Generator repaired! (We hope!)

John_Canfield · 10-17-2007, 06:05 AM

Starting this summer, our Onan Quiet Diesel 7.5 refused to start and run for more than 20 seconds occasionally after a morning of driving.

If started first thing in the morning, it would run all day without a hiccup. I made an appointment with Cummins in Harrisburg, PA since we were in the area but canceled it when the generator seemed to be too intermittently broken to warrant a detour. The service writer said that if it didn't exhibit the trouble symptom, there was nothing they could do since a code 27 could point to several different problems. Later I found out this isn't exactly true. (Don't you love the technical expertise of the service writers?)

This is maintenance week for us in Phoenix. I made an appointment with Cummins Rocky Mountain for the gen repair and Freightliner (only a mile from Cummins) for our M3 chassis maintenance (this will be a big pain in the wallet

)

We pulled into Cummins yesterday about lunchtime with a 1 PM appointment. I was getting antsy when at 2 PM nobody came out and I then made a little polite fuss with the service writer. Since nothing would be done if the gen set didn't exhibit the problem, we decided to start the gen and just leave if it worked. Praise the Lord it wouldn't run! I managed to get a tech out to the coach and he tried to start the Onan and it failed for him too giving code 27 (PML sense loss I think according to the manual.)

After several minutes (about 3 PM) the service writer appeared and told us to get our personal things off the coach as it was going into the service bay to replace the inverter or the stator (both in stock thank goodness.) Work would be completed by about 8:30 PM! - apparently this is a 7x24 hour operation.

We hung around the customer lounge for about three hours and then went back to the coach to feed and water the kitties. That's when I had a chance to take these pictures. Had a chance to chat with the tech and he said they were replacing both the inverter and the stator (since they probably had no idea which one was causing the problem.) We went to dinner and got a call about 7:30 PM that our coach was completed! Hooray! The best news is the repair was covered under the three year warranty.

The first two years of the three year Onan warranty covers all parts, but the third year ONLY covers certain parts.

One more note - one of my requirements when coach shopping was a slide-out gen set. Having the gen on a slide saved us (and them) lots of service time. The tech said the gen sets that are not on a slide are much more difficult to repair - they typically hoist the coach in the air and drop the generator. That must be quite a production.

John_Canfield · 10-17-2007, 06:05 AM

Starting this summer, our Onan Quiet Diesel 7.5 refused to start and run for more than 20 seconds occasionally after a morning of driving.

If started first thing in the morning, it would run all day without a hiccup. I made an appointment with Cummins in Harrisburg, PA since we were in the area but canceled it when the generator seemed to be too intermittently broken to warrant a detour. The service writer said that if it didn't exhibit the trouble symptom, there was nothing they could do since a code 27 could point to several different problems. Later I found out this isn't exactly true. (Don't you love the technical expertise of the service writers?)

This is maintenance week for us in Phoenix. I made an appointment with Cummins Rocky Mountain for the gen repair and Freightliner (only a mile from Cummins) for our M3 chassis maintenance (this will be a big pain in the wallet

)

We pulled into Cummins yesterday about lunchtime with a 1 PM appointment. I was getting antsy when at 2 PM nobody came out and I then made a little polite fuss with the service writer. Since nothing would be done if the gen set didn't exhibit the problem, we decided to start the gen and just leave if it worked. Praise the Lord it wouldn't run! I managed to get a tech out to the coach and he tried to start the Onan and it failed for him too giving code 27 (PML sense loss I think according to the manual.)

After several minutes (about 3 PM) the service writer appeared and told us to get our personal things off the coach as it was going into the service bay to replace the inverter or the stator (both in stock thank goodness.) Work would be completed by about 8:30 PM! - apparently this is a 7x24 hour operation.

We hung around the customer lounge for about three hours and then went back to the coach to feed and water the kitties. That's when I had a chance to take these pictures. Had a chance to chat with the tech and he said they were replacing both the inverter and the stator (since they probably had no idea which one was causing the problem.) We went to dinner and got a call about 7:30 PM that our coach was completed! Hooray! The best news is the repair was covered under the three year warranty.

The first two years of the three year Onan warranty covers all parts, but the third year ONLY covers certain parts.

One more note - one of my requirements when coach shopping was a slide-out gen set. Having the gen on a slide saved us (and them) lots of service time. The tech said the gen sets that are not on a slide are much more difficult to repair - they typically hoist the coach in the air and drop the generator. That must be quite a production.

Moder2 · 10-17-2007, 07:16 AM

Glad you got it fixed!

Do you have an idea what it would have cost if it wasn't covered? I'm just curious for those of us who aren't covered any longer.

I totally agree about the genny slide. Even with the slide service on the bugger can be a pain, Now, I do want to know who's bright idea it was to route the exhaust pipe right under the service hatch... Two more bends in the pipe, and it would be SO much easier to change the oil!

John

John_Canfield · 10-17-2007, 09:44 AM

John - not a clue what the tab would be if it was non-warranty

but I'll bet it would be very ugly.

You might be able to loosen the gen exhaust bracket so you can move it. Mine was a little loose from the factory so it got tightned up.

