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Shut off valve for the onan [message #344419] Sat, 22 June 2019 14:49 Go to next message
Fipp is currently offline  Fipp   United States
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Is it necessary to have a shut off valve prior to the fuel pump on the onan.
Scott


Scott D. Fippinger Aledo, Illinois 1976 Royale
Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344420 is a reply to message #344419] Sat, 22 June 2019 14:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rjw   United States
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Fipp wrote on Sat, 22 June 2019 15:49
Is it necessary to have a shut off valve prior to the fuel pump on the onan.
Scott
A lot of people, including the PO of my GMC have removed them.


Richard
76 Palm Beach
SE Michigan
www.PalmBeachGMC.com

Roller Cam 455, TBI+EBL, 3.42 FD, 4 Bag, Macerator, Lenzi (brakes, vacuum system, front end stuff), Manny Tranny, vacuum step, Tankless + OEM water heaters.

[Updated on: Sat, 22 June 2019 14:50]

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Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344441 is a reply to message #344419] Sun, 23 June 2019 07:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Matt Colie is currently offline  Matt Colie   United States
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Fipp wrote on Sat, 22 June 2019 15:49
Is it necessary to have a shut off valve prior to the fuel pump on the onan.
Scott
Scott,

I do not recall much other than it happened and was a good talk, but we once had a speaker at an international that had been part of the PowerDrawer program. When some asked about that valve that some of us do still have, he told us that GM was not the only buyer for these units and some had the fuel tank actually above the generator. As such, the full time pressure on the needle could make it leak.

Matt


Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit
Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344451 is a reply to message #344419] Sun, 23 June 2019 11:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JohnL455 is currently offline  JohnL455   United States
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Location: Woodstock, IL
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IIRC the Onan presenter engineer said that was a left over from the Onan engine in lawn tractor duty from whence it came. Some of those may have had higher mounted tanks. I have the audio recording of that on an old phone but it's over an hour long and not easy to listen to as it was in a cinder block fair building

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344455 is a reply to message #344419] Sun, 23 June 2019 12:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wardhill is currently offline  Wardhill   United States
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Location: West Baldwin, Maine
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Uh if one had a shut off valve where would it be located ?

Jeffrey Fleming 1976 edgemonte Living in Maine
Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344456 is a reply to message #344419] Sun, 23 June 2019 13:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JohnL455 is currently offline  JohnL455   United States
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Solenoid at fuel pump

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
Re: Shut off valve for the onan [message #344476 is a reply to message #344441] Mon, 24 June 2019 03:16 Go to previous message
Ken Burton is currently offline  Ken Burton   United States
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Location: Hebron, Indiana
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Matt Colie wrote on Sun, 23 June 2019 07:03
Fipp wrote on Sat, 22 June 2019 15:49
Is it necessary to have a shut off valve prior to the fuel pump on the onan.
Scott
Scott,

I do not recall much other than it happened and was a good talk, but we once had a speaker at an international that had been part of the PowerDrawer program. When some asked about that valve that some of us do still have, he told us that GM was not the only buyer for these units and some had the fuel tank actually above the generator. As such, the full time pressure on the needle could make it leak.

Matt
You can have a similar problem only in reverse on GMCs that upfitted by someone other than GM. On some or all of those coaches, the onan fuel source was teed into the main engine suction line of the rear (main) tank.

He stopped by here one day and while visiting said, "I sometimes can not run on the main tank. I can only use the reserve." It threw us for a loop looking for things wrong. After about an hour he said, "If I start the Onan and shut if off again, then I can use the main tank for the main engine". It was in the failure mode when he got here because he always left it in reserve. So he demonstrated it to me and he was correct.

He did not have the shutoff valve on the Onan so I disconnected the gas line at the Onan and stuck a bolt in it to seal it. The main engine ran fine on the main tank. Then I removed the bolt and the engine main engine died with fuel starvation. Got it started again and reconnected that gas line and drained the Onan float bowl. Sure enough it failed. What was happening was when the needle valve was open in the Onan carb, the main engine fuel pump was sucking air through the Onan carb if the float valve was not closed and sealed. His fix when he got home was to find and reinstall a shut off valve in the Onan fuel line.


Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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