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NAUTIQUE's avatar
NAUTIQUE
Explorer
Jul 15, 2018

Onan Genny - Help - Looking for suggestions!

Onan Emerald Plus 4000 BGE in a 29' GBM Landau on F53 chassis...
Exercised once a month all winter - but then sat from April until now.
Now won't start? Cranks fine but doesn't sound like it wants to start (like it's not getting gas?)
The other funny thing is that my start switch on the dash seems dead to? Only start switch on genny itself will crank it.
Can't find any blown fuses anywhere - not sure what's going on???
Is there something that might control my dash switch and fuel pump maybe?
Any tips/suggestions that I can check out before taking it somewhere for service would be much appreciated!!
Class A
  • eubank's avatar
    eubank
    Explorer
    Jul 15, 2018
    Ours has a similar problem, so I did some youtubing on it. Turns out that the folks I watched seem to believe that the Onans have an issue with evaporating gas turning to varnish in the carburetor, causing uneven running and/or failure to start. One recommendation was to use SeaFoam, as described in the video. (It's a self-serving video produced by SeaFoam about the Onan.)

    Ok, carburated motors do have that issue, but perhaps it's something more than the usual. My carburated mowers have always started, as has my trusty MGB, even after months of storage. But perhaps the Onan's carburator is somehow more susceptible to evaporating petrol.

    Ours failed to start about a week ago at elevation (7K+). Probably just enough to combine with the messy carburator to cause the issue. Minutes ago -- and now at a few thousand feet lower in elevation (just under 5K) -- it started ok, but runs somewhat rough. As described in SeaFoam's video.

    Lynn
  • NAUTIQUE's avatar
    NAUTIQUE
    Explorer
    Jul 15, 2018
    Mandalay Parr wrote:
    Are both sets of batteries charged?
    House and chassis?


    All batteries good. Everything else seems to be working
    fine.

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