Onan gen

[cubano222]

I tested power to the fuel pump, coil, & plugs. All good. Wired a battery direct to the fuel pump & fuel pump works. Disconnected gas line to the carb & fuel coming out. So, I determined it had to be the carb. Cleaned the carb real good & she started right up. While running, I adjusted carb & now the gen starts right up & it didn't cost me a dime, just patience & process of elimination.
Thank you all for the good suggestions & advice. All this helped me a lot.

[leadman]

The majority of the repairs can be completed by a person with some knowledge and skills on these older motorhomes. It helps that people here are willing to share their knowledge and experience as well.
Glad your repair went well.

[bea91]

Originally Posted by leadman

Yes, make sure you have plenty of gas in the tank. My Itasca manual says the generator cuts off when there is a 1/4 tank, but it actually happens at about 3/8 of a tank.
If you have plenty of gas in the tank you can run the inlet side of the generator fuel pump out of a gas can to check it. If it runs the pick up in the tank for the generator could have broke off or the fuel hose could be cracked also, so you may want to check this by using a hand held vac pump with the brake bleeder container in-line. You should be able to pull gas into the container easily.

I just bought an 88 itasca suncruiser, and the guy I got it from said the same thing about having at least a 1/4 tank of fuel, so far I haven't had any luck getting it started, I know the tank is full, but my gas gauge doesn't work, would this keep generator from starting? Sorry, I'm not real familiar with the electronics of an Onan generator.

[cubano222]

Gas guage shouldn't have anything to do with the gen starting. If your tank is full, you're ok there. My old 1979 has 2 fuel tanks & even tho I installed a new switching valve which works great on switching fuel tanks, I found that the gen pulls gas from only 1 tank. Don't know why, but if that 1 tank is below 1/4, the gen won't run even tho the other tank is full. Disconnect the wire going to your gen fuel pump, I then hooked up jumper cables to a car battery & hooked up the black cable to a ground & hooked up the red cable to the wire from the fuel pump. I heard the pump run. I then ran a hose from the fuel pump into a 5 gallon gas can & the gen started up. While it was running, I kept spraying carb cleaner into the carb until she was running smooth. Now it starts up every time. Hope this helps. I ended up messing with it for about 4 hours so take your time.
Jerry

[leadman]

The pick-up tube the motorhome manufacturer installed in the gas tank does not go to the bottom of the tank, it is short and will leave about a 1/4 tank of fuel left in the tank after the generator quits.

This is to prevent your generator from using all the gas in your tank and leaving you stranded.

[bachler]

Make sure the main tank is FULL of Fuel befor you do any testing; That being said the Onan has a vacume fuel pump That is mounted on the Flywheel shroud. Some one may have changed it; FULL MAIN TANK::::

[bea91]

I know I'm getting fuel, someone has put an electric fuel pump on it. I cam smell raw fuel when I crank on it, However, it doesn't have any spark at the plugs. I've heard that low oil switch could cause this, but haven't had time to check oil level.

[cubano222]

Yea, if the oil is low, it won't fire. Make sure you don't over fill the oil. Also, make sure you are getting spark from the coil.
Jerry