HELP On the road generator malfunction

[Jerry B.]

Need some troubleshooting help please. I'm on the road and my generator shut down while driving. Second time it happened in two days. Generator starts and runs fine. After about an hour or so it just shuts down. Gas tank was almost full on both occasions and oil level was good. It's an Onan 4000 that's in the Vegas. Any help will be greatly appreciated. It's hot here in Tennessee !

[ComputerChips]

Are there any error messages being shown by the blinking LED. I guess the Indoor LED does the same as the one on the unit. Onan has 3 digit error messages, if the controller is doing the shutting down.

[Jerry B.]

It does work the same way as at the unit. I'm talking with an Onan tech in the moring with the codes. We'll see what happens. Thanks for your help.

[Felices30.2]

Originally Posted by Jerry B.

It does work the same way as at the unit. I'm talking with an Onan tech in the moring with the codes. We'll see what happens. Thanks for your help.

Mine shuts off sometimes while on the road if I hit a bump, dip or brake quickly. I decided it must be either a protection or loss of prime. I just restart it. Only happens while driving. I ran stationary for 30 hours and it never stopped. Hope this helps.

Freaked me out the first time it happened.

[Hittntherooad]

Could be the dreaded overheat issue. Normally you get a 3-6 code. Lots of discussion on here about it. I fixed mine with a special vent I put in the compartment door made for the Onan 4000.

[captmetal]

Is there a photo of the 4000 special vent door??

[Hittntherooad]

Here you go. I had to get my dealer to order through Forest River. He is a dealer for both. It has a rubber boot that fits between the generator air intake and the compartment door keeping the hot air from the exhaust and engine from being sucked into the generator.

[Hittntherooad]

Here it is complete

[fotofx]

Also check the oil. When it starts to get low it may slosh a bit and trigger the low oil sensor for a split second.

[blw2]

I'm convinced mine was from heat
It would die, often when driving...but sometimes in a parking lot...usually after being driven &/or in the very hot sun.

I made my own vent using a louver from West marine....
I can't believe that I can't find a photo of the finished product.... but here's one of my first attempt. I was just trying to supplement the air with some cooler air form outside, so I wasn't overly concerned that it's smaller than the generator's intake

With just the louver, it wasn't enough.
It pulled in some cooling air, but was still pulling in most of its air from behind the door.

I ended up buying a second louver, and cutting and splicing the two together to make a rectangular louver....imagine one above the other except take away the middle sets of screws. If you look close you can see my seem but you have to look close. the louvers just continue their spacing and it was the perfect size to match up to the onan's intake holes.

Then, I fabricated a little baffle using some silicone rubber engine baffle material (like this https://www.aircraftsupply.com/tsr-3-1-8.html)
and some aluminum angle. pop riveted it to the
No reason though I think to use the specialized rubber, any old rubber...say from an old mud flap...would do.

The other thing I did, was to insulate my fuel line feeding the genny. I found that Thor had just draped it loosely in the slipstream under the MH, surprisingly near the driveshaft. I insulated the hose with regular pipe insulation form the hardware store, and tucked it much more neatly and more securely up against the frame (further away from teh V-10 exhaust system)

At the same time, I changed the oil and fuel filter.

After approx 5,200 miles through the high desert this summer, I'm fairly confident then this effort worked.
I was prepared to try one or both of two other ideas found in research
....add a second fuel pump to the line, but back close to the gas tank
.... add in a return loop at the generator's carburetor back to the tank so that more fuel would flow
But I don't think either of these will be necessary in my case.

[mcars302]

Originally Posted by Hittntherooad

Here you go. I had to get my dealer to order through Forest River. He is a dealer for both. It has a rubber boot that fits between the generator air intake and the compartment door keeping the hot air from the exhaust and engine from being sucked into the generator.

Do you have any part numbers for what you ordered?

[Brakeman48]

Originally Posted by ComputerChips

Are there any error messages being shown by the blinking LED. I guess the Indoor LED does the same as the one on the unit. Onan has 3 digit error messages, if the controller is doing the shutting down.

Computer chips, I have a post else ware about my generator that will not start, not even crank. I am interested in the codes you mentioned. I am getting a green light "blinking" continuously.

[ComputerChips]

Copied but you may want to check your specific manual:
Fault Codes The genset controller provides extensive diagnostics by causing the status indicator light on the Control Switch to blink in a coded fashion. Following a fault shutdown, the indicator light will repeatedly blink one, two, three or four blinks at a time. • One blink indicates shutdown due to high engine coolant temperature. • Two blinks indicates a low oil pressure fault. • Three blinks indicates a service fault. Press Stop once to cause the two-digit, second-level fault code to blink. (Pressing Stop again will stop the blinking.)The two-digit code consists of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 blinks, a brief pause, and then 1 to 9 blinks. The first set of blinks represents the tens digit and the second set of blinks the units digit of the fault code number. For example, Fault Code No. 36 appears as: blink-blink-blink—pause—blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink— long pause— repeat • Four blinks indicates that cranking exceeded 30 seconds without the engine starting. Note: Fault Code Nos. 3 and 4 are first level faults. Avoid interpreting them as second-level Fault Code Nos. 33 and 44, which have not been assigned as fault codes. Restoring Fault Code Blinking – The fault code stops blinking after five minutes (15 minutes, Series HGJAA). Press Stop three times within five seconds to restore blinking. Note that the last fault logged will blink, even after the condition that caused the shutdown has been corrected.