Onan Will Not Start

[drchiro]

2006 Onan Micro Quiet 3600 LP in my 06 Winnebago View.

Unit cranks strong but will not start. Propane is topped off. If anyone has any suggestions on where to start troubleshooting it would be greatly appreciated.

[RV Wizard]

There is a breather tube for the LP regulator that drops down and is accessable from under the coach. Check to be sure a mud-dobber or other pest has not built a nest in it. Clean it out if they have and retry starting.

[DandS]

Main causes are usually either fuel or spark related. In my case, with simialar symptoms, I had a plug wire chewed in half by a critter.

[K-Star]

Does your start/stop switch display a code in the form of the light blinking? The light blinks a certain number of times like once, twice, etc. The Onan manual has a table with the # of blinks and the likely cause. EX: If the gen is low on oil it will crank but not start and that has a certain [blinking] code.

I too had a critter issue. Mine would start and run as long as I held the switch in the start position. As soon as I let go, the gen dies. Critters chewed a wire off in the start circuitry. In this case the light did not blink at all. The gen just stopped.


BTW - welcome to iRV2.com. We all hope you continue to visit with us and share your experiences.

[RBAJJK]

Team,

Ok, I have an Onan Propane Generator, 6KW I believe. Anyway, we just got back from a trip this week to Flagler Beach, FL - just South of St Augustine (East Coast of FL) - State RV Park right on the beach (highly recommended). Anyway, dash A/C has been out for a while. We traveled 4.5 hrs there using the generator so we had A/C - no problem. We traveled 4.5 hrs back using the generator (a week later) - no problem.

However a day later (today), I finished de-sanding the RV and general clean up. Went to take it back to its storage spot, started the engine and the generator - as I did earlier. The generator started then stopped, but when re-started it started these loud popping noises.... backfiring (I think). It would run but pop loudly two to three times a second, then run smooth for 5 seconds or so (it was intermittent). It would finally accept a load on the engine strong enough to put out power, but it wasn't constant. As I inspected the engine, when it would make this pop, I would feel air coming out from the air filter intake.

I did change the plugs and oil a couple of weeks ago. So I know it has plenty of oil and new plugs. I have not yet pulled the plugs to see if they are fouled so much to impact firing, but like I said ran like a dream yesterday for almost 5 hours. The oil is at the proper level. I also refilled the propane tank wondering if maybe it was low, but was going to do that anyway.

Any ideas??????????????

Any suggestions on where I can get good info on troubleshooting. By the way this is a 1996 Gulfstream Scenic Cruiser with the generator only having about 450 hrs on it.

Thanks as always.

Brian Kelly
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