heebeha wrote:
Is it typical that I have to start my trucks engine for the generator to have enough power to fire over? She wont turn over if I don't run the truck first.
Does it mean my batter in the truck does not have enough cranking amps maybe unless she is running? Seem odd to me.
PS: new carb brought her back to life but now she doesn't have enough power to turn the starter unless the truck is running. Seems odd that the trucks v10 engine fires right up on the battery but the generator wont unless I have the truck running.
That would typically indicate a weak or discharged house battery or a poor connection to it. Starting the truck puts the alternator and truck battery in parallel with the house battery (via the isolator system), which makes more power available to the generator.
Note that the generator starter is a quite heavy load when compared to most house loads, probably all of them if you don't have a fairly large inverter.
If the starter is barely able to crank the engine over the first compression cycle (it has to work really hard even with the truck engine running), then check that the connections to the starter and the starter solenoid are good and, if they are, that all four brushes on the generator starter are connected and in good shape. Somewhat atypically for DC motors the starter motor has four magnetic poles and four brushes, and if one of the four doesn't work it still turns but at half power.
Unfortunately, if there is a starter problem, the starter is on the back side of the generator and requires removing the entire outer case from the generator chassis...which generally entails dropping the generator from the RV. It's not a particularly tricky process to figure out, at least in my experience, but it is a rather long and tiring job. Once you can actually get at it removing the starter is very simple.
(If you do have to drop the generator, make sure you have enough room under the RV to be able to slide it out once you've lowered it. It might be necessary to drive the RV up on some ramps or something similar. I used an automotive floor jack to lower and raise my generator, which worked out fairly well; it weighs something like 175 pounds.)
