Gen oil filter

[noleakman]

I have a Onan 5.5 Gen and I just checked the last time I changed oil! It has been a year and 8 months and 14 hours! Should I still change oil and filter with that few of hours ??

[Camper_Ken]

doc brown wrote:
Absolutely. As said exercise that motor every other week for 1hr under 50% load. Stay with the Onan schedule and do not forget to clean the spark arrestor - many people ignore this!

What does cleaning the spark arrestor do?

Ken

[Clay_L]

One thing to note about changing the oil in the 5.5 JAB Onan is that the second quart goes in real slow.
I do two things to help.

Fill the new filter before installing it (always a good idea anyway I think)

Screw the oil fill cap/stick in and turn the engine over for a few seconds to circulate the oil up into the engine then start adding oil again. I usually have to do that two or three times.

[Matt_Colie]

You have gotten answers, but none are complete in my book.

The problem with 20 months and 18 hours is that you ran the engine at all. Combustion by-products are acidic. There are corrosion inhibitors in the lube oil that will go bad with just exposure to air and they get bad even faster with combustion by-products. Even Mobil 1 says one year maximum.

You do not need to change the filter, but it is not much work to remove it and drain it so that contaminated oil is also out of the engine.

Much of the time I worked on shore was doing engine testing.

Matt

[w4phj]

Absolutely !!!

[94fxds]

Oil filter is $10 and 2 qts. of oil $10. Very easy to change, why would you not spend $20 every year to maintain the generator.

[crasster]

I just go with a Wix filter and a synthetic oil. It's been good thus far.

[noleakman]

I believe the book says 30 weight in warm climate

[doc_brown]

Absolutely. As said exercise that motor every other week for 1hr under 50% load. Stay with the Onan schedule and do not forget to clean the spark arrestor - many people ignore this!

[PortWentworthSa]

You are absolutely asking for trouble if you don't change the oil and filter after 1 1/2 years. Why would you even consider not doing it?

[Doug156]

I use the full synthetic oil in mine. I stay with Onan's schedule, but the synthetic oil for more peace of mind. Plus it starts much easier in the cold weather.

[gswcgi]

Yes, follow the owner's manual and use Onan filters! Onan filters have a low pressure cut off that many after markets filters don't have!

[Triker33]

Don't forget to exercise it every month.
I don't use mine much other then exercising it.
So only change it every 36 months.

[turbojimmy]

Yes. The manual for my Onan says to change the oil annually or every 150 hours, whichever comes first. I don't know the rationale, but I intend do it (first change was when I first put it on the road a couple of months ago).