ONAN QD-3200 Oil Consumption

[EShuler]

Purchased a new (2013) Navion with a QD-3200 generator. The clock shows 21 hours total usage. I checked the oil level before leaving and it was mid dip stick. During the trip, after about 4 hours of use, it shut down on low oil pressure. Sure enough, the dip stick indicated low oil!
The manual says change the oil after 50 hours. I have no experience with these generators. I topped it up with Rotella diesel engine oil and it fired back up.

Should I be concerned? Is this normal? It smokes a bit out the exhaust during operation and I did have a Gen-Turi chimney attached to direct the smoke up in the air.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

[milasman]

Mine did same thing, Onan are very sensitive to oil pressure, battery charge and fuel flow, kind of a pain really. I changed oil at 50 hours and the level is holding, however, it is always a pain to start when I need it. Starts right away when I don't need it. I trade it for a Honda of same size any day.

[Deny]

That Generator is very expensive ($7K) My manual says to change oil @ 25 hrs.
My manual says to check oil before each use. It is not expensive, or difficult to change oil yourself. It will save a lot of anguish if you can keep the he oil level up & the oil clean. Not a good idea to let it shut itself down because of low oil-there is only a quart in the crankcase.

[EShuler]

No, I think I read it correctly.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...1/983-0103.pdf

I agree, it is an expensive unit, and it quit while I was in the shower so I didn't catch it when the warning light came on.

I was asking if consuming so much oil is common for these things.

Regards

[sca]

Mine uses slightly less than half a quart every 50hrs or so. I never fill it more than the half-way mark as you get more blow-by through the air filter housing if you do as you bounce down the road. After 8-10 hours of driving per day I find the level at or slightly below the bottom of the add range on the dip stick... So I add more each day to get it back to the mid point on the dip stick.

It should go with out saying that your rv needs to be pretty close to level when you check and add oil. Still sometimes I have to bump the starter on the genny to get the oil to level out in the fill tube.

Also, I don't think I've ever visually seen smoke coming out of mine...but it does have that lawn mower smell to it.

[94-Newmar]

Ah! The HDZ series.. very nice small, and super quiet genset!

During the 50 hr break in period, you should expect increased oil consumption as the unit seats in the piston rings and other related "wear" parts. You may see increased exhaust smoke during the break-in. Cummins recommends changing the oil after the first 50 hrs of run time (when new), then every 250 hours thereafter. Rotella 15w40 is a very acceptable oil to use. This unit does not have an oil filter but instead a very fine screened strainer - which requires cleaning every 1000 hrs. To properly check oil level in this unit you must run the unit for about 10 minutes or so, just enough to get it up to operating temp then shut it off, wait a couple of minutes before checking the oil level.

[EShuler]

Thanks 94-Newmar.

Great info.

[IdahoSRT10]

Manual say change oil after the first 25 hours! Remember there is no oil filter so keep the oil changed often. Use 15w-40 Mobil 1 syn. for best performance. Rotella 15w-40 is also good.