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Old 03-20-2019, 11:53 AM   #1
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Has your Microquiet 4000 gen been reliable?

Our 2015 Winnebago Sunstar 26HE has the Onan Microquiet 4000 generator.

On our first trip the generator quit working and needed a new carburetor. Done under warranty.

At about 400 hours a "brush" cracked when we were in Moab, Utah and the generator stopped working. Had to go without until we got home.

I run the generator under half load a every month without fail. Always put gas stabilizer in the tank over the winter and as I said, ruin it every month.

Lately it has been hard to start, Onan/Cummins service said the carb was sort of dirty and cleaned it, and said it needs a valve adjustment and service every 500 hours, total cost to me $800.

They say these generators run forever if you take care of them. I take care of mine but it has not been reliable.

How has yours been? How many hours do you have on it now?

(I know some people barely use theirs because they plug in at the RV park and don't boondock much).
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Old 03-27-2019, 06:34 AM   #2
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We have a 2 year old, 200 hour 4000 in a class C. It kept shutting down and would not restart until it cooled down during summer heat in Florida and Texas. After researching the problem, replacing the fuel pump and relocating it outside of the enclosure took care of the problem.
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Old 03-27-2019, 08:28 AM   #3
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I’m going to say that my 2015/2016 has been reliable. It’s also louder than a pack of coon hounds.

I installed an onan 2800 exhaust silencer from Amazon that reduced the tailpipe noise to near zero. My best guess is that these 4000 units have a very large and noisy CFM fan moving a bunch of air.

I do not run the unit every 30 days during the winter up here in the great north. However, I run it for many days straight during spring and fall. It also sits during July and August.
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Old 03-27-2019, 08:41 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by biggcrisp View Post
I’m going to say that my 2015/2016 has been reliable. It’s also louder than a pack of coon hounds.

I installed an onan 2800 exhaust silencer from Amazon that reduced the tailpipe noise to near zero. My best guess is that these 4000 units have a very large and noisy CFM fan moving a bunch of air.

I do not run the unit every 30 days during the winter up here in the great north. However, I run it for many days straight during spring and fall. It also sits during July and August.
Running it many days straight does not negate the 30 day runs.

The 30 day run is to flush out the old gas in the carburator for fresher gas in the tank.

The small amount of gas in the generator carb bowl is open to outside air and will evaporate, leaving damaging corrosion behind.

The main gas tank is closed to outside air, so the gas stays better.

On other option is to run the generator out of gas by temporarily removing the gas line or power to the fuel pump.

If I know I'm storing for months, I pre-plan by running the generator when the gas in the tank is below 1/4. That way the generator runs itself out of gas. As long as I don't start it again, I can fill the tank.
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Old 03-27-2019, 08:50 AM   #5
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We rarely ever use our genset. It's an older 2003 Onan 4000 that has about 100 hours on it now. For several years, I never did a routine monthly run and rarely had the need to even start it up. After reading, researching, and thinking about it, I began running it monthly for a half hour or so under load about 4 years ago.

As I've mentioned in a few other threads, I've never used fuel additives in anything I own. Some of my equipment sits for months between starts. It may catch up with me sooner or later but to this day, I've never had a problem.
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Old 03-27-2019, 08:51 AM   #6
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Running the gen every month is not just to get fresh gas into the carb, that takes just a few seconds. Running for longer and with a load heats up the windings and burns off any moisture that gas accumulated plus cleans the brushes.
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Old 03-27-2019, 09:13 AM   #7
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Running the gen every month is not just to get fresh gas into the carb, that takes just a few seconds. Running for longer and with a load heats up the windings and burns off any moisture that gas accumulated plus cleans the brushes.
It takes more then a few seconds to flush thru a carburator bowl. My generator will run about a minute after the gas line is pulled.

As far as winding, they say it drys the moisture out, but nobody on here ever complains about bad windings.
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Old 03-27-2019, 11:01 AM   #8
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Have 2002 run it every week for at least 1 hr , in summer will run for 3 days while on beach then shut down for refule and go again
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Old 03-27-2019, 12:39 PM   #9
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I have a 2006 5500 with 400 hours on it. Runs great. Last year did the 500 hour service early. I had a fuel pump failure. So I replaced it, the fuel filter, oil, oil filter, air filter and did the valve adjustment. Mine has been rock solid. I will note though, my values were really loose. Calls for .004 cold, mine were closer to .014. Made a huge difference in how it runs.

Sorry to hear of your issues.
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Old 03-27-2019, 01:54 PM   #10
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Mine has about 900 hours on it, 250 which are since I bought the coach, it ran a bit rough when I first bought it, I suspect the previous owner rarely ran it, but that cleared up within the first 8-10 run time hours. I try to run it once per month for at least 10 minutes to clear the stale fuel from the carburetor and to prevent tarnish build up on the slip rings, I change my oil every 100 hours, changed the spark plug when I bought it, still need to check the valve lash (which I think charging $800 to do is insane since the valve cover is front and center under the access panel, and this is a 20-30 minute job at most for an experienced mechanic).
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Old 03-27-2019, 05:59 PM   #11
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Per Cummins you should be running for 2 hours per month under at least a 50% load in order to exercise it. 2 hours continuous, not 30 min here and there. If you never use the generator, you should be putting 24 hours per year on it just in exercise.

If I'm not using the RV I go run the whole coach down the road for a couple hours once a month to work everything out.
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Old 03-27-2019, 08:13 PM   #12
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I can see the need to operate a diesel under load for an hour or so per month, but I see no reason to do this on a gasoline powered air cooled generator at least not in warmer climates. The primary reason for running a gasoline RV generator for any length of time is to get the oil up to temperature so as to drive off acid forming moisture. Given that the Onan 4000 has a non-pressurize oil system, no oil filter and only 1.6 quarts of oil as well as being air cooled this does not take long, at least not at temperatures above freezing.
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Old 03-28-2019, 04:36 AM   #13
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I will have to look again at the size of mine but it has a filter and holds two quarts of oil I think it is 4000
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Old 03-28-2019, 05:49 AM   #14
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Onan 4000

Onan generators with high hours are showing up in our service department with broken valve springs. Last one was a 2006 Onan 4000 with 734 hours on the meter. In this case the valve also broke the piston so an overhaul was not economically practical.



That makes 4 in the last 6 months with a similar failure.



Since I can DIY, my plan is to do a top overhaul since I have almost 900 hours.



All of my motors use Mobil 1, full synthetic.
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