Onan Gen Qyestion

[Joecool255]

Trouble with Onan gen again. Starts but would not produce electric. Removed from camper and took to Onan dealer. Said voltage reg. bad, some wiring and broken teeth on starter. also need some bands replaced?? Price to repair $1,200.00. Have already replaced carb and many parts over the years. Unit is a 2800 and is 17 years old but with only 280 run hours. I have priced a new Onan and others that will fit into my RV limited space. This was over $2,800 plus. Is the cost to repair worth it? Thank for your thoughts!!!

[Fastpaddler]

Just buy portable Honda generator. Quiet and a lot cheaper. Only problemis where to park it in the RV.

[mepboat]

I purchased a used class B with an Onan generator. One of the sales points was the genny had only a few hours on it. After learning about maintenance of generators, you need to run the genny for 2 hours each month under load to keep it working, running smooth. Therefore I found the genny was in dire need of an overhaul. Luckily basic maintenace plus one minor choke part was all that was needed. Now I put at least 2 hours a month on the unit and keep monitoring the oil level when I do this. My best advice is to read the required maintenace in the genny booklet and follow it. You never know when you are going to need to fire that genny up and save your trip. Good luck with whatever unit you decide on. Now that our Onan is working, love it.

[pugslyyy]

For a 17 year old unit and the cost being 50% of new (near enough) I would say that the unit has reached the end of it's economic life. Time to start anew. As others have said, maybe not a new Onan - how much power do you need? Honda makes some verrry nice portable gensets...

[Horizon170]

If it was me, I would probably buy NEW. If the old one is repaired something else could fail like engine parts but not probable with the low hours.
You have used it less than an hour and a half per month so I might look for a cheaper alternative to Onan.