Replacement for Onan 4000
My Onan 4000 which only has about 80 hours stops working. I think it is because I do not exercise it monthly. I pay around $300 to replace the caburator, but I am thinking about buying a portable gene...
Forum Discussion
cody, be more specific what the problem is. Presume your overpriced carburetor job means you're having fuel delivery issues, or is it something else?
Agree, makes no sense to junk a basically new built in 4k generator unless you ran it out of oil or something catastrophic. Just stop taking it places that charge $300 to replace a $30-60 carburetor.
On to the myths. Generators DONT "need" to be excercised monthly or anywhere near that. No more than your lawnmower or car. Who starts their mower every month all winter, lol!
However regular starting is an ok band aid for lack of proper layup or maintenance. Regular use with degraded crappy gas will have a better chance at keeping it from getting varnished or gummed up than letting it sit. That however is the only reason for frequent operation.
However simply running it out of gas also eliminates the possibility of the above issue.
Starting ease and running quality is greatly increased with quality fuel as well. Likely the OPs issue, feeding off a tank or **** gas in the rv that has sat for months with no consideration for that.
Excercising to maintain residual magnetism between the armatur and windings is not needed monthly either. LONG term storage or another issue can kill the magnetism and require re-exciting the generator, which is also easy. But in 30+ years, I've seen one dead generator and idfk how long it sat, but years though.
Bottom line, just take care of the generator the right way if you don't want to band aid it and you won't have issues.
And for portables or any other small engines, non ethanol with stabilizer/sea foam if you can't or aren't going to run out or drain the carb, or AV gas or race gas will do wonders to keep from varnishing the carbs. Want to start a small engine reliably even a year or 2 later? Spend a couple bucks and store it with AV gas in it. Plus it smells better!
Another myth. Unless you have a metal fuel tank or super wet climate/ stored out in the open, condensation in an empty fuel tank is a non issue. Way better to fill up with a tank of fresh gas than have to use a tank of crappy gas. If water is a concern, that's the one great thing about ethanol gas. A little water will be absorbed by a fresh tank of e10.
Why do you think frozen fuel lines are a thing of the past? Ethanol blend gas is to thank for it.
Agree, makes no sense to junk a basically new built in 4k generator unless you ran it out of oil or something catastrophic. Just stop taking it places that charge $300 to replace a $30-60 carburetor.
On to the myths. Generators DONT "need" to be excercised monthly or anywhere near that. No more than your lawnmower or car. Who starts their mower every month all winter, lol!
However regular starting is an ok band aid for lack of proper layup or maintenance. Regular use with degraded crappy gas will have a better chance at keeping it from getting varnished or gummed up than letting it sit. That however is the only reason for frequent operation.
However simply running it out of gas also eliminates the possibility of the above issue.
Starting ease and running quality is greatly increased with quality fuel as well. Likely the OPs issue, feeding off a tank or **** gas in the rv that has sat for months with no consideration for that.
Excercising to maintain residual magnetism between the armatur and windings is not needed monthly either. LONG term storage or another issue can kill the magnetism and require re-exciting the generator, which is also easy. But in 30+ years, I've seen one dead generator and idfk how long it sat, but years though.
Bottom line, just take care of the generator the right way if you don't want to band aid it and you won't have issues.
And for portables or any other small engines, non ethanol with stabilizer/sea foam if you can't or aren't going to run out or drain the carb, or AV gas or race gas will do wonders to keep from varnishing the carbs. Want to start a small engine reliably even a year or 2 later? Spend a couple bucks and store it with AV gas in it. Plus it smells better!
Another myth. Unless you have a metal fuel tank or super wet climate/ stored out in the open, condensation in an empty fuel tank is a non issue. Way better to fill up with a tank of fresh gas than have to use a tank of crappy gas. If water is a concern, that's the one great thing about ethanol gas. A little water will be absorbed by a fresh tank of e10.
Why do you think frozen fuel lines are a thing of the past? Ethanol blend gas is to thank for it.
