Community Forums

sanfordturbo · 06-19-2012, 12:06 PM

Yeah, i removed the Green generator cover while i serviced it.

It has all kinds of warning labels that indicate the cover must be in place to operate and cool properly.

I made sure it was re-installed before taking it out over the weekend. I left my bubble door closed over the weekend too. I didn't check to see if the bubble increased or remained the same. Not sure how I would have measured it anyways.

Davinger · 06-21-2012, 06:34 AM

Well we have found the problem. The Onan dealership had my RV for nearly 3 weeks and couldn't duplicate the problem. On the way home (4 miles) the generator stalled. I took it back and they discovered I had a faulty oil safety sensor. If the generator thinks the oil in the unit is too low it will shut down without any code. SO they replaced he sensor and problem solved, (I hope)

sscarp · 06-22-2012, 09:33 PM

I have had my unit in for the generator cutting out as well. The lastest story from Thor(I have been in direct contact with them)is they are fabricated a new door with vents. The feel it may not have enough airflow. Also they are going to wrap the fuel line, in case the heat is creating vapor lock. If this solves the problem(hopefully), then they have a major design flaw in the unit. I have also spoken with Cummins. They have specs regarding the ambient temp/inlet temp differences.

I won't have the unit back for at least a week. Will see then if it fixes the problem. If not , I will get an attorney. Lemon law time.

Towertime · 06-23-2012, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanfordturbo

Took a trip over the weekend. Put another 20 hours on the generator. No problems at all. Started right up, and stayed running the entire time. Hot weather didn't impact it at all.

I plan on checking the oil level this weekend and changing it out as a precaution. Can't hurt to pull the plug and inspect it either. Especially since it is right up front and easy to get to.

I still plan on cutting a hole in the door and installing a vent of some kind. I just need to find one.

It does seem like these units may be overheating due to a design flaw in the ACE's compartment. I haven't used my genset that much, but I do remember it shutting off last summer when I picked the coach up in Texas and drove it back to Georgia. It was really hot (August) and the Generator ran fine while I was on the highway, but shut off when I got off the highway in Shreveport and was sitting in a parking lot. I found a spark plug chart describing an overheated plug as:

Overheated Spark Plug
A clean, white insulator firing tip and/or excessive electrode erosion indicates this spark plug condition. This is often caused by over advanced ignition, timing, poor engine cooling system efficiency, a very lean air/fuel mixture, or a leaking intake manifold. When these conditions prevail, even a plug of the correct heat range will overheat

Is this how yours looked?

DegoRed · 06-23-2012, 05:04 PM

Well looks like I can join the club too now. Mine is giving me fits too. Mine has 33 hours on it. First day and half driving down road, no problems, so probably 12 hours with zero hassles. The last day and a half, I want to shoot the thing.

Oil level is perfect, I changed the oil at 25 hours myself. Adjusted the altitude deal on the carb., have not pulled spark plug yet. I have been getting error code 36.

I was wondering if diving in the mountains going up and down causes all the oil to run to one side or the other and cause unit to shut off? The last day and half we have been driving through Colorado, lots of steep grades.

The part that pissed me off today, its 104 degress in Colorado, and without the house AC running, it is so hot in the coach. I called Thor, they were worthless, told me to call Onan. Called Onan, they said just take it to one of our service centers. We are driving from Denver to Yellowstone, can't imagine there is an Onan dealer in Yellowstone, nor do I know how I am going to be able to take time out of family vacation to go jack around with this PoS. I almost brought my Yamaha off my travel trailer, that thing never ever gave me one single hassle.

Towertime · 06-23-2012, 08:04 PM

I would probably check the plug and see if yours may be overheating, since the oil level and altitude setting are good. I am going to go ahead and pull mine to see hoe it looks. So yours cut off while you were driving or stopped?

sanfordturbo · 06-24-2012, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sscarp

The lastest story from Thor(I have been in direct contact with them)is they are fabricated a new door with vents. The feel it may not have enough airflow.

Interesting. They must have read my post and stole my idea. LOL

DegoRed · 06-24-2012, 06:59 AM

I am convinced overheating is the issue. Ran generator for 2+ hours while parked yesterday, no problems. Started MH up, drove maybe 3 miles, generator shut down. About 1hr later, stopped at gas station to fuel up, could not get generator to start. While poking around in the generator bay, it was so hot in there. I could barely touch the knobs to take the cover off.

Was thinking to myself what would be a solution to help cool generator down. Only thing that came to mind was a 12V oil cooler to circulate the oil. I have not poked around enough to see how that would even be possible to install, but I don't have any other ideas. Could probably rig up a fan to blow, problem is that we would just be blowing hot air already present from engine area over generator, not sure how much cooling that would actually provide.

sscarp · 06-24-2012, 07:20 AM

Based on the number of concerns its time to have action with Thor. Contact the manufacturer. This may very well be a design flaw and countless other owners are probably dealing with the same issue. I actually have had directed contact with the CEO, head of Customer service, and warranty advisor.

