My Gen Quits on its own?

[homeless]

My Owen Gen-set starts and runs fine for being 24 years old. My problem is after an hour or so it will quit on its own. I can start it up again but will not run for long. I'm guessing it gets hot?? Is it designed to do that? What other tips can you guys give me to check. I have a full tank of gas. There is no excess of power on it...

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by homeless

My Owen Gen-set starts and runs fine for being 24 years old. My problem is after an hour or so it will quit on its own. I can start it up again but will not run for long. I'm guessing it gets hot?? Is it designed to do that? What other tips can you guys give me to check. I have a full tank of gas. There is no excess of power on it...

Have you done a recent service on it, oil, oil filter, new plugs, new air filters clean it up and so on and so forth

[Senior Chief]

No, your gennie is not designed to shut down automatically if hot, but make sure it has enough air flow to keep it cool.

Are you always running it with a load on it? Generators work best doing what they were designed to do- providing electricity. Don't run it if you are not making it work.

Check the easy things first- gas filters, rubber gas lines, air filters, spark plugs. Have you checked your oil level? The gennie will shut down if oil level drops.

When was the last service?

[MattC]

Originally Posted by homeless

My Owen Gen-set starts and runs fine for being 24 years old. My problem is after an hour or so it will quit on its own. I can start it up again but will not run for long. I'm guessing it gets hot?? Is it designed to do that? What other tips can you guys give me to check. I have a full tank of gas. There is no excess of power on it...

Homeless,

Did you check for spark just after it quit??
What you are describing is exactly the symptoms I have seen and would expect from a condenser going bad. If it new enough to have electronic ignition (you did not give a model) it could still be an ignition module failing. These can fail much the same way. Look for other sources before you buy parts from Onan/Cummins.

Good Luck

Matt

[homeless]

I am still not sure what model I have but seems I was over filling the oil...! Seems to have fixed my problem....

[swampdog2]

putting too much oil won't do that ! too much oil will blow out the crankcase breather . It could be several things but i would put my money on fuel problem , the fact that it cranks back up makes me think fuel filter.and the fact that you think your problem is fixed makes me think fuel filter ! they will do that to you.remember if the fuel is below a 1/4 tank they will also act that way.

[homeless]

I changed a large in line fuel filter. I see there is a small one closer to the carb? It looks like I wont find a new one at O Riley's? Is it something I can clean out and put back on?? Is there only one carb?? I need to check the air filter also. Hoping it is something I can clean out and put back on???

[leadman]

Overfilled engine oil will cause a low oil pressure situation and the generator will shut down. This is provided the oil was overfilled enough to have the rods on the crank running in the oil. The oil turns to foam, reminds me of the head on a glass of root beer.
Not saying this was the cause as the other problems mentioned can cause the same problems. Also if the carb has an altitude adjustment on the bottom of the fuel bowl (actually a main jet adjustment) and is not set properly it will do this. I camp from 1,000 feet elevation to over 10,000 elevation and can find the lever in the dark now!

[homeless]

I finally cleaned the air filter and that has made the gen start and run and when I click on the air it hunkers down and keeps on keeping on! So I guess I have it going for now. Or at least untill I get above 10000 feet?? Thanks for all the help....