Florida Guy · 10-17-2007, 11:35 AM

We just had our Generator inverter replaced a few weeks ago for the same symptoms as Johns. Would run for a few seconds and shut down. Your lucky John, our malfunctioning generator also took out our AC circuit board to the tune of $300. Our Journey has no generator slide but the Tech, had the generator out in 45 minutes. A couple blocks of wood under the jacks and that was enough height to pull it out. Tech. said most of the MH's with Gen slides still have to come out of the MH because they can't pull the slide out far enough to get the cover completly off. Guess the Horizon isn't one of them. When the generator out I also had him change the coolant. Total cost, about $1300..Ouch.

Moder2 · 10-17-2007, 12:10 PM

Ouch is right. Ugh.

I thought about pulling the pipe off and taking it to a muffler shop and having them put a couple bends in it so I could open the oil door without unscrewing the hinge... Been kinda low on the priority list.

VectraDon · 10-17-2007, 04:18 PM

I recently had a similar problem. My generator would stop after a minute or two and display a code 31 fault indicating an over reving problem. My service tech said it was the second time he had seen the problem which turned out to be a serious one. The adhesive which holds some magnets in place on a spinning part fails. The magnets fly out of place and the generator stops. Thankfully the Onan warranty covered everything.

2004 Vectra 40AD

John_Canfield · 10-18-2007, 03:40 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Florida Guy:
--snip--Our Journey has no generator slide but the Tech, had the generator out in 45 minutes. A couple blocks of wood under the jacks and that was enough height to pull it out. Tech. said most of the MH's with Gen slides still have to come out of the MH because they can't pull the slide out far enough to get the cover completly off. Guess the Horizon isn't one of them. --snip-- </div></BLOCKQUOTE>That's exactly what the service writer said when he was looking the generator arrangement over. Just because they are on a slide, doesn't mean everything can be accessed.

I always thought ours was well designed since it extends so far

.

We had the Freightliner factory in Gaffney do the fifty hour genny service (among other things) a couple of years ago and the tech didn't even bother to pull it out. He just scooted around underneath on a creeper.

cbeierl · 10-20-2007, 05:42 PM

We're in the middle of a 3.5 week trip around the country and our Onan started intermittently shutting down a week ago with a Code 27 error as well! Unfortunately, when we stopped in at Cummins Atlantic in Greenboro, SC (not that far from Gaffney, actually) it wouldn't fail. They checked everything that the book said to check for that code but couldn't find anything. Since then it will sometimes run fine for hours and hours and then will decide to shutdown with the 27 code--very frustrating!

(On the road in Idaho tonight.)

(on edit, corrected spelling of Greenboro)

gunny · 10-21-2007, 04:12 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by cbeierl:
We're in the middle of a 3.5 week trip around the country and our Onan started intermittently shutting down a week ago with a Code 27 error as well! Unfortunately, when we stopped in at Cummins Atlantic in Greenville, SC (not that far from Gaffney, actually) it wouldn't fail. They checked everything that the book said to check for that code but couldn't find anything. Since then it will sometimes run fine for hours and hours and then will decide to shutdown with the 27 code--very frustrating!

(On the road in Idaho tonight.) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hook the 'puter to it and see what it has to say for itself. Should be able to down load ALL fault codes, hour meter reading when occured and some other good diagnostic information. The old story of not being able to do anything unless it is broke or breaks in front of the tech doesn't work anymore. On very rare occasion, with a controller failure, will there be no codes to assist with diagnostics.

John_Canfield · 10-21-2007, 04:42 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by gunny:

Hook the 'puter to it and see what it has to say for itself. Should be able to down load ALL fault codes, hour meter reading when occured and some other good diagnostic information. The old story of not being able to do anything unless it is broke or breaks in front of the tech doesn't work anymore. On very rare occasion, with a controller failure, will there be no codes to assist with diagnostics. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Gunny - don't think the gen set diagnostics gets much more in-depth.

Two different service centers said they couldn't determine what to replace from the code, but would have to see the fault in person and do testing. This turned (as I said in my original post) out not to be true because my tech simply observed the code 27 and the fact the gen shut down and I suppose went to his service manual which said the inverter and/or stator is defective.

Chris - I feel your pain buddy

gunny · 10-21-2007, 04:19 PM

John:
When you hook up the 'puter, instead of just reading the codes, you can see what fault was recorded, when and in what sequence, not just a code. Helps when you need to know if the chicken came before the egg or the egg before the chicken. Now that is assuming the technician had the proper software and the training to use it. Onan is bad to not train their folks well and allow them to learn on the customers equipment. Worked there for a good many years. Rare is a good technician who does good diagnostics and gets to the root cause of the problem without changing out half the parts on the machine. Greatly adds to the cost of the machine when they end up replacing half of the genset under warranty. True, sometimes that's the solution but there is a lot of parts changers out there.

cbeierl · 10-21-2007, 06:48 PM

Thanks, Gunny. I'll see if I can get them to do that when I get a chance to get it looked at again. Luckily, I should still be under the 3 yr warranty until the end of February.

(on edit, typo correction)