On Board Generator will not come on !

[Campncouple]

Dear husband feels our on board generator is locked up. It will not engage. Have any had this happen and how costly ? We have appt. to carry to shop this coming week.
Drive Class C four winds siesta 2007.
Thank you. I am afraid our camping budget is about to hit rock bottom. Wish I had gotten warranty thru Good Sam. Hindsight!!!!

[OFDPOS]

Need more info , one persons interpretation of locked up means it won't turn over another it is it won't start.
When he tried the start button to start it , did it do absolutely nothing, just clicked or cranked over and didn't start ?
How long has it been since the MH was last used , is the battery/ies charged up.
Fuel tank at least 3/4 full, all breakers/fuses ok . Oil level in Gen ok

Like others have stated do all the basic checks yourself that you feel you can do.

[Mich_F]

Campncouple wrote:
Dear husband feels our on board generator is locked up. It will not engage. Have any had this happen and how costly ? We have appt. to carry to shop this coming week.
Drive Class C four winds siesta 2007.
Thank you. I am afraid our camping budget is about to hit rock bottom. Wish I had gotten warranty thru Good Sam. Hindsight!!!!

Has he tried starting it with the start switch on the generator, or just with the remote switch in the MH ?

[Mich_F]

TyroneandGladys wrote:
On occasion ours would not start till the rv was started once the rv was running the generator started no problem

Your problem sounds like the house battery was too run down to start the generator, without a boost from the MH engine.

[TyroneandGladys]

On occasion ours would not start till the rv was started once the rv was running the generator started no problem

[burlmart]

there is a breaker switch that can trip and gen will crank but not start. just inside gen cover panel by oil fill plug and looks like a light switch.

but i too am not sure what you meant by 'locked up'.

[BobK53]

In our Jayco Greyhawk 31FK the Onan generator quit working and would not start about a year ago. We tried everything that I could think of, but it would not start. We took it to an RV repair place. They had to drop the generator from the RV to find that some rats had nested on top of the generator. They had chewed through the electrical wires.
We live in southern Louisiana, at the edge of the Atchafalaya basin. When it rains everything is standing water. The rats, from the nearby sugarcane field were looking for a dry spot. Now I start the generator every week and let run for just a couple of minutes to discourage any freeloaders. Probably not your problem, but it can happen. The repair cost $900.00.
Sometime after the generator ordeal wind came up while in an RV Park in San Marcos, Texas. It caught the awning and destroyed the forward support arm. That cost $1,200.00. There was no wind prior to what caught the awning.

[maillemaker]

A word of warning - make sure anyone inside the RV knows not to touch the remote start button while you have your arm inside the generator box.

I'd also disconnect the spark plug(s). Last thing you want to do is manually crank over the engine like and old Model T!

[Cousin_Eddie93]

Also make sure your oil is not low, Onan's have a low oil shut off circuit. If your oil is low it will not crank. Yup had it happen once.

[CloudDriver]

We had our Onan seize up one time after I made the mistake of stopping the generator without letting it run for a few minutes to cool down after removing the load (air conditioner). The next time we tried to start it, it wouldn't crank.

I removed the generator access panel and reached in to see if I could turn the cooling fan. Yep, it was seized. Fortunately, I had a 3/8" socket set and the right size socket to fit the bolt on the fan. That broke it loose and it has started fine since.

A word of warning - make sure anyone inside the RV knows not to touch the remote start button while you have your arm inside the generator box.

[ronfisherman]

Bad, loose or dirty battery connections would be first thing I would check.

[midnightsadie]

need to check battery connections, and by locked up do you mean you can not turn it by hand? find some one close with a bit of knowledge to help you. could be a very simple thing. if your fuel tank is below a quarter of a tank it won,t run.