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FLSTFI's avatar
FLSTFI
Explorer
Jul 21, 2012

2006 RT Onan 2.8 cutting out

Went to give the onan it's monthly exercise today.
It ran great for about 20 minutes with the AC on then surged a little and died. Had to wait 5-10 minutes before it would start again and then same thing. Tried again with only the fan as load and same thing.
It is close to 100 degrees today but that has never caused a problem before.
It has 168 hours on it with regular oil changes and exercising. Plenty of gas and oil. Clean air filter.
Any ideas before I end up at Cummins.
  • There's no thermal safety switch, AFAIK. 'Heat-related could be an electrical / electronic component breaking down, tho'.

    Rodger's got a likely culprit in the spark arrestor screen, tho' mine would run fine with no load when I had issues with that.

    Let us know what you find.

    Jim, "Mo' coffee!"
  • I have ran mine here in the summer with no problems, well over 100 sometimes, so I don't think heat is the problem.
    You might try putting a little Sea Foam directly into the carb., won't hurt anything, and might help.
  • I checked the "usual suspects" (the real easy stuff) first.
    Clean air filter. Spark plug looks nice and clean and proper gap.
    Oil level full and plenty of gas.
    I started it again and turned on the AC. Voltage and Hz was nice and steady 117 +/- and 60 +/- under load.
    After 10 minutes it started wavering and finally died.
    Started it again and with no load voltage and frequency look good but it only lasted about 5 minutes.
    Because it starts and runs good I was thinking it might be heat related. But I don't see a high temp switch??? Maybe something in the control circuit breaking down ??
    But even though it runs for a while I guess I shouldn't rule out fuel system problems because it does go up and down for a while before it quits.
    Maybe I will take the air filter off and shoot some carb cleaner thru it.

    When the weather cools down I will try Handbasket's suggestion. And I will pick up a new fuel filter to change at the same time. Been under there enough for today.

    Rodger I do have the service manual. I guess I better start looking the wiring diagrams.
  • Check the altitude adjustment, and idle. It should be at 60 Hz. A Kill-A-Watt meter is good for that. If it is idling too slow it will surge, and stop.
    Like Handbasket said in another post, the manual has a really good trouble shooting guide, if you don't have it, You should be able to get it on line.
    The fuel filter could be plugged up, also the spark arrester could be clogged.
    2800 Micro Lite Spec. Sheet
    My idle screw would vibrate, and I would have to adjust it occasionally, by turning up the idle.
  • If it's currently in the condition that it last stalled in (haven't tried again to start it), try pulling the fuel line off the fuel filter, preferably the bottom. See if any fuel comes out. If not, I'd suspect the fuel pump.

    I'm pretty sure the Microlite 2800 self-generates its ignition after starting.

    Jim, "Don't get even. Get odd."
  • My generator uses the house battery to power it's ignition. Might be your problem
    SkipJ