Onan Generator Issue

[stppinz]

I have a 1987 Tioga. Everything is running strong except for the generator. It is an Onan Emerald I GenSet. It will start strong and sound fine but will run only for a minuet or so then just quit. It is progressively getting worse. It used to start and then die when a load was persent (like the A/C). Not sure what the deal is. I know this is not much info to work off of but is there any ideas out there what it might be?

Thanks for any help.

 

[sluggermike]

It sounds like a fuel filter problem, or a dirty carb.  The reason why it runs when you first start it up is because it has time for the fuel to get to the carb,  It doesn't continue running because the demand for fuel is more than it can supply with a dirty filter/carb. 

 

[Wizard46]

Also check oil level. Mine was doing some wierd stopping. Found oil level only a very little below full mard and when I added oil, never stopped again.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

All good suggestions above. Fuel filter and fuel pump are the first things I would think of, especially since it dies under load. Another suspect due to the age of your rig is the fuel line to the generator. They deteriorate due to age and get cracks and pinholes, allowing the fuel pump to suck air instead of fuel. The symptoms are much like yours.

 

[steved44]

I used to have a 1986 Onan generator and wound up with similar symptoms.  It would start fine then run for a couple of minutes then die.  Sometimes it would run 15 min before it died.  Turned out it was a condenser that was bad.  We put new points in it, but didn't have a condenser at the time so didn't change it.  Tried all the fuel system remedies and finally put the condenser in and that fixed it.  Never ran into that before.  Steve