John,
One more thing. I just noticed your sign off "Currently at Scout Camp" Hope you have a good time. I have been to Scout Camp every year over the past 20 years. Sleeping in the GMC sure beats sleeping on the ground.

Rather than the starting fluid just hand opperate the choke. If it improves as you begin to choke it, the carb is lean. If it deteriorates as you choke it it is allready too rich and choke is making it worse. Starting fluid is easier to ignite and can also mask weak spark momentarily. Be sure bith plugs are gapped at the seemingly wrong but correct .020. The thickness of a thumb nail if you have no feeler is a temporary guide.

John,

Since you have good spark, the electronic ignition is OK and there's no
use wasting time and effort going back to the unreliable points.
Incidentally, according to Pertronics, they DID make that unit for Onan.
The timing is fixed (at a less than optimal advance) so don't worry about
that. Sounds very much like you've still got a mixture problem.

​And I still think it would be worth your time to decarbonize.​

Ken H.


On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 7:23 PM, John Fredrikson wrote:

> My generator is having issues again. We used it over Memorial Day weekend
> and it ran, but not without issues. The O ring on the needle had somehow
> gotten damaged and I replaced it. I have not been able to get the
> generator to hold a load since. It will start (sometimes) but will run
> very rough
> not get up to speed.
>
> I pulled the carb and made sure that there wasn't anything plugged. I
> tested the coil per the manual and it seems to be within specs. I jumped
> the 5
> and 9 posts on the board and the fuel pump seems to be working. The plugs
> look a little black but not bad.
>
> I was going to check the points, but when I removed the cover I found that
> there are none. It looks like it has an electronic ignition (not
> Pertronics) so I'm not sure how to check the timing. I do have the old
> points in the parts box as well as a replacement set of point. I may replace
> the old points to rule out an issue with the electronic ignition.
>
> Let me know what you would recommend to try.
>
> Thanks for the help!
>
> John Fredrikson
> Currently at Scout Camp by Molena, GA
> 1978 Eleganza
> --
> John Fredrikson
> Fayetteville, GA
> 1978 Eleganza
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One more thing. I just noticed your sign off "Currently at Scout Camp" Hope you have a good time. I have been to Scout Camp every year over the past 20 years. Sleeping in the GMC sure beats sleeping on the ground.

Quote:

One more thing. I just noticed your sign off "Currently at Scout Camp" Hope you have a good time. I have been to Scout Camp every year over the past 20 years. Sleeping in the GMC sure beats sleeping on the ground.

Having all boys, this is one of the reasons I got our GMC. Unfortunately, getting a GMC to many of our area council's camps is a challenge.

My generator is having issues again. We used it over Memorial Day weekend and it ran, but not without issues. The O ring on the needle had somehow gotten damaged and I replaced it. I have not been able to get the generator to hold a load since. It will start (sometimes) but will run very rough not get up to speed.

I pulled the carb and made sure that there wasn't anything plugged. I tested the coil per the manual and it seems to be within specs. I jumped the 5 and 9 posts on the board and the fuel pump seems to be working. The plugs look a little black but not bad.

I was going to check the points, but when I removed the cover I found that there are none. It looks like it has an electronic ignition (not Pertronics) so I'm not sure how to check the timing. I do have the old points in the parts box as well as a replacement set of point. I may replace the old points to rule out an issue with the electronic ignition.

Let me know what you would recommend to try.

Thanks for the help!



John Fredrikson
Currently at Scout Camp by Molena, GA
1978 Eleganza

> On Jun 9, 2015, at 10:28 AM, John Fredrikson wrote:
>
> I will work on decarbonize this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

The choke experiment you described indicates a fuel delivery problem as others have correctly pointed out. I would highly recommend against attempting the decarbonization until you have the engine running smoothly with the choke fully open. There is risk associated with the decarbonization procedure and a fuel delivery issue must be either corrected - or ruled out - before trying other things.

--Jim "saving the lives of Onans...one unit at a time" Miller
1977 Eleganza II
1977 Royale
Hamilton, OH

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John,

I have not kept up with this thread and if someone has already suggested to or you have already rebuilt the carb I would suggest you
do so.

You can get a kit from JimK for $30

http://www.appliedgmc.com/prod.itml/icOid/892

and a can of this stuff from O'Reilly's

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/BRY3/0996/N0441.oap?ck=Search_parts+cleaner_-1_-1&keyword=parts+cleaner

for another $30.

I rebuilt the Onan carb on Double Trouble and it works great!

Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia


-----Original Message-----
From: Gmclist [mailto:gmclist-bounces@temp.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of John Fredrikson
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2015 11:16 PM
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] More Onan Issues

JohnL455 wrote on Tue, 09 June 2015 09:06
> Rather than the starting fluid just hand opperate the choke. If it improves as you begin to choke it, the carb is lean. If it
deteriorates as you
> choke it it is allready too rich and choke is making it worse. Starting fluid is easier to ignite and can also mask weak spark
momentarily. Be sure
> bith plugs are gapped at the seemingly wrong but correct .020. The thickness of a thumb nail if you have no feeler is a temporary
guide.



It does improve with pushing the choke closed. I will doublecheck the plug gap as well.

Thanks,

John
--
John Fredrikson
Fayetteville, GA
1978 Eleganza
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The fuse is a 5 amp fuse mounted on the board itself.