Fun / Projects / with my 1997 America Dream

Rain, Rain, go away, I want to finish installing my generator.

I want to see if it runs.

So....

I'll leave a bunch of stuff out as I am sure you guys are sick of hearing me belly ache about poor service.

Well that is not completely true I will give another example of it. But will not relay a couple of other stories hat have developed over the last two days.

I went and picked up the Motor Home From Cummins in Buffalo. Foot note I have had good service from "engine service" but not so much from 'power generation" which is how they break down their services.

I stopped them from doing any additional work other than putting the front back on the motor home so that I could drive it home. The generator was not put back together and it was not reinstalled into the motor home.

Originally they wanted to charge $1,200 for that service. After much discussion it was dropped to $900.00, I got the Motor Home back, the generator in the back of the pickup and a box of parts not put back on the generator.



I had the Motor Home Parked at the storage facility at 2:00 PM



I got a call on my cell phone from UPS, it was the driver and he was 5 minutes away with the generator from the salvage yard.

I was not really prepared to start this project , but it was not raining and the generator was on hand so I started (the race trailer with tools is in the same location (no power tools, all hand tools)).

Open the hood.



I had forgotten that I had taken the hood off and repainted it to remove the "bow tie" design that I did not like, When I had it off I powder coated the hinges and made plates with captured nuts on them which made removing the hood really easy, so off it came.



The bumper came of next, there was a total of 11 bolts holding it on, three were finger tight and one was missing (reinstalled by the professionals at Cummins "power generation").



The body panels were next. These panels are mounted on a steel frame which bolts to the Motor Home chassis. This frame is held on by a total of four bolts which are accessed from the front (you do not even have to get under the motor home to take them off).



I would really like to get some pictures or diagrams on how the power slide works on the Eagles.

These are the A/C power lines that go to the generator. There are two hot legs (110 v red and black I'm guessing 10 gauge) one neutral (white I'm guessing 8 gauge) and one ground (green 10 gauge).



There are five terminals in the generator, not having taken this apart, I had to figure out how these wires get hooked up.

Fortunately I have the installation manual. There are several connection configurations, but the way mine gets hooked up is one hot (red or black goes to the first terminal, the other hot goers to the next terminal (if you look close you can see that those terminals have black wires inside the generator.

Now comes the interesting part. The generator is actually made with two separate 110 circuits, and each circuit has its own neutral. This allows for several different hookup configurations (air conditioners on one circuit and house power on another as an example). In my case they are hooked together. If you look closely you will see the next two terminals have white wires.

There is a jumper in the generator to connect both neutrals together.

The Motor Home Neutral is 8 gauge which will not fit into the terminal block. What was done at the factory (and this was deduced from the loose parts I found in the box of parts) is the Motor Home 8 gauge neutral wire was wire nutted to two 10 gauge wires and those wires were connected to the terminal strip.

The installation manual says that if this configuration is used the signal neutral wire must be able to carry 70 amps.

The Green ground wire gets connected to the last terminal.



Note, the terminal strip is steel and the wire is copper. Two dissimilar metals. The ends of my wires show corrosion. You might want to check your wires for corrosion and if you find it cut the ends off and strip it again to get fresh copper exposed . Corrosion on wire in connections causes heat.

This is the quick disconnect that holds the wiring to control the generator from inside the Motor Home.



Here are the two 12 volt lines to run the starter in the generator off the engine batteries in the motor home. Turns out the one marked with red is not the hot lead but the ground and the one wrapped in black tape is the hot lead (I wonder if someone was trying to throw mew a curve ball.

Then there are two fuel lines a supply and a return, nether which is marked, the one with the brass fitting is the supply.



So...now after figuring out all the hook ups (taking this apart would have helped a lot, time was spent figuring this out). It is time to put the generator in place.



It is starting to get dark (living up north this time of year is really a pain, gets dark so early.

And we still have to unload the truck, so we left at this point and went home.

Dragged the engine hoist up out of the basement, and picked the old generator up out of the truck.



Set it on the legs of the engine hoist so I can roll it around.



So...I have an interesting challenge waiting for me when I have so spare time (now that is a joke) merge the box of parts with the old generator and see if I can get it running again (remember Cummins did not reassemble it)



Speaking of Cummins I started working on this at 2:00, took delivery of the new generator, disassembled the front to the Motor Home, figured out how it is supposed to be connected, put the ne generator in place, drove home and unloaded the old generator and when done, the time was, wait for it, 4:30.

Cummins charge $900.00

If it does not rain hard tomorrow I will finish this install and post another update.

Oops, I almost forgot (old age is creeping up on me).

UPS made a delivery at the house while I was goofing off.



It is the chrome tip that Gillig gave me the part number for that I ordered off of Amazon. Gillig really does have great customer service!

It is a direct fit to the tail pipe extension that Gillig sent me earlier this week.



I now have all the parts to put the exhaust back into original condition.

Well just got a call from Cummins.

