Forum Discussion

aintnothin's avatar
aintnothin
Explorer
Sep 13, 2014

onan 40 watt emerald 1 not starting

I have the 4000w onan generator in my 1988 Ford e350 Tioga. It was running fine and the meter reports less than 32 hours of use, but it now cranks great but won't start up. I checked for spark on the plug towards the outside of the coach and not getting any using a spark test tool. I'm not sure how to get to the rear plug or the points. I'm a little handicapped and have trouble doing some things. Any help will be great.

4 Replies

  • aintnothin wrote:
    I've only had this for 2 years and used the generator quite a bit without any problems so I not think it is gunked up with bad gas, it isn't getting spark, so it has to be somewhere in the ignition system. I'm thinking more and more that possibly the plugs wires and or coil? This unit is under the coach/floor but don't know if it slides out or drops/swings out underneath? Hard for me to do because of my back. I seen in another post, same problem, that a member said to go with a Harley coil because of the cost?

    The troubleshooter will tell you that the low oil switch may cause a no spark condition, see the top of page 3 of the troubleshooter to see if your model is one of these
  • I've only had this for 2 years and used the generator quite a bit without any problems so I not think it is gunked up with bad gas, it isn't getting spark, so it has to be somewhere in the ignition system. I'm thinking more and more that possibly the plugs wires and or coil? This unit is under the coach/floor but don't know if it slides out or drops/swings out underneath? Hard for me to do because of my back. I seen in another post, same problem, that a member said to go with a Harley coil because of the cost?
  • Well the first thing I notice is it has not been run enough over it's 24 years of life. 32 hours in 28 years is not enough to keep the fuel fresh and the varnish out of the Carburetor. First of all you might try priming by pushing and holding down the STOP button on the gen set itself and listen for the clicking of the fuel pump, hold down until the clicking slows down or quits, then try to start. Otherwise it looks like time for professional help. If you get it running, in the future run it with a load at least 1 hour every month to keep it exercised.
  • Here is a troubleshooter that MAY help;

    http://www.flightsystems.com/pdf/onan-rv-troubleshooing-guide.pdf