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[GMCnet] Onan idle Surge [message #305742] Sun, 21 August 2016 16:29 Go to previous message
glwgmc is currently offline  glwgmc   United States
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma:
Senior Member
Hi John,

This sounds like one of the many issues our Onans have trying to run on crap gas. Crap gas sits in the lines, the wire screen on the bottom of the fuel pump, in the fuel pump itself, and in the carb bowl the whole time the Onan is not running. Any of those places can form sludge/varnish that will impede the flow of fuel when you need it. As you try to adjust something to compensate it will run better for a while until the sludge builds up even more, or until the sludge dislodges and gets swept away. Then it will run poorly again. And, the alcohol will attack any of the synthetic rubber items like the O ring seal Emory noted or the gasket where the float bowl seals to the carb body. If air can leak in through those tired synthetic rubber seals it can cause the surging you are noting.

If you can make it to the October GMCWS Coos Bay, OR, rally, I am giving a seminar on how to allow your Onan to run on either crap gas or propane with the flip of a switch. Running on propane all those issues with the crap gas go away, andy over time the cleaner burning propane will also de-carbon the inside of the Onan engine making it last a lot longer. I have been working with one of the major propane conversion companies to assemble all the parts necessary to allow this easy" flip the switch” way to run on either fuel as a way of extending the service life of our Onans. We don’t cary as much propane as crap gas, but unless you are running your roof AC going down the road you have plenty of propane on board to do all the battery charging and short cycle AC appliance work you are likely to ever need in a week or two of dry camping. I think you will find it an interesting and thought provoking presentation and it just might make it a lot easier to get your Onan to run the way it did when it came from the factory.

Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR

glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2016 12:39:42 -0600
From: J Green
To: gmclist@list.gmcnet.org
Subject: [GMCnet] Onan Idle Surge
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Greetings,

While running my Onan 6k while parked I noticed the generator tends to surge. I've linked a video to give a better idea of what I'm describing. This
occurs with or without a load. I've had everything inside the coach that would draw power turned off - no AC, no refrigerator, no lights, and nothing
plugged in to outlets and the "surge" continues to occur. When I turn the AC on the fan from the AC will match to surge of the generator.

This did seem normal to me so I thought I would ask the group. I recently replaced the starter on the Onan and was curious if I'm on to the next
"opportunity" with Onan the Barbarian. Or, is this possibly a symptom of something being wired incorrectly.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8PRwI7S3xRhY2R5aW9Jb0p4TkU


Thanks in advance for any thoughts and opinions ... even if this is normal I'd like to know.

Regards,
John
--
J Green
Phoenix, AZ
'77 Kingsley - aka Edna "Big Bertha" Green
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
 
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