The need to put out a recall to all owners.

Towertime · 06-24-2012, 04:01 PM

Based on the post I've seen here, I don't see any way Thor's installation could have passed the Hot Air Recirculation Test called for in the Onan Installation Manual. It calls for a temperature difference between the ambient air (measured 4 feet from the Genset) and the temp at the air inlet grill of no more than 15 degrees F. It says you have to run the Genset at full load for at least an hour and then take readings every 15 minutes until the temperature has stabilized for at least 3 consecutive readings. If these things are getting hot enough to distort the fiberglass compartment door, I don't see how it could have passed that test.

DegoRed · 06-25-2012, 07:16 AM

I had a lot of time to think about this issue yesterday on my 10 hour drive from Fort Collins, CO to West Yellowstone, MT. The issue stays in the forefront of your mind when the kids are complaining because its too hot in coach and the most important part, their XBox is not working. Think the kids would have gotten over the heat if their XBox was working, but the two issues together, yikes.

The two easiest solution for Thor would have been to A. put the Genset further away from the motor/transmission/exhaust system and B. put the Genset inside of an enclosed box, they did neither. Even if they would have moved the Genset down one bay into the second box from the front, they would have been way ahead.

In the Genset's current configuration, the "bay" so to speak, is not in a box, there is nothing to act as a heat shield to protect it from all the other heat sources. In the typical box that makes up a "bay", there is 6 sides to the box compartment. They could have made a typical "bay" box, with the side that faces the back of the MH and perferated it with holes, and put a louver in the door side of the box, that would have provided plenty of ventilation, but protected the Genset from heat. This way, when you are traveling down the road, fresh air would get sucked in via the door vent and sucked out the back via the back of MH vent.

We tried to run our Genset yesterday several times while running down the road. All the times, it would start and run for about 3 minutes, then shut down. Wish I had a remote thermostat to put down in that area to take heat readings. The outside air temp was between 90 and 103 all day. With the MH running 65mph down the road and pulling all the grades we covered, the rpm's stayed between 3K-5K all day long, so engine & transmission were producing a ton of heat all day.

We tested the Genset a few different ways. First with full load, then without the fridge load and just AC load, then without fridge & AC load. Did not seem to make a difference, would not run any longer regardless of load on Genset.

My guess is that Thor did not run the heat test you described Tower, nor did they probably run this test in the middle of the summer. I don't think its the generator, these are used in several MH's and if the generator was bad, I think we would have heard about it by now.

Towertime · 06-25-2012, 07:32 PM

I'm thinking we ACE owners need a vent in the door, lined up with the air inlet! We should probably follow sscarp's lead and call Thor and give them h*ll!

Harlee79 · 06-25-2012, 08:59 PM

I don't have my ACE accessable right now, but is there anyway to easily remove the bay door or secure it in a fully open position. I'm just curious if you folks could temporarily remove the door to see if that intern allows the genset to run without cutting out then we would know for sure. I've not had this issue yet, but I'll have no issue cutting vents in my doors to accomodate this once it becomes an issue for me. However if the location is just too close to the engine compartment and it will never be cool enough even without a door then i'm not going to start hacking mine up. Anyway just a thought, i'm sure you guys with this issue have probably already looked at door removal but thought i'd ask.

DegoRed · 06-26-2012, 06:50 AM

Good news!

I called Thor yesterday and spoke to a guy who has been helpful to me in the past on some of my other issues. I told him what I thought was the problem based upon our discussion here. Asked this guy to get with their engineering department and come up with a solution. The guy at Thor said he had never heard of such and issue, but would do what I asked.

My guy at Thor calls me back a few hours later. Says he got with engineering, and they are well aware of the problem, and they have a solution to fix the problem. The guy I was speaking to was shocked about the issues, and more shocked that the solution that I told him, was the exact same solution their engineering department came up with.

Thor is going to send me a louvered bay door, a heat shield that goes around the generator compartment, and two other items that did not make sense to me. The guy at Thor admitted that they did not realize how much heat what coming off the engine, transmission, and exhaust pipe in this area.

The guy at Thor asked me which dealer I wanted to have the parts shipped to for repairs. I explained that we were out of town on vacation and that I really needed the part now, not sent to a dealer. After a few more phone calls, they Thor guy explained to me that all these parts need to be special ordered & made, that would take a week minimum to make and another few days to ship. Am supposed to talk with them again this morning, but looks like I am screwed for a repair while on my trip.

Not going to waste the time taking my unit into a dealer, the closest one to me is over an hour drive each way. It can't take me more than a couple hours to do the work myself, so ill just do it. Not to mention I trust my workmanship a lot more than any dealer I have seen so far.

I highly recommend that everyone who has one of these units, call Thor and request your heat shield repair kit or whatever they are calling this. Even if your unit does not need it, get it. The more of these repair kits that Thor has to make and ship, the sooner this issue will get fixed for others.