Cs were humming away. Took my infrared thermometer and the genny compartment was running at like 105 , with ambient air at like 88. Nothing feels hot around or in the compartment. Feels like it’s pulling air real well. Of course I just put the whammy on us lol!

I agree with the vapor lock theory, makes the most sense since there are now fault codes.
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Old 06-29-2019, 08:25 AM   #14
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Don't know if this will help you or not, but our Onan 5500 used to do that when we used conventional oil. Since switching to a synthetic blend we have never had the problem again.
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