Apparently the plunger in the injector pump is broken and they want another $900.00 to fix that. Caledonia RV replaced the fuel pump on their first attempt to repair the unit in the motor home, not sure if this is related or not (fuel pump and injector pump are different, but I do not have a good description of what is broken from Cummins).

They say they have no idea why the unit even ran.

I do not know if this is just another attempt to take a customer or not.

I called Visone RV (salvage yard)and talked with Merle Watkins. He has the personality of a typical junk yard sales person.

The unit they pictured on their web site is not available.

Talked to me about an 8.0 KV unit, and then told me that one was sold.

He said he had a 7.5KV but had no information on it.

I had him send pictures. I have purchased the generator.









Unit has 750 hours on it.

I have called Cummins and told them to button up the front of the motor home. I will pick up the motor home without the generator in it. The generator will go in the back of the pickup for the trip home. I have no idea what I will do with it when it gets here.

Everything comes back here in pieces after paying the bill for taking it apart and delivering bad news.

Once again I will end up doing the work myself. The weather in the next week is not supposed to be good, and we have a trip scheduled for the end of the month.

I have a friend that has a self storage business, who will let me use his parking lot and his fork lift.

I am at a disadvantage right off the bat as I did not remove the unit, and there for will be making guesses as to how it goes back together.

From the pictures I have already notice an inconsistency. See the gray fitting below the wiring harness. I know that is not on my unit. He told me some unit have it and others do not, and that it does not have to be hooked up.

Anyone know what it is for?



I am mot a happy camper right now. Actually down right depressed.

GlennLever, Sorry I didn't realize how big yours was. I have a 7KV Onan generator and it's not nearly as big as yours.

Steve

Most stop leaks work by swelling the seals. I'd only use it as a temporary fix knowing that I was going to be totally rebuilding or replacing the unit in the near future.

Gjac wrote:
Do you use synthetic oil in it? My Kohlar genset started leaking when I switched to synthetic oil. I cannot find the leak. I switched back to reg oil and the leak is slowing down a bit. I am hoping a few more oil changes will seal it up. I don't want to pull it either. I don't know if anyone has tried one of the stop leak additives with any success?

No synthetic oil has been used, it is a failed part which is buried and very hard to get to.

Geocritter wrote:
Removing the generator shouldn’t be hard with a transmission jack that can be rented most anywhere, as long as you have a nice smooth concrete floor to work on (which it looks like you do). From there it’s just a matter of inspecting gaskets, seals, any fluid lines, and things such as the oil pressure sending unit (cracked diaphragms will leak oil). Maybe you can remove some of that shrouding without taking the generator completely out and spot the leak.

I have a smooth surface, but no level surface.



Transmission jacks have a lifting surface of a foot square, the underside of this beast is 12 square feet and who knows where the center point of gravity is.

The generator far exceeds the lifting capacity of a transmission jack.

The only service that can be done to the unit while in the vehicle is oil and filter changes.

Only way to service the unit is to pull it.

It's been pulled out twice by Caledonia RV, back when I was depending on them, both times I paid for, It was also returned to them for repair of the leak three other times. I took them to small claims court for failing to repair the unit. The decision on that case is still pending. I have had horrendous service by RV repair centers.

Cummins has it out now and say total bill will be $3,800. They have found the leak, but the whole unit has to be taken apart to get to the leak to fix it. Apparently a small "cap" (very inexpensive part) is what is leaking)

I found this



on Fee Bay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-ONAN-Qu...ceed2d&vxp=mtr

And called the guy, they are units that were in buses that the air intake resonator cracked on and sucked dirt in and the rings failed, the engines have been removed rebuilt and put back in.

My unit has been running fine except for the leak.

E-bay unit is $5,500 plus shipping plus labor to install, He will give me $1,000 for my unit and pay for the return shipping.

A new unit is $8,500 plus what I owe for finding out what is wrong with my current unit. New units are all 8KV 7.5 is not made any more.

This is a hard call, every time I have tried to save money it has bitten me, every single time.

What I should do is buy the new unit.

I'm going to have Cummins repair this unit, it has 2,700 hours on it and I'm told 20,000 hours is the life expediency if taken care of.

Do you use synthetic oil in it? My Kohlar genset started leaking when I switched to synthetic oil. I cannot find the leak. I switched back to reg oil and the leak is slowing down a bit. I am hoping a few more oil changes will seal it up. I don't want to pull it either. I don't know if anyone has tried one of the stop leak additives with any success?

Removing the generator shouldn’t be hard with a transmission jack that can be rented most anywhere, as long as you have a nice smooth concrete floor to work on (which it looks like you do). From there it’s just a matter of inspecting gaskets, seals, any fluid lines, and things such as the oil pressure sending unit (cracked diaphragms will leak oil). Maybe you can remove some of that shrouding without taking the generator completely out and spot the leak.

A victory today!

Gillig came through and I have my tail pipe extension!



They have also provided the vendor and part number for the chrome tip Nelson part # 90909C. They can only get that in quantities of ten and have suggested I order it myself which I have done through Amozon.