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 $300 to replace the caburator, but I am thinking about buying a portable gene...
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I got very intimate with my onan before finding a deal on craigslist for a hardly used one for 1300$
I did call a ONAN service center only 1 in the state. They laughed at fixing it saying its cheaper to buy a new one then for them to look at it if you are still are interested we have a 3 month wait.
Its been awhile since I worked on the project. I did dive deep into testing and gave up. In the end I was faced with throwing an addtional 50$ in the pot for a last resort guess. Then the craigslist deal came up. took the old one to the dump.
It had 1300 hours on the house gauge and seemed like it lived its life. the engine was near perfect when i dived in to see how it worked.
new starter (not related to its death) just needed a new one.
new carb (don't know why just throwing parts at it.) I think at the time plug was wet
spark was present.
fuel was present.
no start. no run. bench tested with fuel and starting fluid. pops but no run or run at low speed and never keep running.
checked the timing key on the flywheel. (all good)
new plug x2
codes were related to no current output (duh it wont run up to speed thus no voltage current runup)
checked commutators on gen. didnt have any shorts not that it matters cause the engine wouldn't run.
compression was just fine. piston valves adjusted properly no issues.
thought about the control board but it doesnt do anything that i can see for spark or timing.
My conclusion that i gave up on was I think the magneto failed even tho it had spark. I never threw the 50$ to confirm. there was nothing left to test. I exhausted all the cheap options from bojack parts. even took what you can apart on the oem carb all clean as clean can get.
It was middle of summer and just wanted to be done messing with it and took the deal on craigslist.
The new 4000 was never used is like brand new way cleaner then the old one. was dismantled out of an rv and seldom used. i'd look on ebay and craigslist. these are dime a dozen.
Oh and P.S. NONE of the newer 4000 ky microquiets have low oil sensors. so you can cross that off the list.
air conditioning is the only use for having a generator everything else can be dealt with lithium and solar and a high quality inverter for close to the cost of a new onan.
I did call a ONAN service center only 1 in the state. They laughed at fixing it saying its cheaper to buy a new one then for them to look at it if you are still are interested we have a 3 month wait.
Its been awhile since I worked on the project. I did dive deep into testing and gave up. In the end I was faced with throwing an addtional 50$ in the pot for a last resort guess. Then the craigslist deal came up. took the old one to the dump.
It had 1300 hours on the house gauge and seemed like it lived its life. the engine was near perfect when i dived in to see how it worked.
new starter (not related to its death) just needed a new one.
new carb (don't know why just throwing parts at it.) I think at the time plug was wet
spark was present.
fuel was present.
no start. no run. bench tested with fuel and starting fluid. pops but no run or run at low speed and never keep running.
checked the timing key on the flywheel. (all good)
new plug x2
codes were related to no current output (duh it wont run up to speed thus no voltage current runup)
checked commutators on gen. didnt have any shorts not that it matters cause the engine wouldn't run.
compression was just fine. piston valves adjusted properly no issues.
thought about the control board but it doesnt do anything that i can see for spark or timing.
My conclusion that i gave up on was I think the magneto failed even tho it had spark. I never threw the 50$ to confirm. there was nothing left to test. I exhausted all the cheap options from bojack parts. even took what you can apart on the oem carb all clean as clean can get.
It was middle of summer and just wanted to be done messing with it and took the deal on craigslist.
The new 4000 was never used is like brand new way cleaner then the old one. was dismantled out of an rv and seldom used. i'd look on ebay and craigslist. these are dime a dozen.
Oh and P.S. NONE of the newer 4000 ky microquiets have low oil sensors. so you can cross that off the list.
air conditioning is the only use for having a generator everything else can be dealt with lithium and solar and a high quality inverter for close to the cost of a new onan.
